Art, eedom and drag vasns: the history of New York's Fire Island as a gay sanctuary

Contents:

• THE VERY GAY HISTORY OF FIRE ISLAND
• 1968: AFTER DOZENS OF ACQUTALS, POLICE FORCED TO END RAIDS ON GAY HAVEN
• CHEAP GAY VATN TO FIRE ISLAND? - FIRE ISLAND FOM
• THE BT GAY-IENDLY HOTELS ON FIRE ISLAND

THE VERY GAY HISTORY OF FIRE ISLAND

From Osr Wil’s vis to the island 1882, to the steady velopment of Cherry Grove as “Ameri's First Gay and Lbian Town, ” Fire Island has long been a home and haven to LGBTQ visors and rints alike. Long before the Stonewall Rts set the movement for Gay Liberatn to motn, Fire Island provid an important enclave to rints and visors at a time when almost everythg about livg openly as a lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or queer (LGBTQ) person was illegal the Uned Stat.

The Cherry Grove Communy Hoe is exceptnally signifint for the enormo role played shapg what gradually evolved to Ameri's First Gay and Lbian Town. As anizatns, the Cherry Grove Property Owners Associatn and Cherry Grove Arts Projects profoundly fluenced the muny's velopment, facilatg the gradual social acceptance, self-affirmatn, and tegratn of s gay and lbian rints to Cherry Grove's erng affairs and civic life.

This tegratn of LGBTQ rints to daily life and events at s muny hoe afford Cherry Grove a sgular stat; beme the one of the first and, for many years, the only gay and lbian fluenced geography the Uned Stat. Its metamorphosis played out agast turbulent social and polil upheavals -- our natn's rponse to the pre- and early days of the homosexual liberatn movement. The 1969 uprisg at the Stonewall Inn, which is largely creded as the turng pot the gay civil rights movement, has been documented by numero scholars.

1968: AFTER DOZENS OF ACQUTALS, POLICE FORCED TO END RAIDS ON GAY HAVEN

How did one particular summer settlement on Fire Island bee a ‘safe haven’ for gay men and lbians almost nety years ago, s before the uprisg at Stonewall Inn? It is the se of one of the olst gay and lbian muni the Uned Stat, suated wh two neighborg hamlets — Cherry Grove and the Fire Island P. Durg the 1930s actors, wrers and craftspeople om the New York theatril world began headg to Cherry Grove, s remote and stic quali allowg for gay and lbians to exprs themselv eely — far away om a world that rejected and persecuted them.

CHEAP GAY VATN TO FIRE ISLAND? - FIRE ISLAND FOM

And they are joed by Parker Sargent, a documentary filmmaker and one of the curators of Safe Haven: Gay Life 1950s Cherry Grove, a new exhibn at the New-York Historil Society, highlightg photography om the llectn of the Cherry Grove Archiv Collectn. Listen Now: The Very Gay History of Fire Island. Go see the show Safe/Haven: Gay Life 1950s Cherry Grove at the New-York Historil Society.

THE BT GAY-IENDLY HOTELS ON FIRE ISLAND

Known for s artistic exprsn, Cherry Grove is also nsired to be the foremost gay iendly summer retreat featurg a range of ameni om rtrants to clubs and bars.

The Belvere Gut Hoe is the ft gay hotel the Cherry Grove muny offerg luxur rooms. Suated the heart of Fire Island’s most gay rort muny, the Madison Fire Island P are sends away om the ferry and betiful beach.

In the tumn of 1968, close to two dozen gay men were acquted of nsensual sodomy charg a seri of crimal trials on Long Island. The trials and acqutals marked a pivotal moment what eventually beme the gay rights movement. They monstrated to the larger gay muny — then maly closeted — that gay people uld band together to rist police harassment.

Stonewall is often seen as the birth of the morn gay rights movement.

Cherry Grove is and was an important gay muny on Fire Island, which li off the southern shore of New York's Long Island. It was an annual summer rual for police om Suffolk County, Long Island, to stage raids Cherry Grove, roundg up gay men engagg public sex.

"Every year there was this tradn of raidg the gay muni of Fire Island and arrtg 25, 30, up to 40 fellas, and chargg them wh sodomy and other crim, " said Karl Grossman, who took a job at a daily newspaper lled the Long Island Prs 1964. He'd get a ll om the ps every summer and said the police were eager to feed him personal tails about the gay men they had arrted Cherry Grove.

And gay people lived a double life, " said Esther Newton, a retired anthropology profsor who wrote a history of Cherry Grove. Newton is one of the few anthropologists who have foced exclively on genr and gay culture. Her book, Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty Years Ameri's First Gay and Lbian Town, chronicl Cherry Grove's growth om the 1920s on.

The wood area where gay men had sex was known lloquially as 'the Meatrack. "This was a strictly anonymo kd of thg and siar to what was gog on the gay baths. NPR ntacted William Unrwood, a retired judge who prid over prosecutns of gay men arrted on Fire Island, and Howard Berler, a retired Suffolk County prosecutor who tried some of those s, but both men said they didn't remember the trials.

Author Esther Newton rerd an terview wh one gay man who was arrted the Meatrack for her book on Cherry Grove. The Mattache Society, an early gay rights group, played a key role anizg efforts to stop the police raids on Cherry Grove. The late Dick Lesch, who served as print of the anizatn, told Esther Newton that some Cherry Grove regulars rebuffed him and other Mattache volunteers who distributed flyers advisg gay men not to plead guilty if they got arrted the Meatrack.

In the fall of 1968 Benny Vuturo, as he was known, mand jury trials for all of the gay men he was fendg. "Benny said there's terrible crim on the maland of Long Island, murrs and rap, and here the ps go and they beat the bh and try to fd the gay fellas who are not harmg anyone, " said reporter Karl Grossman, who vered some of the trials for the Long Island Prs. Cast & crewUser reviewsTrivia2022R1h 45mA group of queer bt iends gather Fire Island P for their annual week of love and lghter, but a sudn change of events might make this their last summer gay paradise.

A group of queer bt iends gather Fire Island P for their annual week of love and lghter, but a sudn change of events might make this their last summer gay paradise. A group of queer bt iends gather Fire Island P for their annual week of love and lghter, but a sudn change of events might make this their last summer gay productn, box office & pany Vios12More like thisReview Corny as All Get Out, But It Works"Fire Island" prov that Jane Aten wrote somethg so good wh "Pri and Prejudice" that 's almost impossible to screw very gay adaptatn sets the story among a group of young(ish) men durg one last vatn week at Fire Island before the hoe they ually stay at is no longer available and they n't go anymore. I was put off ially by how flamboyant and exaggerated the pictn of gay men is this movie, but gradually won me over.

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