Movg Through New York’s Early 20th-Century Gay Spac ‹ Lerary Hub

Contents:

• THE REAL STORY OF THE YMCA THAT INSPIRED THE VILLAGE PEOPLE'S GAY ANTHEM
• HAPPY PRIDE! HOW “Y.M.C.A.” BEME A GAY ANTHEM!
• THE GAY ECSTASY OF THE VILLAGE PEOPLE
• 'Y.M.C.A.,' THE SPORTS ANTHEM ABOUT A GAY CISG SPOT: LYRICS AND MEANG
• IS Y.M.C.A. REALLY A GAY SONG? THE MEANG OF THE LYRICS
• GAY ANTHEM Y.M.C.A DANC TO HISTORY AT LEADG U.S. LIBRARY
• MOVG THROUGH NEW YORK’S EARLY 20TH-CENTURY GAY SPAC
• GAY MUNICH
• THE BEST MUNICH GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MUNICH

THE REAL STORY OF THE YMCA THAT INSPIRED THE VILLAGE PEOPLE'S GAY ANTHEM

In the 40 years sce the Village People released “YMCA, ” the song has bee a cultural touchstone: a gay anthem famo for s nuendos and double entendr about young, f men “havg a good time, ” as well as a staple at Yanke gam and bar song has also immortalized the Young Men's Christian Associatn pop culture. Yet former rints of the McBurney Y Chelsea — the buildg that spired the song, and which was featured the vio released late 1978 — say the realy of stays at the YMCA those days was more plited than the lyrics portray, wh gay culture and workg-class workouts existg a sgle munal space. “There was certaly a party aspect to their vio and that time was the height of all the gay clubs Chelsea, ” rells Davidson Garrett, who lived at the McBurney Y om 1978 through 2000.

Meanwhile, hoekeepers me not jt to offer towels and change your sheets, but to keep an eye on you, Kangappadan of the song’s charm, of urse, is s petg terpretatns: It n be read equally well as a celebratn of gay culture or of the workg man. And as a Sp oral history revealed on the song's 30th anniversary ten years ago, even the group self didn't agree on the proper Hodo (“the nstctn worker”) sisted to Sp that Jacqu Morali, the French producer who helped create the group and -wrote the song wh lead sger Victor Willis (“the p”), certaly had the gay muny md when he me up wh the song.

The tl were self-explanatory: “Fire Island” (the East Coast’s gay summer retreat); “San Francis (You’ve Got Me)” (the Wt ast’s premier gay statn); “Village People” (a look at the habants of New York Cy’s largely gay Greenwich Village); and “In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star), ” the promise of artistic acplishment the word’s entertament pal. “Key Wt” (a gay rort statn), “Jt a Gigolo, ” “I Am What I Am” (a gay claratn), and “Sodom and Gomorrah” reached their re dience–but the sgle “Macho Man” reached further.

HAPPY PRIDE! HOW “Y.M.C.A.” BEME A GAY ANTHEM!

An energetic chant song whose lyrics extoled the male form, exercise and gym culture, “Macho Man” was heard by straight dienc as ls gay and more sports/athletics/ol-du fun mic.

Addnally, lyrics like “lger on the siwalk where the neon signs are pretty” and “someone who is jt like you and needs a gentle hand to gui them along” were tac vatns for a gay listeng dience. However, be this memory real or simulacm, strik me as hilar given what the Village People are universally known for: tongue--cheek gay nuendo, sparsely vered by a flimsy veneer of hyper-macho drag.

THE GAY ECSTASY OF THE VILLAGE PEOPLE

And I was fascated by the empowerment I felt om Village People, the tle track on their eponymo but album, and an unambiguo ll for gay liberatn that sounds more ak to a prott chant than a chart topper. Said first three albums (and pecially the first two) rry a surprisgly polil energy; the more popular tracks, such as the eponymo Macho Man, might be vacuo but others – take I Am What I Am, a fiant chant that suggts exactly what you’d expect to suggt – envisn a world which male bodi uld be ee to e together whout Francis was one of the gay mecs the Village People celebrated on their visnary but album (Cred: Alamy)As far as evokg same-sex love go, there was a precent – om dis’s genis, queered sexual posivy was the life blood of the genre, as Peter Shapiro intifi Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Dis. “As the cultural adjunct of the gay pri movement, dis was the embodiment of the pleasure-is-polics ethos of a new generatn of gay culture, a generatn fed up wh police raids, dranian laws and the darkns of the closet, ” he wr.

'Y.M.C.A.,' THE SPORTS ANTHEM ABOUT A GAY CISG SPOT: LYRICS AND MEANG

– Jacqu MoraliIn her dis chronicle Hot Stuff: Dis and the Remakg of Amerin Culture, Alice Echols rells a 1978 Rollg Stone article which Jacqu Morali – the French producer who, alongsi Henri Bolelo and eventual group lear Victor Willis, created the Village People – put forward a manifto of gay visibily: “Morali outed himself, and emphasised that as a homosexual he was mted to endg the cultural visibily of gay men. The batn of lol alone should immediately tip you off as to who Village People was beg sold to, as any gay man the late 70s would regnise this as a lndry list of US gay mecs. It knowgly evok the sex-as-polics attu of gay liberatn (“Love the way I please / don’t put no chas on me”), and Victor Willis’ cry of “leather, leather, leather baby” speaks to the era’s emergent gay macho archetype.

The song also evok the great gay urban migratn of the 1970s, durg which gays and lbians across the US moved to urban centr – San Francis, Los Angel, New York Cy – en masse. This theme is seamlsly rried over to In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star), which envisns Hollywood as a rtoonish hub of opulence, universal succs and stardom – an aspiratnal portra for a historilly margalised their reer went on, the Village People creasgly urted the mastream, cludg wh 1980 film Can’t Stop the Mic (Cred: Alamy)For somethg unabashedly homosexual you need only turn to Fire Island, named after the most inic gay hotspot the world, a th strip of land some 50 off the ast of New York Cy, revered for s hookup spots and iastic danc. And then we e to the tular track Village People, the most emphatilly polil of them all; a percsive chant that lls upon the ‘Village people’, th for gay men, to “take our place the Sun”: “To be ee, ” Village People clare, “We mt be / all for one.

Empowerg and queer-foced as their early lyrics may have been, the msage quickly shifted once mastream succs was urted and emed to be more profable than their ial target group of gay dis-goers.

IS Y.M.C.A. REALLY A GAY SONG? THE MEANG OF THE LYRICS

But for a gay man, is impossible, too, not to have a visceral rponse to Village People and s – somewhat superficial but credibly energisg – ll for gay liberatn, such unambiguo terms. Certaly, if the tune mak me ecstatic, I n’t beg to thk of what would be like for a guy 1979, newly disverg his gayns and hearg for the first time a pulsatg New York nightclub.

What began as a gay anthem performed by the Village People has been cleansed of s mp and brought to the mastream as an upbeat song about how great is to work out at the Y. " was immediately adopted as a gay anthem not only bee of s subtext and bangg dis beat, but the Village People were the most "out" gay mil act of the era ( spe of their very straight lead sger), but did beg as a song about gay sex? Composed practilly by chance by Village People and released 1978, the song quickly beme a huge succs, both the gay muny of the time and subsequently any ntext where you need a song to get people gog, be at a weddg, a nightclub or a the Village People ed to do their songs, YMCA’s lyrics nta several allns that n be easily noticed by a gay dience.

GAY ANTHEM Y.M.C.A DANC TO HISTORY AT LEADG U.S. LIBRARY

Apparently was also an easy way for young homosexuals to meet other peers when you were new the cy, and this ed the entire homosexual muny to set up as a muny the years, Village People have often been asked if Y.

And although the band were openly gay and tend to target that specific dience whenever they uld, lyrics’ thor and Village People founr Victor Willis means as a song about cln and social relatnships of young people new to the neighborhood. Also thanks to the official vio, which you n fd a song that n be terpreted a homosexual key, therefore, but that do not necsarily have to be meant wh this only man, there’s no need to feel downI said, young man, pick yourself off the groundI said, young man, ’e you’re a new townThere’s no need to be unhappyYoung man, there’s a place you n goI said, young man, when you’re short on your doughYou n stay there, and I’m sure you will fdMany ways to have a good timeIt’s fun to stay at the YMCAIt’s fun to stay at the YMCAThey have everythg for you men to enjoyYou n hang out wh all the boysIt’s fun to stay at the YMCAIt’s fun to stay at the YMCAYou n get yourself clean, you n have a good mealYou n do what ever you feelYoung man, are you listeng to me?

”“It is as likely to be heard at a Midwtern prom as is at New York Cy’s annual Gay Pri para, ” the library rerdgs named to the registry clud mic om the 1964 Broadway st rerdg of “Fiddler on the Roof” and Whney Hoton’s versn of “I Will Always Love You. Prostutn, venereal disease, gamblg, and homosexualy were targeted by the DMB as cinc ntued to rise, spe their bt efforts to change laws, n prostut unrground, and elimate any trace of a homosexual subculture. At one pot, Broard closed the dormori to all but servicemen or supervised groups, such as athletic teams, to avoid any occurrence of gay sex, but that did not solve the problem.

MOVG THROUGH NEW YORK’S EARLY 20TH-CENTURY GAY SPAC

Due to creasg vlence associated wh public sex, and the possibily of arrt or harassment at the Y, members of Denver’s gay male culture began to e gay bars more routely as meetg plac for sexual enunters. Members of the Mattache Society, an activist group requirg membership fe, and other gay activist groups, required money to rent spac for sexual enunters or to afford their own hom.

As the stigma of homosexualy and policg creased, the threat of public shame enuraged wealthier men to move their sexual enunters away om ee, public areas such as bathrooms and the parks, and to the Denver Y. One homosexual told The Post he thks that the law, by s strong nunciatn of homosexual acts, perpetuat public srn for verts and perhaps even enurag hoodlums to prey on lone men they see such plac as Denver’s Civic Center. Once a unified mory of gay subjects, Denver’s gay muny weled the sexual revolutn and began fightg their way back out of the closet; proud of all facets of the muny—sex and all.

[13] For a more tailed discsn of class and s implitns on queer culture, see: Charl Kaiser, The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life Ameri, (New York: Grove Prs, 2007. (CN) - A married uple claim a class actn that YMCAs, which advertise themselv as safe for fai, wh "Christian valu, " are actually "brothels" for homosexual men "cisg" for sexual relatnships, who subject members to unwanted advanc. But Keister says the YMCA misleads ctomers through s marketg mpaigns, cultivatg a false image of plac wh "high ethil standards and Christian valu, " when fact they tolerate "cisg" for homosexual relatnships and allow members to be subjected to unwanted sexual advanc.

GAY MUNICH

An elrly uple had occupied for years, and, sce the walls were rather th, the iend had never stopped worryg that they heard him late at night wh gay iends and had grown spic of the pany he kept.

THE BEST MUNICH GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MUNICH

The buildg’s narrow railroad flats, if not luxur, were aquate and cheap; the lotn, near the gay bar circu on Third Avenue the East 50s, was nvenient; and most important, the other habants were iendly and supportive. In his movement om one dwellg to the next, Willy traced a path followed by many gay men the first half of the century as they built a gay world the cy’s hotels, roomg ho, and apartment buildgs, and s feterias, rtrants, and speakeasi.

Although livg wh one’s fay, even a crowd tenement, did not prevent a man om participatg the gay world that was takg shape the cy’s streets, many gay men, like Willy, sought to secure hog that would maximize their eedom om supervisn. No cens data exist that uld firmly tablish the rintial patterns of gay men, but two studi of gay men rcerated the New York Cy Jail, nducted 1938 and 1940, are suggtive. Some landladi doubtls tolerated known homosexual lodgers for the same enomic reasons they tolerated lodgers who engaged heterosexual affairs, and others simply did not re.