Sun, Sand, and Sk: Fire Island’s Gay Haven the Neteen-Seventi | The New Yorker

Contents:

• THE VERY GAY HISTORY OF FIRE ISLAND
• FIRE ISLAND GAY TRAVEL
• SUN, SAND, AND SK: FIRE ISLAND’S GAY HAVEN THE NETEEN-SEVENTI
• BEFORE STONEWALL, CHERRY GROVE: HOW A BEACH TOWN BEME A GAY 'SAFE HAVEN'
• GAY RORT FOR MEN
• GAY BEACH STATNS PLAN FOR SUMMER, WH PANMIC MD

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.

FIRE ISLAND GAY TRAVEL

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. 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?

SUN, SAND, AND SK: FIRE ISLAND’S GAY HAVEN THE NETEEN-SEVENTI

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. 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.

BEFORE STONEWALL, CHERRY GROVE: HOW A BEACH TOWN BEME A GAY 'SAFE HAVEN'

« Back to New YorkFire Island P is the prime playground of the New York gay muny affectnately named ‘Chelsea wh sand’.

Thoands of gay men scend on a small village of only a few dozen permanent rints every summer for swimmg, sunbathg and general has everythg you need: a mara, rtrants, bars, a gym, a large open-air dance stage perfect for circu parti, retail shops, a pool – even a post office and a police partment. Only reachable by ferry and nnected entirely by boardwalks, the seclud Fire Island P and Cherry Grove neighborhoods are tly a gay paradise. In ntrast to nearby lmer gay-popular towns like the Hamptons, people e to Fire Island for an actn-packed LGBT getaway.

GAY RORT FOR MEN

Before gettg to the tails of this Fire Island gay gui, the sectn below briefly vers the prec history of the Fire Island gay muni. When gay and lbian members of society had no protectns agast discrimatn based on sexual orientatn, the hamlets on Fire Island were leral p om mastream life. Over the years, the gay muni of Fire Island P and Cherry Grove have ntued to grow populary, even spe stctive events like hurrin and buildg fir.

GAY BEACH STATNS PLAN FOR SUMMER, WH PANMIC MD

They both are jt about 100% gay neighborhoods, not to mentn popular wh many gay celebri and fluential New Yorkers. In my opn, first-time Fire Island gay travelers should stay here sce provis more of the typil experience.