By Brian J Pape, AIA The June 1969 rebelln agast police harassment by the patrons of the Stonewall Inn, at the eastern end of Christopher Street, helped to lnch a natnal gay rights movement and make Christopher Street the social and cultural center of New York’s lbian and gay muny. Today, almost all of the
Contents:
- THEN&NOW: AN OVERLOOKED CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY SCENE
- GAY NEW YORK CY
- NEW YORK CY: GAYS & LBIANS AND CHRISTOPHER STREET
- CHRISTOPHER AND GAY STREETS
THEN&NOW: AN OVERLOOKED CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY SCENE
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Over the urse of the early 20th century, was a safe haven for New York's LGBTQ muny and home to events—cludg the Stonewall Inn protts—that would bee flash pots for the mastreamg of the gay rights movement all across the untry.It remas to this day an important symbol of LGBTQ life New York (photographs of the sign at s tersectn wh Gay Street are tourist souvenir shop stapl), even though 's now more populated wh luxury shops and extravagant gyms than the nightlife hotspots that was once famo for.
At this time gay bars were still not openly operatg, but the way the thory wrote s l meant they would later bee the unexpected llateral damage of the legislatn.
GAY NEW YORK CY
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While the thory did not directly ce gay bars any of s extensive regulatns, police will go on to terpret a le agast nng a "disorrly" tablishment to mean venu equented by gay people. And so gay bars (and also servg gay people any bar) beme, practice, illegal.The Mafia se a bs opportuny here.
Pretty soon, the Fay will have ntrol over majory of the gay nightlife the Village, a monopoly that will ntue ep to the 1960s.1938. For many gay and lbians livg WWII Ameri, their sexual inti were relatively tolerated. A need for as many drafts as possible after Pearl Harbor meant that when gay people enlisted the army, they weren't turned away.
Durg this time, the FBI matas a list of gay Amerins, who will subsequently be targeted by police for an array of illegal activi, cludg habatn and kissg public.Sce the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, many queer people of lor had been leadg a (relatively) open life the north Manhattan neighborhood—as celebrated gay artist Bce Nugent put : "Nobody was the closet. There wasn't any closet." But the 1950s police crackdown drove Harlem's gay muny back to the closet.
NEW YORK CY: GAYS & LBIANS AND CHRISTOPHER STREET
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An exod of gay people of lor om Harlem to the Village begs.1960s. Drag queens beg to flock to the Village om all over the cy, pg plac where drsg female clothg public rults eher arrt, or beatg om homophobic vigilant.
In the face of laws barrg gay men om beg seen public together, gay men and drag queens beg to cise the wateront and steal away wh anonymo lovers to the squalid flopho dotted along the wateront.Marsha P. Gay nightlife Greenwich Village ntu to be subject to tense police scty.
Proprietors of gay-iendly bars are routely harassed; gay patrons are refed service.In a bid to spotlight this discrimatn, on April 21, 1966 the gay rights group the Mattache Society cis to hold a Sip-. Activists hatch a plan to go around bars the Village, and tt out whether they will still receive service after revealg to bartenrs that they are gay—all ont of the half dozen reporters they have ved along for the ri. The former 1920s speakeasy—which is still around today—is actually an gno gay bar, but the manager is hoots wh the activists and ref them service ont of the reporters.
CHRISTOPHER AND GAY STREETS
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They n wh stori about the cint, markg a signifint step on the road to endg gay discrimatn bars.Flyer om the Mattache Society. Throughout the late 1960s, raids on gay bars on the loose terpretatns of the state liquor thory regulatns, bee creasgly equent.
Christopher Street is the place most of look to when to LGBTQ history New York. It is the se of the Stonewall Uprisg, wh the send Stonewall Inn, the Gay Liberatn Monument, and the Gay Street photo-op all wh a few steps of each other. However, there are also a number * gay bars christopher st *
Amid the chaos and uncertaty happeng on Christopher Street, 's a moment that's e to be known as the trigger for the morn mastreamg of the gay rights movement.1969 (July).
In the immediate aftermath of Stonewall, gay activists and rints of the neighborhood beg batg how to harns the thst of the rts to an assertive fight for eedom.
The Gay Liberatn Front is born, wh a flyer announcg the ocsn: "Do you thk homosexuals are revoltg? On June 28, a few hundred gay men and lbians march om Christopher Street up Sixth Ave and to Central Park bearg handma banners wh slogans like "Gay Pri" and "Gay is Good." It's the first gay pri march New York—known back then as the Christopher Street Gay Liberatn Day.