Gay culture is not jt an affectatn. It is an exprsn of difference through style — a way of rvg out space for an alternate way of life.
Contents:
- THE IMPACT OF DIS ON THE GAY SUBCULTURE THE 1970S
- DANCE PRI: THE GAY ORIGS OF DANCE MIC
- THE SURPRISG STORY OF HOW ABBA BEME BELOVED GAY INS
THE IMPACT OF DIS ON THE GAY SUBCULTURE THE 1970S
It gave a powerful platform to artists of lour who were often female or gay – perhaps that’s why attracted such hostily, wr Arwa Hair. * disco and gay culture *
Behd velvet rop, blacks, Latos, and wh, women and men, rich and poor, gays and straights were enuraged to wear whatever they wanted, kiss whoever they wanted and — of urse — dance however they wanted. The movement really began wh the Stonewall Rts of 1969, the first major cint which gay men took a llective and forceful stand agast police btaly. Donna Summer simulated asms songs and the Village People would flg off police uniforms, nstctn hats, and wboy outfs a celebratn of gay culture.
DANCE PRI: THE GAY ORIGS OF DANCE MIC
Anyone uld tell you the “typil” dis tras: the synthizer, the twirlg ball, and the funky pants—but fewer know the te origs of dis, which emerged om the gay unrground of New York. * disco and gay culture *
The dis movement, as origally was, end the ’80s, as the AIDS epimic stormed through the gay muny and fear settled over the formerly jubilant clubs.
But vtig rema: Velvet rop still part for the chict outf, style mavens still fill gay clubs and paras, and mic trends ntue to transcend race and sexualy. (Image cred: Alamy)It gave a powerful platform to artists of lour who were often female or gay – perhaps that’s why attracted such hostily, wr Arwa was never signed to grow old gracefully – stead, has endured wh brilliant fiance. It ntu to spire mic, movi and fashn, as well as events like London’s Brixton Dis Ftival (28 April); the aren’t retro trips but a regnn that dis still do somethg for backlash was anti-gay, but also anti-women and anti-lour – Nicky SianoDis stemmed om a seri of epiphani and muni, rather than a sgle birthplace; key New York nightspots ranged om David Manco’s open-hearted hoe party The Loft (early ‘70s), to the late ‘70s exclive-chic of Stud 54 and the dancefloor hedonism of Paradise Garage.
Pneerg DJ/producer Nicky Siano rells beg a gay Brooklyn youth, drawn to the “social and affirmg” atmosphere of Greenwich Village; he was 18 when he found Manhattan’s The Gallery (where stars like Grace Jon buted), and he later beme a Stud 54 rint.
THE SURPRISG STORY OF HOW ABBA BEME BELOVED GAY INS
Durg the early to mid-70s, gay rights advanced more quickly than had durg the prr two s bed; many stat, sodomy laws were repealed, and * disco and gay culture *
’”Promiscuo and omnivoro, dis accelerated the transnatnal flow of mil ias – Alice EcholsDis enabled female, gay, black and Lat artists to fe their inti creasgly fluid ways. It phed the transformative power of nightlife onscreen – the grty Saturday Night Fever (1977), but also the 1978 mil edy Thank God It’s Friday (featurg Donna Summer and The Commodor), and the Brish gay drama Nighthawks (1978); more recently, Baz Luhrman’s Netflix seri The Get Down (2016) picted dis’s impact on the birth of hip hop. ”Gloria Gaynor’s dis h I Will Survive has been embraced by the LGBT muny as an empowerment anthem (Cred: Universal Mic Group)For many mic obssiv cludg Brewster, the 1990s brought a h appreciatn of dis’s legacy – through club rerds samplg om ‘70s labels like Salsoul.
“It was probably around this time that I realised both that I was gay, and dis mic reprented a gay culture that I found spirg, ” says Hillard. ” But most agree that none of this really mattered until the early 1970s, when gay unrground dance clubs New York—the Loft, Tenth Floor, 12 Wt, Infy, Flamgo, and, later, the Paradise Garage, Le Jard, and the Sat—spawned a dis culture that brought wh open dg e, on-se sex, and ecstatic, nonstop, all-night one who was there then and is still here now remembers the same way.
The Stonewall Inn NYC was a precursor to the clubs, and was the se of a key event that shaped the future for LGBTQI rights and gay liberatn.