Newly Published Portras Document a Century of Gay Men's Relatnships | Smart News | Smhsonian Magaze

Contents:

• HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
• NEWLY PUBLISHED PORTRAS DOCUMENT A CENTURY OF GAY MEN LOVE
• DOWNTON ABBEY'S THOMAS BARROW AND THE FUTURE OF THE GAY PAST
• MOVG THROUGH NEW YORK’S EARLY 20TH-CENTURY GAY SPAC
• 1920S GAY CULTURE
• PHOTOGRAPHS REVEAL EVERYDAY LIFE OF GAY UPL THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY
• THE PANSY CRAZE: WHEN GAY NIGHTLIFE LOS ANGEL REALLY KICKED OFF
• GAY RIGHTS

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

The Begngs of a New Gay World“In the late 19th century, there was an creasgly visible prence of genr-non-nformg men who were engaged sexual relatnships wh other men major Amerin ci, ” says Chad Heap, a profsor of Amerin Studi at Gee Washgton Universy and the thor of Slummg: Sexual and Racial Enunters Amerin Nightlife, 1885-1940. By the 1920s, gay men had tablished a prence Harlem and the bohemian mec of Greenwich Village (as well as the seedier environs of Tim Square), and the cy’s first lbian enclav had appeared Harlem and the Village.

NEWLY PUBLISHED PORTRAS DOCUMENT A CENTURY OF GAY MEN LOVE

Each gay enclave, wrote Gee Chncey his book Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940, had a different class and ethnic character, cultural style and public reputatn. Gay Life the Jazz AgeAs the Uned Stat entered an era of unprecented enomic growth and prospery the years after World War I, cultural mor loosened and a new spir of sexual eedom reigned. ”At the same time, lbian and gay characters were beg featured a slew of popular “pulp” novels, songs and on Broadway stag (cludg the ntroversial 1926 play The Captive) and Hollywood—at least prr to 1934, when the motn picture dtry began enforcg censorship guil, known as the Hays Co.

In the mid- to late ‘30s, Heap pots out, a wave of sensatnalized sex crim “provoked hysteria about sex crimals, who were often— the md of the public and the md of thori—equated wh gay men. ” By the post-World War II era, a larger cultural shift toward earlier marriage and suburban livg, the advent of TV and the anti-homosexualy csas champned by Joseph McCarthy would help ph the flowerg of gay culture reprented by the Pansy Craze firmly to the natn’s rear-view mirror. Durg the “Pansy Craze” om the 1920s until 1933, people the lbian, gay, bi, trans and queer (LGBTQ) muny were performg on stag ci around the world, and New York Cy’s Greenwich Village, Tim Square and Harlem held some of the most world-renowned drag performanc of the time.

DOWNTON ABBEY'S THOMAS BARROW AND THE FUTURE OF THE GAY PAST

“They didn’t see a nflict between not beg openly gay at work and sort of only beg gay durg their leisure time, ” says Heap, addg that a person’s class was likely ditive of how you might participate gay and lbian culture at the time. “The were moments when workg class gay men and women uld more eely explore their sexualy, sir, and terts cross drsg, but probably no doctor or lawyer is gog to drs up drag at the events, out of risk of beg exposed.

” In the mid ‘30s, productn s were put to effect that rtricted and prevented performanc of openly gay characters film or theater, and the followg s, thoands of LGBTQ people were arrted post WWII for equentg their own clubs. Thomas Barrow (Rob Jam-Collier)—former footman, would-be blackmailer, and early morn homosexual everyman—is now head butler on staff, givg him ample opportuny to teract wh the visg stars, and particular, wh the bonair Guy Dexter (Domic Wt). While everyone else the show be, Barrow already qutn for queer Downton Abbey fans, then, is this: Is Thomas an accurate unveilg of historil homosexualy, hidn but fully formed, jt wag for to notice his existence?

Like Thomas Barrow, Alec Scudr seems preternaturally gay, fully aware of his sexual sir, that they are exclively for men, and that they mark him, irrevobly, as a different sort of person.

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

In the post-Edwardian perd, upper class men were more likely to already unrstand the world terms of heterosexuals and homosexuals, wh a bright and absolute le dividg the two. As s passed, the neat fictn of bary sexualy beme broadly acknowledged “tth, ” leavg ls and ls space for middle-dwellg, workg-class men like Buckgham and an earlier and earlier age, people would be tght— streets as much as schools—that homosexuals existed, that they were unlike other men, and that any apparent “middle ground” was actually a slippery slope head straight to hell. She appeared at the Apollo Theater and the Cotton Club, but she was also often seen cked out a whe tuxedo sgg rnchy songs at gay speakeasi like Harry Hansberry’s Clam Hoe, backed up by drag performers.

One of the few openly gay Black wrers of the perd, Richard Bce Nugent, published the short story “Smoke, Lili and Ja, ” nsired a semal work of gay Harlem for pictg bisexualy and a 19-year-old male artist sexually volved wh another man.

Read more: You’ve Probably Heard of the Red Sre, but the Lser-Known, Anti-Gay ‘Lavenr Sre’ Is Rarely Tght Schools The richns of that culture still remaed, wag to be redisvered—a procs that began after the 1960s and ‘70s gay rights movement was followed by the loss of life durg the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and ’90s, which raised awarens of the need to prerve gay history. 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 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.

1920S GAY CULTURE

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. 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 about their tenants’ homosexual affairs. In general, though, the same lack of supervisn the roomg ho that so ncerned moral reformers ma the ho particularly attractive to gay men, who were able to e their landladi’ and fellow tenants’ prumptn that they were straight orr to disguise their liaisons wh men.

In March 1920, for stance, at least three rints of the two Mills Ho were arrted on homosexual charg (not on the premis): a 43-year-old Irish laborer, a 42-year-old Italian barber, and a 38-year-old French ok. The rintial hotels built by the Young Men’s Christian Associatn provi the most strikg example of hog signed to reform men’s behavr that gay men managed to appropriate for their own purpos. Sailors at Newport, Rho Island, reported that “everyone” knew the Y was “the headquarters” for gay men, and the sailor’s le Irvg Berl’s World War I show, Yip, Yip, Yaphank, about havg lots of iends at the YMCA is said to have drawn a knowg lgh.

PHOTOGRAPHS REVEAL EVERYDAY LIFE OF GAY UPL THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Such observatns beme a part of gay folklore the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, when the extent of sexual activy at the Ys—particularly the “never endg sex” the showers—beme legendary wh the gay world.

But on his first night at the Y as he gazed glumly om his room to the wdows of other men’s rooms he sudnly realized that many of the men he saw sharg rooms were upl; wh a week he had met many of them and begun to build a work of gay iends. Legislatn has long centered on gay men, maly avoidg mentng female LGBTQIA 1919 Frankl D Roosevelt, as Assistant Secretary, had begun an operatn to terme if men spected of beg homosexual through ercn to m physil acts by way of vtigators planted wh the navy.

1920s Gay Culture - Key TakeawaysThe 1920s were a time of self-exprsn through mic, art, and the public eye, the LGBTQIA muny was still Harlem Jazz scene bed wh the LGBTQIA movement as they both were alternative cultur to mastream U. Portras of pri: Touchg photographs reveal everyday life of gay upl the early 20th Century - before the closet door opened French screenwrer Sébastien Lifshz spent 20 years llectg photos om flea markets and garage salThey proudly portray alternative sexualy the U.

THE PANSY CRAZE: WHEN GAY NIGHTLIFE LOS ANGEL REALLY KICKED OFF

And Europe at a time when many had to hi their te feelgs'The need to keep a memory of their love was stronger than the disapproval of neighbourhood photo lab', he said Published: 12:46 BST, 29 June 2014 | Updated: 14:47 BST, 30 June 2014 Advertisement It seems ordary enough - a photo album of upl exchangg everyday affectn their garns, their kchens, bed and the what mak the imag so touchg is that the upl were almost certaly gay, at a time when to be so was illegal many parts of the wtern screenwrer Sébastien Lifshz took more than 20 years to amass his llectn om flea markets and garage sal, where he beme fascated wh the reee happs of people who were often outsts society. Careee: French screenwrer Sébastien Lifshz spent more than 20 years llectg hundreds of photos om flea markets and garage sal which portrayed gay upl their everyday liv - at a time when what they did behd closed doors was illegal. Mr Lifshz said he was fascated by their wealth of love and affectn Ambiguo: Bee he never knew the upl himself, Mr Lifshz uld not be sure if they were gay, bisexual or transgenr, or simply revellg sexual eedom Bee he never knew the upl himself, he uld not be sure if they were gay, bisexual or transgenr, or simply revellg sexual ambiguy and eedom.

'What astonished me was that their middle-class appearance didn’t match the act: the act of producg an image of homosexual love at a time when discretn was the norm, ' he said.

One of the most ironic parts of the whole story was that Jeff Gannon often wrote for Republins, and had homophobic unrton his profsnal life, when he was actually sleepg wh men as “Bulldog”. In his own words, he felt “pafully isolated, strand between the sual homophobia of most ‘normal’ people and the flagrantly gay Hollywood subculture – where [he] was even ls fortable and ls accepted.

GAY RIGHTS

Gaynor and Adrian were succsful durg a time when any sort of evince of their homosexualy would have hurt their reers, so ’s not surprisg that there isn’t ncrete evince about the tth of their relatnship. Whereas the late 19th century rtricted gay male activy to the seedy red-light district unr the elevated tra of the Bowery, wh an even ls visible lbian life largely rtricted to private salons for upper-class women, prohibn allowed the first emergence of a visible gay and lbian life.

This perd, durg the late 1920s and the early 1930s, was a goln era Los Angel for gay performers, entertaers drag and the crowds of Angelenos – gay, straight, rich and poor – that loved them. Lillian Farman, -thor of “Gay LA: a History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Polics and Lipstick Lbians, ” said of the era, “I thk that sexualy was very fluid Hollywood, particularly the movie dtry the 1920s and the 1930s.