Matt Tyrner ptured the notor gay matchmaker’s unique view of the stars.
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GAY HISTORY – APRIL 26, 1977: STUD 54 OPENS NEW YORK CY
Co-owner Steve Rubell was gay, which uld expla why stead of the bty women you might expect, the bartenrs at the club were all hunky guys. “What stck me, and was touchg, is this is a story about a gay guy (Rubell) and straight guy (Schrager) who were born the ‘40s, growg up the ‘60s, and gay guys weren’t out back then, but to them, didn’t matter. The adult’s Disneyland arose agast Watergate, Vietnam, the sexual revolutn of the pill, and gay liberatn.
“Dis had been emergg as a sensatn, but Schrager and Rubell brought the ncept of the unrground, gay black cultural movement, and phed to a stratosphere that was prevly unknown. It led to a wipeout of what wrer Fran Leibovz lled, “the bt dyg” where gay talent was murred by the HIV epimic.
Rubell — wh whom he opened the Palladium nightclub and created the boutique hotel tegory after they got out of jail — was gay until very near his ath om plitns of AIDS 1989.