It's te – Palm Sprgs' gay muny and herage mak one of the most LGBT-iendly towns the world. But how did this happen?
Contents:
- ‘WE’RE STILL HERE’: HISTORIC GAY BARS PALM SPRGS SEE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
- WHY PALM SPRGS IS THE GAYT TOWN AMERI
- IN GAY-IENDLY PALM SPRGS, AMERI'S FIRST ALL-LGBT ERNMENT IS NO SURPRISE
- GAY PALM SPRGS
‘WE’RE STILL HERE’: HISTORIC GAY BARS PALM SPRGS SEE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
The LGBTQ+ History & Archiv of the Dert will start wh an exhib toward s bigger enavor of documentg gay history the valley. * gay history palm springs ca *
We want to do a jot project wh the Palm Sprgs Chamber of Commerce to intify all the gay and lbian people on the Walk Of Stars, so that on their app, when gay people e, they uld go and see this people and fd out who they are. • READ NEXT: Gay Palm Sprgs: How It Came to Be the Dert.
Liberace spent his last days cuddlg his dogs and watchg rens of The Goln Girls, acrdg to thor David Wallace, whose book, A Cy Com Out, tails the gay and lbian history of Palm Sprgs and s nnectns to Hollywood.
WHY PALM SPRGS IS THE GAYT TOWN AMERI
In the 1980s, Palm Sprgs gay history began to add new chapters even though the cy was still known for agg movie stars and sprg break shenanigans. * gay history palm springs ca *
But on the outskirts of town, gay life was thrivg. “Establishments tried to outdo each other wh special events, ” rells Jim Suguan, former owner and edor of The Bottom Le, a ee newspaper that vered the lol gay nightlife scene. “The gay muny was not anized and didn’t realize s potential yet.
Yet jt a few blocks away, hotel owner Fred Hardt created a lol stir that ma natnal news when he announced he was nvertg his clothg-optnal P Wt Rort to a hospice for gay men afflicted wh HIV. Mayor Frank Bogert, whose wboy persona chafed agast the creasgly vol gay muny, feared the publicy would hurt the town’s image, claimg “The whole world has got the ia that this is the place to e get AIDS, ” acrdg to a UPI report. Throughout the natn “culture wars” were heatg up, wh hard-le fundamentalist Christians pted agast gays and lbians termed to live more hont and open liv.
IN GAY-IENDLY PALM SPRGS, AMERI'S FIRST ALL-LGBT ERNMENT IS NO SURPRISE
The Barracks marks s 30th year 2022, but gay bars have been part of Cathedral Cy datg back 50 years before beme rporated. * gay history palm springs ca *
Bono’s electn hered an acceptance but not outright openns of the cy’s unniable gay populatn. He was, after all, a Hollywood guy, a hippie (or at least he played one on TV), and the ex-hband of a gay in.
GAY PALM SPRGS
Though Palm Sprgs may be a gay mec today, for years a nservative “old guard” led this rort town, sistg “alternative liftyl” stay hidn. * gay history palm springs ca *
He rells stg the ont row at a cy uncil meetg when Mary Bono sat down next to him and privately whispered, “Sonny won’t adm , but if there is gog to be a renaissance Palm Sprgs, will be bee of the gays. New learship Palm Sprgs fally allowed gay and lbian bars to operate openly (spurred on by the succs of the Whe Party and Dah weekends).
Barbara Boxer, Cal Willis, and Greg Pettis (Founr of Dert Bs Associatn, now cy uncilman and Mayor Pro Tem of Cathedral Cy) at the GLAAD Humanarian Awards Dner Green, whose Cathedral Cy supper club “His & Hers” had been a h among the sert’s mi-mon, opened the first gay bar on Arenas Road 1991. Other clubs would follow (Hunters, Spurle, The Rabow Cact) to create an all-gay cy block.
Gays and lbians began buyg and fixg up abandoned properti, formg muny associatns, and breathg new life to neglected neighborhoods. In his book, Wallace wr, “The cy’s gayns ed a near tectonic shift the cy’s polics.
* gay history palm springs ca *
” Havg vted Palm Sprgs, the gay muny began to get more volved ernment, electg the natn’s first “out” Ain-Amerin mayor, Ron On, 2003.
Numero gay and lbian officials have sce served openly on the Cy Council and the mayor’s office (cludg current Mayor Rob Moon). Ron On beme Palm Sprgs’ first gay Ain-Amerin mayor 2003. Liberace did not live to see the town he loved bee this gay mec.
But when to the ntributns of gays and lbians to Greater Palm Sprgs, like Liberace always said, “Too much of a good thg is wonrful! Author David Wallace will speak on the history of the gay muny Palm Sprgs January 2018 at the LGBT Communy Center of the Dert.