How Cape Town's "Gayle" has endured -- and been adopted by straight people

Contents:

• GAY BARS SAN ANTON
• GAY DATG SOUTH AI
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• ONLY LADS : EE GAY DATG & GAY CHAT SOCIAL WORK

GAY BARS SAN ANTON

San Anton gay bars are a popular statn for not only the cy’s gay men, but for straight men and women terted havg a “gay old time”.

The cy’s gay bars feature large, outdoor celebratns (not unlike a gay pri para) that attract people of all strip that wish to be entertaed by a group of eclectic and unique sgers and dancers. It is unclear how many of the men publicly or privately intified as gay or were part of gay muni and works that had been tablished Germany before the Nazi rise to power. It is important to note that not all of the men arrted and nvicted unr Paragraph 175 intified as gay.

However, the Nazi mpaign agast homosexualy and the regime’s zealo enforcement of Paragraph 175 ma life Nazi Germany dangero for gay men.

GAY DATG SOUTH AI

Already the mid- to late-neteenth century, there were ditns of nascent and growg gay muni Germany. Among the terms were “gleichgchlechtlich” (“same-sex oriented”) and “homosexuell” (“homosexual”).

The latter term dated to 1869, when a pamphlet advotg for crimalizatn of sexual relatns between men ed the term “Homosexualät” (“homosexualy”).

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

The newer slang word “schwul” (often translated to English as “gay”) was also creasgly popular among certa groups. In ntrast, the work of gay men that veloped around thor Adolf Brand and his anizatn Gemeschaft r Eigenen (The Communy of Kdred Spirs) took a different approach. It was the relatively eeg atmosphere of the Weimar Republic that gay muni and works grew and veloped unprecented ways.

Some joed “iendship leagu” (Frndschaftsverbän), groups that polilly and socially anized gay men, lbian women, and others. Gay newspapers and journals, such as Die Frndschaft (Friendship) and Der Eigene (translated varly, but this ntext implyg “his own man”), ntributed to the growth of gay works.

ONLY LADS : EE GAY DATG & GAY CHAT SOCIAL WORK

They actively tried to build a sense of muny among gay men, and clud personal ads and rmatn about gay meetg plac.

Part of this nmnatn was a rejectn of the era’s open exprsns of sexualy, cludg the visibily of gay muni. However, Röhm’s posn the Nazi learship did not temper the movement’s nmnatn of homosexualy and gay muni. Shortly thereafter, they sought to dismantle the visible gay cultur and works that had veloped durg the Weimar Republic.

However, ci like Berl and Hamburg, some tablished gay bars were able to rema open until the mid-1930s. Nohels, the Nazi closur and creased police surveillance ma far more difficult for gay men to nnect wh each other.

Another early actn unrtaken by the Nazi regime was the elimatn of gay newspapers, journals, and publishg ho. In a further latn, the Nazis ed new laws and police practic to arrt and ta whout trial a limed number of gay men begng late 1933 and early 1934. Those arrted clud a number of gay men, some of whom were imprisoned the regime’s early ncentratn mps.

Three events the years 1934–1936 radilized the Nazi regime’s mpaign agast homosexualy and led to more systematic opprsn of gay men.

Fally, 1936 SS lear and Chief of the German Police Herich Himmler tablished the Reich Central Office for the Combatg of Homosexualy and Abortn (Reichszentrale zur Bekämpfung r Homosexualät und r Abtreibung).

The notorly homophobic Himmler saw both homosexualy and abortn as threats to the German birth rate and th to the fate of the German people. In the Nazis’ unrstandg, the men were “homosexual” (“homosexuell”) offenrs and th crimals and enemi of the state. In the mid- to late 1930s, the police raid bars and other meetg plac that they believed to be popular wh gay men.

The language people ed nunciatns mak clear that the Germans tend to agree wh Nazi attus towards homosexualy.

In rarer s, the Kripo or the Gtapo would send a man directly to a ncentratn mp as a “homosexual” (“homosexuell”) offenr. Between 5, 000 and 15, 000 men were imprisoned ncentratn mps as “homosexual” (“homosexuell”) offenrs. For example, gay men tegorized by the Nazi regime as Aryan had far more optns than those tegorized as Jews or Roma (Gypsi).

But the end of the war and the feat of the Nazi regime did not necsarily brg a sense of liberatn for gay men. Unverg the histori of gay men durg the Nazi era was difficult for much of the twentieth century bee of ntued prejudice agast same-sex sexualy and the ongog enforcement of Paragraph 175. Nohels, scholars have sought to document gay men’s experienc, g police, urt, and ncentratn mp rerds.

The efforts of scholars and German gay rights anizatns have helped to brg the persecutn of gay men unr the Nazis to the public eye.