Hundreds of photographs om the 19th and 20th centuri offer a glimpse at the life of gay men durg a time when their love was illegal almost everywhere.
Contents:
- 100 YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF GAY MEN LOVE
- PNEERG PHOTOGRAPHS OF GAY LIFE THE 1960S
- NEWLY PUBLISHED PORTRAS DOCUMENT A CENTURY OF GAY MEN LOVE
100 YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF GAY MEN LOVE
* first gay pictures *
“I was 19, vulnerable, young and puttg my own inty together, ” says photographer Anthony Friedk when reflectg on his first project, The Gay Essay, which documents gay culture Los Angel and San Francis between 1969-1972. What started, as a self-assigned project for a young photographer growg up Hollywood has now bee one of the most thentic portras of gay life Ameri om this perd. In 1969, the same year as the Stonewall rts New York Cy, a gay cultural revolutn was growg Ameri.
At the time, most pictns of gay men and women mastream media were found salac newspaper and tabloid articl, all of them reported om a murky distance. LIFE’s two-part seri Homosexualy Ameri om 1964, featured dark and shadowy photographs by Bill Eppridge.
While growg up Hollywood, Freidk’s parents worked the film dtry and had close iends that led full openly gay liv. He saw that world as a “refuge” and a place where gays were “allowed to be themselv” more than any other place.
PNEERG PHOTOGRAPHS OF GAY LIFE THE 1960S
Anthony Friedk photographed gay culture California the 1960s * first gay pictures *
But The Gay Essay really began while he explored the Los Angel Gay Communy Servic Center where he met Morris Kight and Don Kilhefner, two men who ran the programs there and found the Gay Liberatn Front Los Angel 1969 where they mobilized the muny agast the LAPD’s harassment of homosexuals.
NEWLY PUBLISHED PORTRAS DOCUMENT A CENTURY OF GAY MEN LOVE
A look back at a major turng pot the stggle for gay rights * first gay pictures *
” For Friedk, the goal was to move past many stereotyp and epen the reprentatn of gay dividuals of all typ. “It was more about my sire to create a great set of pictur wh a heartfelt termatn to honor gay people, rpect them and their eedom, ” he says. “In The Gay Essay I wanted to celebrate the gays that were livg openly, ” pecially at a time, the early days of the gay movement, followg the Stonewall rts.
“It upset me tremendoly to see the ways gays were beg treated, ” he adds.
” In 2014, The Gay Essay was first shown s entirety at the De Young Mm San Francis and was published as a book by the Fe Arts Mm of San Francis and Yale Universy Prs.
“Boys Will Be Boys” by AY is onle at BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! promotg queer and gay photography. * first gay pictures *
“Everythg I love about photography is the gay say: the sense of the event, pturg the soul of the people, the journey, the procs, the unknowns, ” he says.
” Anthony Friedk‘s The Gay Essay is on view at Daniel Cooney Fe Art New York Cy until March 4. A look back at a major turng pot the stggle for gay rights. Every Fourth of July begng 1965, the Remr march—named after the need to "remd" the public of the opprsn faced by the gay muny—aimed to secure acceptance by showg how unthreateng LGBT people were to the rt of society.
Author-photographer Jenn LeBlanc hop to normalize gay imagery The Spare and the Heir. * first gay pictures *
One year later, 1970, activists like Brenda Howard brastormed an alternative set of march that would embrace the new ethos of gay liberatn. ” The march would also be natnal spe— a forhadowg of Pri celebratns today, they wanted "a natnwi show of support" for gay rights. A ntgent at the first Christopher Street Liberatn Day New York clutch a sign that reads "Gay Liberatn, " 1970.