Gay and Lbian Town Meetg (U.S. Natnal Park Service)

Contents:

• WHAT’S A NAME? GAY STREET
• ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER
• GAY TOWN
• GAY
• GAYTOWN
• DEFE GAY TOWN MEANG
• GAY AND LBIAN TOWN MEETG
• GAY TOWN ED MEANG

WHAT’S A NAME? GAY STREET

Pri, formerly known as Gay Pri, is a regnn of LGBTQ inty, affirmatn of equal rights, and celebratn of visibily, digny, and diversy the LGBTQ muny. While the word homosexual is still ocsnally ed some ntexts, you might have noticed that don’t make an appearance any versn of the LGBTQ acronym.

ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER

As our age note on the term stat, “up until 1973, homosexualy was listed The Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs (DSM), psychiatry’s standard reference on the classifitn of mental illns. People aware of this former tegorizatn feel that the term homosexual still rri a negative nnotatn. And many feel that this word plac undue emphasis on sexual activy, or that sounds overly clil.” In fact, the term homosexual was liberately rejected by early gay rights activists bee, acrdg to The New York Tim, “they did not want to be intified as exclively sexual begs.”.

Gay, on the other hand, n be ed to scribe a person of any genr who experienc same-sex attractn, although is most often ed to scribe a man who is attracted to men. On June 28, 1969, the New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a bar equented by gay and genr-nonnformg people (at a time when terms like LGBTQ didn’t yet exist). They attempted to arrt the gay and trans bar patrons, which started a seri of protts agast the police.

GAY TOWN

Partially rponse to Stonewall, 1970, queer activists New York Cy anized a march to Central Park wh the theme “Gay Pri.” A more prehensive history of the Stonewall Rt or the Stonewall Uprisg n be found our Pri Month explaer. Queer lerally means “strange or odd om a nventnal viewpot,” and by at least by the late 1800s, queer was ployed as a rogatory term for an effemate or gay man.

GAY

Queer was seen as a way to refer to gays and lbians whout beg genr-sentialist or g divisns wh the muny. Gay Street is one of the most charmg and picturque streets Greenwich Village, an in of the historic neighborhood’s anachronistic character. And while the street certaly has strong nnectns to gay liberatn and the Ain-Amerin stggle for eedom, the history behd the name is a ltle murkier, and a ltle more plited to unravel, than one might expect.

The three- and four-story Feral and Greek Revival-style ho which le much of s length give Gay Street a remarkably timate feel.

GAYTOWN

In the later 19th century, when the Village was the center of New York’s Ain-Amerin muny, many of the rints of Gay Street were black, and many of them were also micians. Historic Bromley map of Manhattan showg Gay Street lower right (urty of David Jarrett — historic maps available on Village Prervatn’s webse; see “Maps” unr Rourc).

DEFE GAY TOWN MEANG

But long before Ruth McKenna ma Gay Street famo, the street and s Greenwich Village surroundgs had already e to be associated wh the word “gay. But this was not always so, and the word’s evolutn, tertgly, mirrors that of Gay Street and s environs. However, by the late 19th and pecially the early 20th century, the nnotatns of the word gay me to be creasgly associated wh a liftyle unfettered by the nventns of the day.

GAY AND LBIAN TOWN MEETG

At this time, the term “gay” was associated wh both men and women, many of whom lived plac like Greenwich Village or Paris. It was not until the mid-20th century that e of the term “gay” me to more monly mean specifilly those attracted to the same sex, and was not until the late 20th century that this fn me to eclipse other and associatns.

Of urse, durg this same time perd, Greenwich Village also evolved om beg one of the premier lol for those who were “gay”– as unfettered by ntemporary nventns — to, more specifilly, a mec for those who were “gay” — as attracted to the same sex.

GAY TOWN ED MEANG

So where this arc of the evolutn of the meang of the word gay, and of Greenwich Village’s inty, did the name “Gay Street” emerge? Acrdg to “The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan’s Street Nam and Their Origs” by Henry Mosw, the name Gay Street first appears officially the New York Cy Common Council mut on April 23, 1827 — when Greenwich Village was first beg settled as a suburb of New York by merchants fleeg the yellow fever epimics downtown.

This was long before Greenwich Village had e to acquire any associatns wh the “gay” life — reee, same-sex, or otherwise. It has often been posed that the street was named for Sidney Howard Gay, edor of the Natnal Anti-Slavery Standard.