The Pansy Craze: When gay nightlife Los Angel really kicked off

Contents:

• THE PANSY CRAZE: WHEN GAY NIGHTLIFE LOS ANGEL REALLY KICKED OFF
• HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
• THAT’S SO GAYPANSY DIVISNTRACK 5 ON THAT’S SO GAY PRODUCED BYPANSY DIVISNMAR. 31, 20091 VIEWER7K VIEWS7 CONTRIBUTORSTHAT’S SO GAY LYRICS(INTRO)I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID, I'M NOT STUPID, YOU KNOWWHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR? HETERO?THE NEXT TIME YOU SAY , MAKE SURE I N'T HEAR'CSE YOU'RE PISSG ME OFF, IS THAT CLEAR?(CHOS)WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"AND IF YOU SAY AGA, THERE'LL BE HELL TO PAYI'LL SHOW YOU WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY[SHORT INSTMENTAL]I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID, JT A FIGURE OF SPEECH?IF YOU MEANT NOTHG BY , PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACHTHE NEXT TIME YOU SAY , YOU BETTER THK TWICESOME PISSED OFF FAGGOT MAY NOT TAKE TOO NICE(CHOS)WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"AND IF YOU SAY AGA, THERE'LL BE HELL TO PAYI'LL SHOW YOU WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY(INSTMENTAL)I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID, I'M NOT STUPID, YOU KNOWWHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR? ...BREER.THE NEXT TIME YOU SAY , MAKE SURE I N'T HEAR'CSE YOU'RE PISSG ME OFF, AND YOU'RE NOT EVEN QUEER!(CHOS)WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"AND IF YOU SAY AGA, THERE'LL BE HELL TO PAYI'LL SHOW YOU WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAYWHAT'D HE SAY? "THAT'S SO GAY"UM, GUS WHAT? THAT'S NOT OKAY!AND IF YOU SAY AGA, THERE'LL BE HELL TO PAYI N MAKE YOU FEEL WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAYEMBEDCANCELHOW TO FORMAT LYRICS:TYPE OUT ALL LYRICS, EVEN REPEATG SONG PARTS LIKE THE CHOSLYRICS SHOULD BE BROKEN DOWN TO DIVIDUAL LUSE SECTN HEARS ABOVE DIFFERENT SONG PARTS LIKE [VERSE], [CHOS], ETC.USE ALICS (<I>LYRIC</I>) AND BOLD (<B>LYRIC</B>) TO DISTGUISH BETWEEN DIFFERENT VOLISTS THE SAME SONG PARTIF YOU DON’T UNRSTAND A LYRIC, E [?]TO LEARN MORE, CHECK OUT OUR TRANSCRIPTN GUI OR VIS OUR TRANSCRIBERS FOMABOUTTHIS SONG B IS UNREVIEWEDGENI ANNOTATN1 NTRIBUTORA SONG BY A GAY BAND REBUTTG THE IA THAT “THAT’S SO GAY” IS AN ACCEPTABLE SULT AS BELTL THOSE WHO ARE GAY.EXPAND +5SHAREASK A QUTN ABOUT THIS SONGASK A QUTN *‌WHO PRODUCED “THAT'S SO GAY” BY PANSY DIVISN?WHEN DID PANSY DIVISN RELEASE “THAT'S SO GAY”?WHO WROTE “THAT'S SO GAY” BY PANSY DIVISN?THAT’S SO GAY (2009)PANSY DIVISN1. TWKIE TWKIE LTLE STAR2. AVERAGE MEN3. RI BABY4. SOME OF MY BT FRIENDS5. THAT’S SO GAY6. OBSSED WH ME7. 20 YEARS OF COCK8. WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME9. YOU’LL SEE THEM AGA10. DIRTY YOUNG MAN11. IT’S JT A JOB12. PAT ME ON THE ASS13. NEVER YOU MD14. LIFE LOVERSCREDSPRODUCED BYPANSY DIVISNWRTEN BYJON GOLIRELEASE DATEMARCH 31, 2009TAGSNON-MICEXPAND COMMENTSADD A MENTSIGN UP AND DROP KNOWLEDGE ?GENI IS THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF MIC KNOWLEDGE, CREATED BY SCHOLARS LIKE YOU WHO SHARE FACTS AND SIGHT ABOUT THE SONGS AND ARTISTS THEY LOVE.SIGN UPGENI IS THE WORLD’S BIGGT LLECTN OF SONG LYRICS AND MIL KNOWLEDGE
• PANSY DIVISN’S JON GOLI REFLECTS ON ‘UNDRSED’ TURG 30: IT SHOWED ‘THE JOYFUL SI’ OF BEG GAY (EXCLIVE)
• SMELLS LIKE QUEER SPIR: HOW '90S PUNKS PANSY DIVISN BLAZED A TRAIL AS ONE OF ROCK'S FIRST OPENLY GAY BANDS
• PANSY DIVISN & GAYC/DC’S CHRIS FEEMAN SAYS PRI IS A GOOD TIME ‘TO BE ANGRY AGA’ (EXCLIVE)
• GAYSPLOATN UPENDS THE STEREOTYP THAT MAKE US WCE

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

Notably, a group of seven gay male wrers who met up regularly New York Cy 1980 and 1981 named themselv “The Vlet Quill. As Looby not Flowers of Manhood, “daisy, ” “buttercup, ” and pecially “pansy, ” as well as the generalized “horticultural lad” were early twentieth century terms for “flamboyant gay men.

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

The police eventually shut them all down, cludg a 1939 one Harlem that end a 70-year annual tradn (for more, see Gaylaw: Challengg the Apartheid of the Closet by William N. “Chncey pots out that while the pansy craze often drew on or reproduced the most meang stereotyp of male homosexuals, did, at tim, provi a space for some gay performers to speak about, to rist, and even to unter heterosexist prumptns about fairi and other queers, ” the film scholar Mark Lynn Anrson wr his 2011 book Twilight of the Idols: Hollywood and the Human Scienc 1920s Ameri. ” This phrase, “the love that dare not speak s name, ” was later brought to promence as reference to homosexualy Wil’s gross cency trial 1895.

The Lavenr Sre was a 1950s wch hunt for homosexual feral employe, much like the Red Sre was one for munists, as tailed “The Lavenr Sre and Empire: Rethkg Cold War Antigay Polics” by the historian Naoko Shibawa. “I’m cur about the gay club history of the 1930’s Los Angel, specifilly the pansy clubs that were often outsi the cy lims and were illegal.

THAT’S SO GAYPANSY DIVISNTRACK 5 ON THAT’S SO GAY PRODUCED BYPANSY DIVISNMAR. 31, 20091 VIEWER7K VIEWS7 CONTRIBUTORSTHAT’S SO GAY LYRICS(INTRO)I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID, I'M NOT STUPID, YOU KNOWWHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR? HETERO?THE NEXT TIME YOU SAY , MAKE SURE I N'T HEAR'CSE YOU'RE PISSG ME OFF, IS THAT CLEAR?(CHOS)WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"AND IF YOU SAY AGA, THERE'LL BE HELL TO PAYI'LL SHOW YOU WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY[SHORT INSTMENTAL]I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID, JT A FIGURE OF SPEECH?IF YOU MEANT NOTHG BY , PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACHTHE NEXT TIME YOU SAY , YOU BETTER THK TWICESOME PISSED OFF FAGGOT MAY NOT TAKE TOO NICE(CHOS)WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"AND IF YOU SAY AGA, THERE'LL BE HELL TO PAYI'LL SHOW YOU WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY(INSTMENTAL)I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID, I'M NOT STUPID, YOU KNOWWHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR? ...BREER.THE NEXT TIME YOU SAY , MAKE SURE I N'T HEAR'CSE YOU'RE PISSG ME OFF, AND YOU'RE NOT EVEN QUEER!(CHOS)WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"WHAT'D HE SAY? HE SAID "THAT'S SO GAY"AND IF YOU SAY AGA, THERE'LL BE HELL TO PAYI'LL SHOW YOU WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAYWHAT'D HE SAY? "THAT'S SO GAY"UM, GUS WHAT? THAT'S NOT OKAY!AND IF YOU SAY AGA, THERE'LL BE HELL TO PAYI N MAKE YOU FEEL WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAYEMBEDCANCELHOW TO FORMAT LYRICS:TYPE OUT ALL LYRICS, EVEN REPEATG SONG PARTS LIKE THE CHOSLYRICS SHOULD BE BROKEN DOWN TO DIVIDUAL LUSE SECTN HEARS ABOVE DIFFERENT SONG PARTS LIKE [VERSE], [CHOS], ETC.USE ALICS (<I>LYRIC</I>) AND BOLD (<B>LYRIC</B>) TO DISTGUISH BETWEEN DIFFERENT VOLISTS THE SAME SONG PARTIF YOU DON’T UNRSTAND A LYRIC, E [?]TO LEARN MORE, CHECK OUT OUR TRANSCRIPTN GUI OR VIS OUR TRANSCRIBERS FOMABOUTTHIS SONG B IS UNREVIEWEDGENI ANNOTATN1 NTRIBUTORA SONG BY A GAY BAND REBUTTG THE IA THAT “THAT’S SO GAY” IS AN ACCEPTABLE SULT AS BELTL THOSE WHO ARE GAY.EXPAND +5SHAREASK A QUTN ABOUT THIS SONGASK A QUTN *‌WHO PRODUCED “THAT'S SO GAY” BY PANSY DIVISN?WHEN DID PANSY DIVISN RELEASE “THAT'S SO GAY”?WHO WROTE “THAT'S SO GAY” BY PANSY DIVISN?THAT’S SO GAY (2009)PANSY DIVISN1. TWKIE TWKIE LTLE STAR2. AVERAGE MEN3. RI BABY4. SOME OF MY BT FRIENDS5. THAT’S SO GAY6. OBSSED WH ME7. 20 YEARS OF COCK8. WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME9. YOU’LL SEE THEM AGA10. DIRTY YOUNG MAN11. IT’S JT A JOB12. PAT ME ON THE ASS13. NEVER YOU MD14. LIFE LOVERSCREDSPRODUCED BYPANSY DIVISNWRTEN BYJON GOLIRELEASE DATEMARCH 31, 2009TAGSNON-MICEXPAND COMMENTSADD A MENTSIGN UP AND DROP KNOWLEDGE ?GENI IS THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF MIC KNOWLEDGE, CREATED BY SCHOLARS LIKE YOU WHO SHARE FACTS AND SIGHT ABOUT THE SONGS AND ARTISTS THEY LOVE.SIGN UPGENI IS THE WORLD’S BIGGT LLECTN OF SONG LYRICS AND MIL KNOWLEDGE

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.

Go to the ONE Natnal Gay and Lbian archiv at the USC Librari, and you n see sheet mic om that era, wh vers featurg photos of men and women drsed drag, and tl like “Japansy” and “If you knew Sie, like I knew Sie. Photo urty of ONE Natnal Gay and Lbian archive at USC Librari (The origal image is no longer available, please ntact KCRW if you need accs to the origal image.

PANSY DIVISN’S JON GOLI REFLECTS ON ‘UNDRSED’ TURG 30: IT SHOWED ‘THE JOYFUL SI’ OF BEG GAY (EXCLIVE)

The Sunset Strip emerged as a center for gay and lbian clubs durg the 1930s bee was an unrporated part of LA County lled Sherman, and the LAPD had no jurisdictn over the area. Joseph Hawks, Director of USC’s ONE Natnal Gay and Lbian archiv, thumbg through “Bachelor” Magaze, a magaze for gay men that started publitn 1937. The Pansy Craze and this goln era of gay performers and male and female impersonators me to a close once Prohibn end and the Great Deprsn h.

As for the legacy of that era, ONE Archiv director Joseph Hawks said performers durg the Pansy Craze were “creatg culture on the fly, and I thk one of the thgs that gay people, queer people, have been dog throughout their liv- is creatg culture on the fly. None of the reference works I've checked offers any discsn of how pansy me to be applied to effemate or homosexual men beyond Merriam-Webster's listg as a later fn drawn om the flower sense of pansy.

The strongt arguments agast this theory are (1) Shakpeare don't explicly nnect his "ltle wtern flower" to the name pansy; and (2) there is no evintiary lk between the love-philtre sense here and the e of pansy as an ephet for homosexual. 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. All of this activy existed durg cultural time that, as historian Gee Chncey wr his book Gay New York, many people believe “is not supposed to have existed.

SMELLS LIKE QUEER SPIR: HOW '90S PUNKS PANSY DIVISN BLAZED A TRAIL AS ONE OF ROCK'S FIRST OPENLY GAY BANDS

Sudnly, when everyone was on the search for newly illegal alhol, black and whe gay and lbian life me to ntact wh one another and domant society.

While the Haton Lodge Ball may have begun the 1860s or ‘70s, probably didn’t ga a predomantly gay and lbian prence until the 1920s.

By the mid-30s, was the largt annual ball held New York, attractg spectators who were gay, lbian, straight, black and whe all at once.

PANSY DIVISN & GAYC/DC’S CHRIS FEEMAN SAYS PRI IS A GOOD TIME ‘TO BE ANGRY AGA’ (EXCLIVE)

In the ‘20s and early ‘30s, g out had to do wh makg a but to the gay and lbian world, and was rived om when wealthy women would “e out” formally to high society. “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.

” Most middle and upper class gay men and lbians sat the upper booths at drag events among straight people, g the populary as a ver.

GAYSPLOATN UPENDS THE STEREOTYP THAT MAKE US WCE

Prohibn was repealed, and the New York State Liquor laws were updated to serve alhol only plac that were “orrly”, which didn’t apparently clu gay and lbian nightclubs. ” 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.

By the mid-1920s, at the height of the Prohibn era, they were attractg as many as 7, 000 people of var rac and social class—gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and straight alike. 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. Gay Life the Jazz AgeAs the Uned Stat entered an era of unprecented enomic growth and prospery the years after World War I, cultural mor loosened and a new spir of sexual eedom reigned. Though New York Cy may have been the epicenter of the so-lled "Pansy Craze, " gay, lbian and transgenr performers graced the stag of nightspots ci all over the untry.