How the Mob Helped Establish NYC’s Gay Bar Scene | HISTORY

Contents:

• HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
• GAY CULTURE 19TH CENTURY NEW YORK CY
• HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE
• THE 5 BEST ONTAR GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ONTAR
• THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW
• MOSW GAY MAP
• PHOTOGRAPHS REVEAL EVERYDAY LIFE OF GAY UPL THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

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.

GAY CULTURE 19TH CENTURY NEW YORK CY

“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.

HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE

” 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. 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.

THE 5 BEST ONTAR GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ONTAR

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.

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. ”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. ” 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.

THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW

A 2012 weblog post at The Art of Manls provis some wonrful imag om that time and Chncey’s 1995 Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 is an excellent source of that book, this story of a young medil stunt’s vis to the cy and first vis to The Sli, a Bowery nightclub where, he found, gay men met and felt fortable  ntrast to the media reprentatns of such plac as spectacl of evil and bchery:Moreover, the rerd of another man’s nversatn wh a “generate type” at the Sli also dit that the men who were ma part of the spectacle at such rorts nohels managed to turn them to somethg of a haven, where they uld gather and fd support. The Double Hear above The Caso, opened 1934, possibly the olst ntuoly operatg gay bar the Uned Stat, and The Spng Wheel on Unn Street and 2nd Avenue, a baret featurg female impersonators, were open to both gay and straight clientele durg the 1930s. But between New York’s LGBT muny the 1960s beg forced to live on the outskirts of society and the Mafia’s disregard for the law, the two ma a profable, if uneasy, the gay muny blossomed New York Cy the 1960s, members had few plac to gather publicly.

Unr the guise of New York State’s liquor laws that barred “disorrly” premis, the State Liquor Authory and the New York Police Department regularly raid bars that tered to gay the law saw viance, however, the Mafia saw a goln bs opportuny. It was the only place where gay people uld openly dance close together, and for relatively ltle money, drag queens (who received a bter receptn at other bars), naways, homels LGBT youths and others uld be off the streets as long as the bar was open. “Fat Tony, ” for one, paid New York’s 6th Precct approximately $1, 200 a week, exchange for the police agreeg to turn a bld eye to the “cent nduct” occurrg behd closed Photo<em>An NYPD officer grabs someone by their hair as another officer clubs a young man durg a nontatn Greenwich Village after a Gay Power march New York, 1970.

Sometim the ps even went to the extreme measure of sendg female officers to the bathroom to verify people’s get around laws that prohibed servg alhol to LGBT patrons, many gay bars—cludg the Stonewall—operated ostensibly as “bottle bars, ” private clubs where members would brg their own alhol.

MOSW GAY MAP

Apparently, too many high-powered dividuals—cludg Mafia members, police officers and big Hollywood nam—were implited as Stonewall Inn is a bar loted New York Cy’s Greenwich Village that served as a haven the 1960s for the cy’s gay, lbian and transgenr muny.

" This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay reportg the events, The New York Daily News rorted to homophobic slurs s tailed verage, nng the headle: “Homo Nt Raid, Queen Be Are Stgg Mad. 1 / 14: RxSome scholars have argued the famo Stonewall rts that sparked the natnwi LGBT movement were as much a ristance agast the mob’s exploatn of the gay muny as they were a stggle agast police harassment and discrimatory laws. ” Two of the ma gay-rights anizatns that me out of the rts, the Gay Activists Alliance and Gay Liberatn Front, actively champned gettg anized crime out of gay Mafia’s stranglehold on New York Cy’s nightlife bs took a huge h wh a seri of high-profile prosecutns the 1980s.

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

Transient male-male timacy was not necsarily labeled as gay or homosexual by ntemporari, but was stead seen as a threat to the ials of a heteronormative fay and Christian valu of Seattle’s moral guardians. Many men wh homosexual tennci met one another the service and went and out of major port ci that had visible and veloped gay subcultur, while women wh sexual tert othe women uld meet wartime factori. While not every tavern was genr-tegrated, gay men and lbians largely belonged to the same muny and uld feel fortable visg tablishments that might ter to the oppose sex, as they had durg the Great Deprsn.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

Drag performanc quickly beme a central feature of the gay muny, first appearg vville performanc as early as 1898, when the natnally regnized female impersonator Edward Stewart performed a Seattle Theater productn of 1492.

In a piic sponsored part by the group, atten were not allowed to wear drag, an ditn that the Dorian Society was tryg to move away om certa forms of gay cultural exprsn to achieve rpectabily the ey of hetersexual rints.