Great Read: Jewel's Catch One dis's mise marks era's end for L.A.'s gay blacks - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• GREAT READ: JEWEL’S CATCH ONE DIS’S MISE MARKS ERA’S END FOR L.A.’S GAY BLACKS
• STEP-BY-STEP INSTCTNS FOR SHOOTG YOUR SHOT WH GAY GUYS
• THE BT GAY CLUBS AMERI
• THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI
• LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER

GREAT READ: JEWEL’S CATCH ONE DIS’S MISE MARKS ERA’S END FOR L.A.’S GAY BLACKS

Celebri would make p stops when they were town — om Madonna and Sharon Stone to “Queen of Dis” the sun rose, they left drenched phoria and the joy experienced at Jewel’s Catch One club was more than a weekend choice for fun; was an act of fiance by black lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people the face of clubs Wt Hollywood where they felt unwanted bee of their Thais-Williams is a pete 76-year-old wh a short gray ao.

When she started clubbg the early 1970s, gay clubs often nied her entrance bee she was black and female.

When allowed , she would often be double-rd, havg to show two forms of was no space where black gays uld enjoy themselv one another’s pany, pg what they saw as the racial discrimatn of Wt Hollywood and the homophobia of the Ain Amerin 1973 she opened Catch One, one of the first black diss the years later, the Catch is known as the last black-owned gay club Los Angel.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTCTNS FOR SHOOTG YOUR SHOT WH GAY GUYS

”::Built for secrecy, wh blacked-out wdows and dark doors, the first gay clubs served as havens om the homophobia of broar society. For black gays, their clubs were often the only gatherg place they the HIV epimic broke out, whe gays band together, g their clubs as spac for fundraisg and polil galvanizatn.

But early on, black gays did not see HIV as an issue affectg them, bee the media and Centers for Disease Control and Preventn portrayed the vis as a whe gay the time blacks realized did affect them, the damage had been done and club-gog practic had shifted. The black gay clubs, servg an already limed number of people, were left whout clubbers as the muny shnk.

THE BT GAY CLUBS AMERI

Jefey Pub on the South Si of Chigo holds the mantle as the last black-owned gay club that cy. Detro hasn’t had one sce the closure of the Contental the late Los Angel, black gays are now attracted to the newns and central lotn of Wt Hollywood, where club-hoppg is possible.

That and the advent of the Inter and cellphone datg apps ntributed to the Catch’s Wilson, senr scholar of public policy at UCLA School of Law’s Williams Instute, lled the disappearance of black gay spac ncerng.

THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI

“Havg muny space at the tersectn of both genr, sexualy and race has been really important as a rource for navigatg racism, homophobia and heterosexism, ” she ’a Thomas, an adjunct profsor at USC’s School of Social Work, said the clubs are more than jt party spac, they’re stutns of affirmatn. ”::In Wt Hollywood, black party promoters are takg up Thais-Williams’ fight om the early ‘70s: creatg spac for black gays and the middle of a dark room illumated only by strobe lights, hips roll and shoulrs je to the latt rap and hip-hop ’s Sunday night at the Rage nightclub Wt Hollywood.

LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER

” He beme a party promoter three years ago after noticg there was no space where he as a black gay man felt valued, he Southern California’s gay haven, Anthony said felt like his money, the money of black people, wasn’t wanted — hip-hop mic was rtricted to only Top 40 hs, black go-go dancers weren’t hired, and secury seemed to rev up only for cints volvg blacks as opposed to those wh wh.

“There are no black gay clubs Wt Hollywood that ter to , ” he said. “Diversy is what mak our bs so strong, ” Cooley ’s one thg to have a black gay night and another to have a black gay space, Anthony a club the gay bastn would help the black LGBT muny fight racial prejudice they still face Wt Hollywood, said Jamari Amour, 30, a profsnal dancer. “People look down on you like, ‘When we’re done here, we’re gog to walk to our ndos down the street and you’re gog to drive back to the ghetto, ” Amour beg able to party Wt Hollywood allows many black gays the opportuny to temporarily shift class, if jt for one night.