Fotten Gay History - March 8, 1970: The NYC Snake P Bar Raid. 167 Arrted, 1 Crilly Wound

Contents:

• PRIVATE AND PUBLIC: GAY BARS NEW YORK CY BEFORE 1970S
• WHY BEG “GAY THE ’70S NEW YORK AND L.A. WAS MAGIC” — AND HOW HOLLYWOOD HAS CHANGED (GUT COLUMN)
• THIS IS WHAT GAY LIBERATN LOOKED LIKE IN THE '70S
• FOTTEN GAY HISTORY – MARCH 8, 1970: THE NYC SNAKE P BAR RAID. 167 ARRTED, 1 CRILLY WOUND
• THE HISTORY OF GAY NIGHTLIFE NEW YORK CY
• HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE

PRIVATE AND PUBLIC: GAY BARS NEW YORK CY BEFORE 1970S

The spac, whether always gay iendly or only durg certa tim of the day or week, gave LGBT people the eedom to be themselv a way they ually uld not be their personal or profsnal liv. The history of NYC nightlife is studd wh the memori of fascatg boît that attracted gays sperate need of nnectn, then ultimately fell away as newer spots and trends emerged. Kyle: My favore is probably the Nth Circle (a fab Wt 10th Street steakhoe-turned-gay-bar full of leather clon, twks, htlers, and celebry drop-s, all eher cisg, playg pool, dog dgs, or bbg agast each other.

New York's Lost Gay BarsWe've known for many years that too many of our cherished gay bars and clubs are shutterg, fallg victim to risg rents and the ubiquy of apps like Grdr and Scff. By the early 1970s, the wtern end of Christopher Street and the adjacent blocks along Wt and Weehawken Streets, long tablished wh seamen-oriented wateront taverns, beme a nucls for bars terg to a gay male clientele. It was the se of one of Greenwich Village’s most notorly homophobic crim, when, on November 19, 1980, a former trans officer fired to the bar, killg two men and woundg six others.

WHY BEG “GAY THE ’70S NEW YORK AND L.A. WAS MAGIC” — AND HOW HOLLYWOOD HAS CHANGED (GUT COLUMN)

This rt revealed tense tensns between the police and the homosexual muny, which reprented a tradnal nflict between the homosexual mory and the heterosexual public. This eptn also signaled how activism at gay bars would be at the foreont of the movement om the perspective of both the homosexual populatn and police muny. By viewg the Stonewall Inn Rt as the transnal event after which homosexual people spontaneoly walked out of the “closet” and llectively protted for their human rights, people today celebrate the rt every year, and is marked as an important annual event for queer muni (Humphreys, 1972, p.

THIS IS WHAT GAY LIBERATN LOOKED LIKE IN THE '70S

The answers to the qutns n be found by viewg multiple historil events sce 1900s New York Cy: the nstctn of homosexual enomic stutns, the performance of homosexual people (pecially gay men this discsn), the night life New York Cy, the distributn of police and Mafia, and the martn between public and private spac.

In a word, through stori om the history of gay bars New York Cy, one n map the transn of homosexual muni om unrground and margalizatn to openns and normalizatn.

FOTTEN GAY HISTORY – MARCH 8, 1970: THE NYC SNAKE P BAR RAID. 167 ARRTED, 1 CRILLY WOUND

However, is difficult to study the perspective of homosexual muni and unrstand how dividuals om the LGBTQ muny have self-intified the past, bee the experienc were kept secret and supprsed for so long that they are virtually visible archiv. At the same time, this study micro-historil characters, such as the fluence of the Mafia on bars and saloons durg the 1920s New York, to help renstct the ntext of the history of gay bars.

THE HISTORY OF GAY NIGHTLIFE NEW YORK CY

Instead of rercg the sufferg and opprsn of gays the 1960s, which for years were seen as the direct trigger of the rt, the goal of this paper is to stretch the landspe of the history of homosexual muni to the neteenth century and to articulate the gradual transn of this muny’s inty relative to the larger public. The ma argument of this paper is that the private and public bary experience of LGBTQ muni n be seen the way that gay bars acted both as safe spac and spac of nttatn New York Cy. Their inti, night life, relatnship wh the other muni, and performanc gay bars reveal the role gay bars have played homosexual people’s social participatn public and private spher.

The historil nnectns between the velopment of gay bars and the nstctn of homosexual muni New York Cy were reprented by the navigatn between sens of public and private of homosexual people om 1920s to 1970s. This paper attempts to map the shiftg of inti between the public and private which are two featur of homosexual muni that are entangled wh the public sphere. As plac where a balance was found between “closeted homosexuals, ” police, and Mafia, gay bars acted as different parts of the public sphere, which revealed the changg perspective of public on the three subjects.

This men’s preference the early saloon culture potentially purified the genr , and th provid the possibily for gays to nstct their “pure” bars which they uld also pe om social discrimatn. As a graduate stunt 1964, Nancy Achill observed that the sexual separatn by male nsumers saloons ntributed to the protectn of gay bars that “[I]t is such a mon type of tablishment that there is no great prsure om members of the larger society to ga accs to any particular bar (Gagnon, 1967, p. ” Though Achill’ rearch foced on gay bars San Franc, her discsn about how gay muni ma bars protective for their social activi n be also applied New York Cy.

HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE

New York homosexual muni were subject to more terror om the police and Mafia, and durg the 1930s to 1940s, New York State’s Liquor Authory (NYSLA) and New York Police Department (NYPD) closed hundreds of gay bars unr the New York State’s liquor laws. By sayg that “Dpe the efforts of management and clientele alike, the bar nnot, by s very nature, rema a totally private and segregated stutn, ” Achill poted out the nflict that gay bars need to be both public and private, as “The bar… be both the center of the private activi of the muny and s liaison wh the larger society (Gagnon, 1967, p.