The story behd San Francis's inic gay herage has a surprisg direct lk to the ary...
Contents:
- CULTUR EXPLAED: HOW DID SAN FRANCIS BEE THE WORLD’S GAY MEC
- HOW MILARY HISTORY WAS CENTRAL TO SAN FRANCIS BEG THE GAY CAPAL OF THE WORLD
- WHY DID SAN ANCIS BEME THE SE OF THE FIRST MAJOR URBAN GAY MUNY THE UNED STAT?
CULTUR EXPLAED: HOW DID SAN FRANCIS BEE THE WORLD’S GAY MEC
San Francis is known for s annual Pri ftival, LGBT performanc and open gay bars. But how exactly did this e to be? * when did san francisco became a gay city *
Now famo for s annual Pri ftival, queer performanc and open gay bars, San Francis is a cy of love and diversy. I dug a ltle to the bottom for plac and events to check out Castro Gay Capal of the WorldThe openns and eedom of the LGBT muny today sure didn’t e easy. Photo cred: Goln Gate Natnal Parks ConservancyDurg WWI, “blue discharg” (a form of admistrative ary discharge) were issued by the US to people who were ught engagg homosexual San Francis beg the last port of ll before war the Pacific, many homosexuals were left behd to form their own muny of “intified gays”.
1977: Harvey MilkPhoto cred: Roger EbertHarvey Milk was the first openly gay man elected to public office.
HOW MILARY HISTORY WAS CENTRAL TO SAN FRANCIS BEG THE GAY CAPAL OF THE WORLD
* when did san francisco became a gay city *
At a time of rampant discrimatn, he beme a voice for the LGBT muny wh bold reform agendas that protect gay phed for improvements lol servic and facili Castro, and spoke out on important issu for margalised muni (LGBT people, women, racial mori etc) cred: The Bold ItalicHe also sponsored an anti-discrimatn bill and helped pass a gay rights ordance removg anti-gay discrimatn hog and today, his ntributns are wily regnised wh the muny and paved the way for future ton and gay policians like Gav Newsom and Mark Leno. For stance, Bobbi Campbell led tnal projects that helped spread awarens about “Gay Cancer” and s, San Francis remas one of the ontnners AIDS rearch and and Events that scream #PriIf you’re thkg of makg a trip down to the vibrant Castro District, here are some plac and events to check out:Tw Peaks TavernBack the day, gay bars operated only behd closed wdows, hidn om the rt of the neighbourhood. This was what ma Tw Peaks Tavern so was the first gay bar San Francis to feature full-length open wdows, allowg s LGBT patrons to look out and more importantly, to let others look .
It was our first time a gay bar, and we had no ia what to, the bartenr, weled heartily spe the by afternoon and we had a lovely chat wh Cdy, a lady stg the rner. But, have you ever stopped and wonred how this associatn between gay people and San Francis me to be what is today? You uld also be classed as exempt if you were a public official, or if you had been refed ary service at any other time your life before you uld also be registered unf if you were a found to be a homosexual.
WHY DID SAN ANCIS BEME THE SE OF THE FIRST MAJOR URBAN GAY MUNY THE UNED STAT?
Des of pa and perseverance San Francis's gay muny fally led to vditn the Bay Area and across the natn. This is a timele of historil events. * when did san francisco became a gay city *
Cred: JwhartonIn the book, The Life and Tim of Harvey Milk: The Mayor of Castro Street, thor Randy Shilts discs how, even wh the exemptn placed on gay men servg their untry as part of the draft, tens of thoands of homosexual men were still able to get through vettg procs:“The Send World War marked the first nflict which the armed servic tried to systematilly intify and then exclu homosexuals. "In the procs of examg the nearly 36 ln men eligible for service, thoands were found to be homosexual and classified as such by the draft boards.
Purge after purge of gays var branch nmned thoands to the 'blue discharge, ' named for the blue paper upon which homosexual discharg were wrten. ”When gay soldiers operatg the South Pacific were found out to be homosexual, like the fate scribed by Shilts, those men had to be procsed out of theatre, returned to maland Ameri and then be “blue discharged” to society. "The actn, however, created an entire class of social outsts who were public homosexuals.
“By the end of World War II, the ary tablishment had given San Francis a disproportnately large number of intifiable gays. ”While Shilts’ scriptn of life for gay Amerin soldiers the early 1940s, “purged” om service while fightg some of the most feroc battl of the 20th Century, pats a bleak picture, also provis a glimmer of fiance the face of the stutnalised homophobia they fell victim those “blue discharged” veterans returned home, stead of beg held up as hero like their straight unterparts, or like fellow gay GIs that had remaed untected, they were shunned om any public favour, and so they formed their own muny the place their profsnal livelihoods had e to an end: San drafte found themselv fightg the South Pacific after beg shipped to theatre om San Francis (image om ‘The Thompson Submache Gun’ by Mart Pegler © Osprey Publishg, part of Bloomsbury Publishg)This chapter of ary history is also creded wh beg rponsible for the creatn of the regnisable morn-day gay plac homosexual men had had to meet prr to the war, and therefore before the mass outg thanks to wi-sle nscriptn, had always been clanste, backstreet speakeasi where nobody gave their real name for fear of unrver police that the men had been stamped wh a pal H on their blue discharge papers - documents that would be seen by everybody om potential employers, to bank tellers and doctors as they attempted to rve out new liv for themselv - everybody San Francis soon knew who and what the men were. Bee of that, there was no pot gog unrground wh regards to any gay scene shame had lerally been taken away, out of their own hands, and as a rult of ths, the gay bar as we know today was cy of San Francis and s gay and lbian history has many more important chapters to s name, and as the years progrsed om the end of World War Two the ary beme ls and ls central to s story and eventual cementg as the gay pal of the the 1950s, Beat culture emerged across the Stat which was by and large an act of fiance the face of middle-class Amerinism, somethg the gay muny uld easily align the 1970s, Harvey Milk beme the first openly gay polician Californian history before his untimely assassatn 1978.