Pansy Craze: the wild 1930s drag parti that kickstarted gay nightlife | Mic | The Guardian

Contents:

• HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
• HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE
• THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS
• PANSY CRAZE: THE WILD 1930S DRAG PARTI THAT KICKSTARTED GAY NIGHTLIFE
• THE PANSY CRAZE: WHEN GAY NIGHTLIFE LOS ANGEL REALLY KICKED OFF
• THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950'S LOS ANGEL
• GAY AMSTERDAM
• BETWEEN WORLD WARS, GAY CULTURE FLOURISHED IN BERL

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

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. 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.

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. “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.

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.

THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS

David Carter explas his book Stonewall: The Rts That Sparked the Gay Revolutn, that durg a typil raid, bar owners would change the lights om blue to whe, warng ctomers to stop dancg and drkg. 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.

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. Most gay bars and clubs New York at the time were operated by the Mafia, who paid rptible police officers to look the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threateng to “out” them. After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village.

PANSY CRAZE: THE WILD 1930S DRAG PARTI THAT KICKSTARTED GAY NIGHTLIFE

" 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. ”Over the next several nights, gay activists ntued to gather near the Stonewall, takg advantage of the moment to spread rmatn and build the muny that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement.

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. Bars and ClubsNY Magaze rerds that the first “gay bar” New York Cy opened the, same-sex attractn beme a distct inty and nceptualizatns of "straight" and "gay" began to form throughout the 20th century, muni of like-md people also began to form.

This meant that tablishments that did serve people known or spected of belongg to the LGBT+ muny were closed down, which rulted a lot of gay bars and LGBT+-iendly tablishments were n by illegal anizatns and liable to shakedowns by the police. Unfortunately, for a lot of reasons - certaly datg apps, but also the 2008 recsn, risg rents, a wir atmosphere of acceptance that renrs LGBT+ bars and clubs val but not a necsy - gay bars and clubs are begng to disappear om the landspe.

THE PANSY CRAZE: WHEN GAY NIGHTLIFE LOS ANGEL REALLY KICKED OFF

This Stonewall Factsheet, produced by NYC LGBT Historic S Project, Makg Gay History, New York Public Library, GLSEN, Natnal Parks Conservatn Associatn, and the Stonewall 50 Consortium, provis some answers to FAQs, and provis an excellent list of rourc for you to learn about the history of what is objectively the most famo gay bar LGBT+ history.

Juli’ Bar Manhattan may claim to be one of the olst gay bars the Village (though did not always operate as a gay bar), but is probably more famo for beg the se of the ‘sip ’ prott of 1966 that challenged the legaly of nyg service to LGBT+ patrons bars New York state. Frankly, I’d have served a prison jt for him to hold my hand, like he did his off-whe Vxhall Nova on the drive there, breakg only to change, he took me for strawberry cir the Gloucter, a pub at the park’s edge, takg my tremblg hand his and reassurg me: “It’s actually a gay bar. On Sunday, the first a new seri of rabow plaqu will be stalled at the Gloucter – now the Greenwich Tavern – cementg s place gay home the workg-class Medway area of Kent, where we met when he sold me a phone cred rd at the lol petrol statn, “queers” like were wily perceived as predatory, perverted, spic or simply scum.

THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950'S LOS ANGEL

The first time I saw wh him, when I was 18, I realised he had echoed the love story of the two protagonists, who also had their first kiss the twilight of Greenwich Park’s tre, and their first experience of a gay pub at the Gloucter. The explanatn for his obssn is now clear: there was such a pcy of same-sex love stori that this was the first time many young people had seen a same-sex kiss, or peeked si an actual gay bar after dark. The project remds people “that we have always been here, good tim and bad, ” David Robson of the London LGBT+ Foms’ Network said when the plaqu were film and my own story were workg-class gay love: not dandyish and sheltered by the polse of privilege, but the btal realy of beg perceived a non-mascule boy.

GAY AMSTERDAM

It was a powerful and rarely told tersectn – and one that, even more rarely, ends rather happily, wh a betiful scene of fiance and acceptance played to a Mama Cass waltz on the sk I disvered that I wasn’t the only wi-eyed baby gay my boyiend had been chasg through those ancient chtnuts that summer.

For me, the plaque honours that private moment as well as the shared history of the LGBTQ+ ’s the msage I’d impart to anyone who thks such symbols are meangls, as the unique social history of the UK’s gay bars is endangered by gentrifitn, hook-up apps, the st of livg crisis and even assiatn.

The cy already had a number of gay-iendly bars, cludg Pfaff’s Beer Cellar (favoured by Walt Whman) and the Sli, which Joseph Pulzer’s New York Eveng World labelled “morally the lowt New York, Paris, London or Berl”.

BETWEEN WORLD WARS, GAY CULTURE FLOURISHED IN BERL

Photograph: Brigte DummerBut Paris had a reputatn for s laissez-faire attu, and queer performers were enuraged by the succs enjoyed the cy by Amerin performers cludg bisexual dancer Josephe Baker and gay trapeze artist Barbette. Wh the Hays Co effectively banng Hollywood om portrayg homosexual characters (or “attemptg to keep the dual-sex boys and lbos out of films” as Variety put ), and war Europe on the horizon, the LGBT performers who had domated nightlife for more than a were driven back unrground. The Caso, opened 1930 on the rner of Washgton Street and 2nd Avenue, was known as "the only place on the Wt Coast that was open and ee for gay people", and where same-sex dancg was allowed.

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.

Seattle cy officials believed that the cy was not dog enough to enforce laws discrimatg agast homosexualy and feared that eventually would be as openly acceptable as ci such as San Francis. This perd, durg the late 1920s and the early 1930s, was a goln era Los Angel for gay performers, entertaers drag and the crowds of Angelenos – gay, straight, rich and poor – that loved them. Lillian Farman, -thor of “Gay LA: a History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Polics and Lipstick Lbians, ” said of the era, “I thk that sexualy was very fluid Hollywood, particularly the movie dtry the 1920s and the 1930s.