Raisg the Bar: A Brief History of Gay Bars – World Queerstory

Contents:

• LISTEN: THE POWERFUL HISTORY OF THE FIRST GAY BAR AMERI
• RAISG THE BAR: A BRIEF HISTORY OF GAY BARS
• A YEAR GAY BARS
• WHAT WAS THE FIRST GAY BAR YOU WENT TO, AND WHAT DID YOU THK OF ?
• LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: THE ROAD TO AMERI'S FIRST GAY PRI MARCH

LISTEN: THE POWERFUL HISTORY OF THE FIRST GAY BAR AMERI

The name, wr Gee Chncey his history of gay New York culture, was “an androgyno psdonym whose biblil origs her Prottant persecutors might well have found blasphemo.

A wrer for the Greenwich Village Quill, where he vered society life, Edwards didn’t like the creasg gay and immigrant prence the village. In his speech om Orlando, Print Obama said: “For so many people here who are lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, the Pulse Nightclub has always been a safe haven, a place to sg and dance, and most importantly, to be who you tly are. The Inn’s webse rells: “Back then, few lbians, gays, or bisexuals talked openly about their sexualy–most were ashamed of who they were and ightened of the severe nsequenc if they were found out.

“Even though bars uld be dangero, plac like the Whe Horse served as a refuge where gays uld meet and remove at least part of the fa they had so assiduoly nstcted. “But a society that viewed gays as barely human, the Whe Horse allowed a level of eedom that the 1940s or 1950s was liberatg. “Although the people who secretly gathered that simple whe buildg didn’t realize at the time, they were buildg the foundatn for a lbian and gay muny that now liv wh an unimagable openns.

RAISG THE BAR: A BRIEF HISTORY OF GAY BARS

The bar’s acunt of s history rells how evolved through the early gay liberatn movement through to the fight for equal marriage – wh a harrowg tellg of the impact of the AIDS epimic. First tablished 1966, the Black Cat Tavern was a popular gay bar Los Angel known for beg one of the first plac to hoe the rts prottg police harassment of LGBTQ people — takg place two years before the famed Stonewall rts.

If you know anythg about LGBTQ culture, ’s likely that you’ve at least heard of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official California.

This lotn ultimately beme the center of the neighborhood’s growg gay muny and the mpaign headquarters for his var ns for office. Listed as a US Natnal Historic Landmark, this home Chigo was origally the home of Henry Gerber, the founr of the Society for Human Rights — the first Amerin anizatn workg for gay rights.

A YEAR GAY BARS

Not only that, but that same year, along wh other members of the anizatn, the first gay perdil US history lled Friendship and Freedom was created. Though the society end only a year later due to police raids and tense scty, this first gay rights anizatn is now nsired an credibly important part of history. Known as New York Cy’s olst ntuoly operatg gay bar, Juli was opened 1840 and began attractg gay patrons the 1950s — although the management staff refed to acknowledge their prence.

Kameny moved to a rince Washgton, DC that soon thereafter beme the headquarters for a gay civil rights anizatn that began the 1960s. In fact, acrdg to the Natnal Park Service, the Kameny Hoe “served as a meetg place, archiv, rmal unselg center, headquarters of the Mattache Society, and a safe haven for visg gay and lbian activists. ” Some time after movg to the home, Kameny found the Mattache Society, which later beme a trailblazg LGBTQ rights anizatn — and eventually helped overturn the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s fn of homosexualy as a mental illns.

Thought to have been gay or bisexual, his relatnships and poetry dite that the poet was very active the LGBTQ scene the 19th century. Loted on Christopher Street the Wt Village, the Gay Liberatn Monument, ma by Amerin artist Gee Segal, was dited on June 23, 1992, to the events that occurred at the Stonewall Inn s earlier. Then, 1966, the then-nightclub and rtrant favored by the LGBTQ muny was purchased by members of the mafia and turned to a gay bar.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST GAY BAR YOU WENT TO, AND WHAT DID YOU THK OF ?

This event eventually led to the emergence of gay pri paras around the natn — ually held durg the month of June to honor the Stonewall Rts.

The cy lled the bar “one of the cy’s most signifint s of LGBTQ+ (Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer) history” the news release. Juli’ was the se of the 1966 “Sip-, ” a prott agast homophobic discrimatn – although at the time, the bar wasn’t an explicly LGBT space. Four men named Dick Lesch, Craig Rodwell, John Timmons, and Randy Wicker staged the event to prott the persecutn of gay men for drkg public, acrdg to the Natnal Park Service.

LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: THE ROAD TO AMERI'S FIRST GAY PRI MARCH

“As a gay man who enjoys untls eedoms that were unimagable their time, I owe enormo bt to the activists who ma Juli’ Bar the se of their prott. But I’m not here to weigh the pros and ns of gay bars — we n all do that on Twter (and we do) — I jt want to talk briefly about the history of gay bars, talk a teeny b about some of the first on to exist, and some of the olst on that we still have today. So, to separate molly ho om gay bars — and I’m not gog to claim this is the official fn, ’s jt what I’m workg wh here — I’m gog to fe gay bars as legimate, legal bs foced entirely (or almost entirely) on the sale of alhol to queer ctomers.