Longg and Belongg: Toward a Cultural History of Gay Motorcycle Clubs the US - The Rir's Digt Live

Contents:

• RIDG WH THE OLST ALL-GAY, ALL-MALE, ALL-RIDG MOTORCYCLE CLUB
• LONGG AND BELONGG: TOWARD A CULTURAL HISTORY OF GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE US
• GAY BIKERS STOCK PHOTOS AND IMAG
• HISTORY OF LEATHER WEAR AS A GAY SUBCULTURE
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• THE GAY BIKERS MOTORCYCLE CLUB MEMBERS' STORI
• GAY SAN DIEGO

RIDG WH THE OLST ALL-GAY, ALL-MALE, ALL-RIDG MOTORCYCLE CLUB

The club is one of the olst all-ridg, all-gay, all-male motorcycle anizatns the world. While other motorcycle clubs have perhaps been active for longer perds of time (at least one group disput that they are the olst all-male, all-gay group), Empire Cy is the only one that requir, and has always required, all of s members to ri a motorcycle. "Beg a gay biker, beg a group, you fd yourself wh people who have the same terts, the same fort level, " he go on.

LONGG AND BELONGG: TOWARD A CULTURAL HISTORY OF GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE US

Though E stopped ridg 1996, he is currently an ECMC Emer member, meang he don't have to own a bike or license signatn, or pay the 1960s, when E joed, "gay" was not somethg you discsed and "out" was not somethg you were. Beg openly gay put you at risk for losg your job, your apartment, your fay, and iends. It don't mean that you're gay, don't mean this, don't mean that.

"E lowers his voice when he says the word "gay, " even though we are chattg the lobby of The Center, as New York's Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Communy Center is known.

Followg ECMC's history is a b of a Forrt Gump-like experience of gay history post-1950: E himself was a member of the Mattache Society which, tablished 1950, was one of the earlit gay rights anizatns the untry. ECMC also predat the fluential Stonewall Rts 1969; E actually participated Christopher Street Liberatn Day, which is now nsired the first ever gay pri para, 1970.

GAY BIKERS STOCK PHOTOS AND IMAG

ECMC survived the AIDS crisis of the 80s and 90s; and today some members have married their partners wh the passage of gay marriage New York State. "Today, ECMC is vol about s existence—members wear those aforementned leather jackets and vts whout fear of repercsn; they rec members at fairs like Folsom Street East, the largt outdoor fetish ftival on the East Coast; and they hold meetgs the first Wednday of every month at The Center, which all terted men and prospective members are wele to be a member of the ECMC, you mt be a gay man over the age of 21, you mt own a motorcycle, you mt be sured for said motorcycle, and you mt be licensed to ri a motorcycle.

HISTORY OF LEATHER WEAR AS A GAY SUBCULTURE

The Satyrs Motorcycle Club is the olst gay ntuo motorcycle club the Uned Stat.

Established 1954 Los Angel and still gog strong, they have bee one of the bt known gay MCs the untry.

We are lookg at how the nex of two inti – gay and motorcyclist – self-imposed as well as imposed by society at large, plays out public and private. While there have been gay and lbian motorcyclists almost as long as there have been motorcycl, thgs don’t get tertg until World War Two ends. The first imag popular culture of the gay motorcyclist seem to be tertwed wh postwar and Cold War polics, often reflectg and optg the imag of mastream motorcyclists the procs.

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

The vtigatn supposedly was to addrs munist fluence and filtratn, but quickly veloped a homophobic and anti-Semic edge. Homosexuals were seen as eher munists or secury risks, if not both, which lead to mass firgs of homosexuals om ernment agenci. By lkg munism wh homosexualy, the heargs created a sense of guilt through associatn, pecially when any real evince was lackg, as was so often the se.

THE GAY BIKERS MOTORCYCLE CLUB MEMBERS' STORI

By the time the first half of the 20th Century was drawg to a close, both gays and motorcyclists had inti as outlaws, threats to the Amerin Way of Life, imposed by the mastream. And ntug the ncept of guilt by associatn, many saw the aggrsively mascule behavr of the motorcycle clubs and gangs as exampl of overpensatn by men who really weren’t mascule, that is, were gay, or latent homosexuals. David Thomson his obuary of Brando for The Guardian claims “the biker…[is] a very mp figure, a gay in”.

Others mented that the bikers the film were jt latently homosexual. Bee of the Lavenr Sre wch hunt, most homosexual anizatns followed the cell stcture format tablished by Harry Hay for the Mattache Society, an early lbian and gay rights group.

GAY SAN DIEGO

The bylaws bee the template for most gay motorcycl clubs of the perd. If Larry Townsend is unrstood rrectly a passage about gay motorcycle clubs The Leatherman’s Handbook, due to perd attus toward homosexualy, many of the gay motorcycl clubs beme disenchanted wh the AMA and broke formal ti while followg the anizatn’s lead qutns of safety and the like. While the two outlaw inti were beg creasgly tertwed, a third velopment grew importance: what Jack Frscher would later dub “homomasculy”, which the web-based Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia f as a “subculture of gay men who prefer mascule-intified men”, or men who prefer men who look and act like men, sometim exaggerated, vaguely workg class, who were often seen as more thentilly male than men form other soc-enomic class.