In the new documentary Stty and the Secret History of Hollywood, former V.F. edor Matt Tyrner sh a light on the sexual fixer who tered to secretly gay Goln Age stars
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THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
Typil gay sna scene right? And then my iend did the bt thg ever, he jt looked over and said, “Wa, are you all gay? It was hilar, and really broke the super tense gay sexual tensn.
Not so typil gay sna scene anymore. Rints who live the area - once notor as a home of prostut and sex clubs - say Soho's WCs are still firmly on the map as gay cisg hot-spots and that puts people right off g them At Berwick Street Market, trars say the public toilets there still garner a “reputatn” for those seekg to share some public cency. Ontar Gay and Lbian.
WHAT IS A GAY TTAGE?
Gay iendly. Vada (“look at”), dolly eek (a pretty face), and chicken (a young guy) are all words om the lexin of Polari, a secret language ed by gay men Bra at a time when homosexualy was illegal.
In the 1930s was spoken among the theater typ of the Wt End, om which crossed over to the cy’s gay pubs, gag s stat as the secret language of gay men. In England, homosexualy was officially nsired a crime until 1967, when the Sexual Offenc Act legalized private “homosexual acts” between nsentg adults over 21. ) The Act me a after the ernment’s Wolfenn Report, which igned bate by remendg the partial crimalizatn of homosexual acts.
Durg the terim years, when beg openly non-straight brought the risks of social isolatn and crimal prosecutn, Polari provid gay men wh a subtle way to fd one another for pannship and sex. Among nfirmed gay men, however, there was nothg subtle about Polari nversatns.