A history of Detro’s disappearg gay bars | Cra's Detro Bs

Contents:

• WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS
• THE BT LGBTQ+ AND GAY CLUBS LONDON
• AS A GAY MAN, THE '80S CRIPPLED MY INTY
• THE 13 GAYT MIC VIOS OF THE '80S

WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS

That saw a major shift towards the emergence of a global gay culture. The gay genie me right out of s ltle pk bottle and to the streets (and the media…and polics…and the arts…).

For example, the US, the Court of Appeal led that there was no ‘fundamental right’ to be gay. In the UK, the Thatcher ernment created Sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act, makg illegal for lol thori to support anythg that might promote homosexual relatnships as a viable alternative to heterosexual ‘fay life’. And, unsurprisgly, the Catholic Church ntued ’s attack on gays.

In 1986 Pope John Pl II labelled “evil” and orred the Church to whdraw all support om gay Catholic anisatns. And even the US Army, who had clared homosexualy to be “patible wh ary service” 1982, were forced to adm 1989 that gay recs were “jt as good or better” than heterosexuals. Unrstandably, the packed Hoe of Y crowd – an imprsive ngregatn of young and old, black and whe, straight and gay – went wild.

THE BT LGBTQ+ AND GAY CLUBS LONDON

Photograph: Bill Bernste/‎ Garage, meanwhile, was home to not jt the gay, black dancers historilly placed there, but also young art-punks and nascent hip-hop kids, whose mic found life on Levan’s turntabl. When The Woodward, Detro's olst-nng gay bar, burned a massive fire last week, spurred a nversatn about the history of the bar self, but also where was suated Detro gay history more broadly — and how to remember and celebrate s signifince the gay muny while lookg toward the future. The fire happened the middle of Pri Month, and not jt any Pri Month Detro: This year marks 50 years sce the cy's first Pri march, held June 24, 1972 to mand "full civil rights for gay people" and a repeal of all anti-gay laws, the Free Prs reported back then.

The march, officially lled Christopher Street '72, was self a remembrance of the uprisg at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street New York Cy on June 28, 1969, when protts broke out rponse to a police raid at a gay bar. In s 70-odd years, The Woodward has been part of many tersectg stori of gay life and culture Detro, cludg policg of gay spac, ownership shifts, racial segregatn and populatn trends the cy. The owners said they never set out to open up a gay bar.

"We jt opened up and whichever way went, went, " Andy Karagas told "Gayzette" 1973 (as reported Andy's obuary 1997).

AS A GAY MAN, THE '80S CRIPPLED MY INTY

"And when went gay all the way, we kicked out all the straights that night. He later me out as the time, owners of gay bars Detro were mostly not gay themselv. Gay sex was a crime Michigan — as had been sce the 1800s — and police equently harassed and arrted gay people and raid gay bars.

"It was technilly illegal to operate a bar that was a renzvo for homosexuals, " said Tim Retzloff, adjunct assistant profsor of history and LGBTQ studi at Michigan State Universy. Bars at the time, gay and otherwise, sometim paid off police to be left alone.

THE 13 GAYT MIC VIOS OF THE '80S

The Woodward provid a safe haven for whe gay men.