How Island Hoe helped transom Key Wt to the Wild Wt of gay getaways.
Contents:
- HOW THE GAYS SAVED KEY WT
- HOW GAY/LBIAN IS KEY WT THE DAYS? - KEY WT FOM
- HOW THE GAYS SAVED KEY WT
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
HOW THE GAYS SAVED KEY WT
* gay history of key west *
Word was circulatg among the creative gay culture New York Cy, Philalphia, Chigo, Washgton, D. Other gay artists, notabl, cultural arbers, doyens, publishers, eccentric illumati and jt cur gay travelers followed wh their own entourag, assorted iends and acquatanc.
Back when gay life existed a parallel universe—clared a natnal secury threat by the feral ernment, thlsly vtigated by the Florida state legislature and stigmatized as mentally ill by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, so many this generatn were separated om jobs, birth fai and a harshly tolerant mastream society. By the 1970s the stream of gay visors to the island had turned to a torrent wh more than thirty same sex gut ho on the small island terg to gay men.
HOW GAY/LBIAN IS KEY WT THE DAYS? - KEY WT FOM
It was 1967 that a gay native Key Wter, David Wolkowsky built the first te rort on the island, the Pier Hoe loted at Zero Duval Street.
By the early 1970s word had begun to filter north throughout gay culture that Key Wt was one of the few tly acceptg, e-as-you-are, quirky, fun plac the world where LGBTQ people uld exprs their creativy, their eedom and their love. Other gay thet and lears such as New York attorney Ferdand Court; real tate veloper and Washgton cultural force Bob Alfandre (1927-2014); publisher/thor Joe Famularo; Jam G.
HOW THE GAYS SAVED KEY WT
Gay owned art galleri opened, performg arts flourished, bs lnched. Richard was later elected Mayor of Key Wt 1983, beg the first openly gay mayor elected a U. This tasteful ti of sign and rtoratn washed over the island driven by dozens of gay men, and the real tate market rpond wh fervor!
In 1978 a group of gay bsmen on the island me together to addrs the specific missn of marketg to the LGBTQ traveler. It was no secret that gay visors had expendable e and were eager, adaptive travelers and the pk dollar had power! One year later 1979, four iends, all of whom were openly gay bsmen, met to produce one of the most important enomic eng on the island.
Halloween had bee a much-loved holiday the gay world, but historilly the end of October had been a moribund season Key Wt. Bolsterg Key Wt’s fame as an novator and early pneer LGBTQ travel promotn, lol travel agents and hoteliers me together 1983 to tablish the Internatnal Gay and Lbian Travel Associatn (IGLTA), a worldwi anizatn that today boasts 1, 200 members and growg. One of the key movers the foundg of the anizatn was Hanns Ebensten (1923-2006), the first openly gay tour operator the U.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
And the “Inventor of Gay Travel” who moved to Key Wt the early 1970s wh his longtime partner Brian Kenny. Ebensten anized the very first official tour of gay men 1972 wh a rog trip down the Colorado River.
Not long after Ebensten produced the first anized trips for gay men to the Galapagos Islands, Egypt and Easter Island. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s gay wrers ntued to be drawn to the island matag Key Wt’s legacy as a safe harbor of spiratn, eedom and creativy.
By the mid 1980s Key Wt beme a preferred statn of choice for sr of gay men for a very different reason. Diagnosed HIV posive and often rejected, even spurned back home, the gay men fled to the warmer, more acceptg embrace of the island.