NYC's Olst Gay Bar Ma a Landmark for Its Role LGBTQ+ History

Contents:

• JULI' BAR, SE OF HISTORIC GAY 'SIP-,' THREATENED BY PANMIC
• HE DIED HOMELS AND FOTTEN. NOW GAY BLACK POSER JULI EASTMAN FALLY GETS HIS DUE
• THE GAY ‘SIP-IN’ THAT DREW OM THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT TO FIGHT DISCRIMATN
• NYC'S OLST GAY BAR DIGNATED A LANDMARK FOR ITS HISTORY-MAKG ROLE ADVANCG LGBTQ+ RIGHTS
• JULI CAAR, YOUNG AND GAY: A GROUNDBREAKG 1971 OPERA GETS REVIVED FOR A NEW ERA
• THE STORY OF JULI', THE FAMED GAY BAR CAN YOU EVER FIVE ME?
• 'A PLACE OF GAY HISTORY': DTATN BAR FOR NEARLY 160 YEARS STGGL TO SURVIVE

JULI' BAR, SE OF HISTORIC GAY 'SIP-,' THREATENED BY PANMIC

"I thk he probably would if I'm hont, " says Nick Bagnall, who's directg a new versn of Romeo and Juliet, as the Bard (maybe might possibly have) tend - wh two men the lead know Shakpeare tend Juliet to be played by a young man - all female rol were played by boys and men at that this versn, staged by the Liverpool Everyman, is the first time a major Brish theatre has ma about gay theory - put forward by Osr Wil, among others - says Shakpeare wrote Juliet and other girls' rol for a young actor who was the object of his affectns.

But there's snt evince about who this figure was, or where the Bard's affectns ia to turn Romeo and Juliet to a gay love story me when an actor livered one of Juliet's yearng monologu durg an dn. "It mak credibly excg and vastatg when we open up a discsn about young gay men certa untri around the world where, still happeng to this day, they're banished, tortured, abed, sent om their fai, disowned for beg a gay man.

Chanliers danglg overhead are ma om wagon wheels of horse-drawn rriag that once livered ’ had started attractg a gay followg at least by the 1950s and, acrdg to lol lore, was a popular hangout for midcentury queer lumari like Tennsee Williams, Tman Capote and Rudolf Cherry works at Juli' on March Constante Motal / NBC NewsBut New York State Liquor Authory regulatns at that time prohibed servg drks to “known or spected homosexuals, ” whose very prence was nsired disorrly behavr. “This law was ed to prevent the existence of gay bars, so the on that did exist were unr the ntrol of the crimal unrworld, ” Randy Wicker, a member of the New York chapter of the Mattache Society, one of the first gay rights groups, said.

HE DIED HOMELS AND FOTTEN. NOW GAY BLACK POSER JULI EASTMAN FALLY GETS HIS DUE

“We felt was very siar to how Black people were beg nied the right to s at a lunch unter, ” he ia for a prott, or a “sip-” as was eventually lled, was spired by the s-s of the civil rights movement: On April 21, 1966, four members of the New York Mattache chapter walked to a bar, clared they were homosexuals and mand to be served. The first bar they vised, the Ukraian-Amerin Village Rtrant, had been tipped off and closed Howard Johnson’s, the group clared, “We’re homosexuals and we want to be served.

Juli’, turned out, was the perfect spot for their tt se: It had a sizable homosexual followg, Wicker said, but the management was termed not to let bee a “gay bar.

“I thk ’s agast the law, ” he said, acrdg to was exactly the reactn Mattache members had hoped for: Publicy om the “sip-” led to the New York State Supreme Court lg a year later that simply beg gay — or even cisg or kissg — was not cent didn’t jt change liquor regulatns, Wicker said. ”Gerry Gonzalez mix a drk for a ctomer at Juli' Constante Motal / NBC NewsWh a few years, there were legimate, pennt gay bars. They remaed the nex of gay life for s, said LGBTQ historian Ken Ltbar, founr of the New York Cy LGBT Historic S Project.

THE GAY ‘SIP-IN’ THAT DREW OM THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT TO FIGHT DISCRIMATN

”And while New York’s gay bar scene has bee a shadow of s former size — a victim of assiatn, gentrifitn and datg apps — Juli’ remaed packed most weekends. “It has historil signifince but ’s also a throwback to what gay bars ed to be — lively, iendly, unpretent. Cohn targeted ernment officials as munists and homosexuals, spe beg gay ’s no nyg Juli’ place history but, by drawg hundreds of revelers late to the night, the Mattache parti have helped keep the bar om turng to a mm 2016, the 50th anniversary of the sip-, Juli’ was placed on the Natnal Register of Historic Plac for s role “an important early event the morn gay rights movement.

On April 21, 1966, a “Sip-In” was anized by members of the Mattache Society, one of the untry’s earlit gay rights anizatns, to challenge the State Liquor Authory’s discrimatory policy of revokg the licens of bars that served known or spected gay men and lbians. The publicized event – at which they were refed service after tentnally revealg they were “homosexuals” – was one of the earlit pre-Stonewall public actns for LGBT rights as well as a big step forward the eventual velopment of legimate LGBT bars New York Cy. On April 21, 1966, members of the Mattache Society, an early gay rights group, anized what beme known as the “Sip-In.

” Their tent was to challenge New York State Liquor Authory (SLA) regulatns that were promulgated so that bars uld not serve drks to known or spected gay men or lbians, sce their prence was nsired facto disorrly. The SLA regulatns were one of the primary ernmental mechanisms of opprsn agast the gay muny bee they preclud the right to ee assembly.

NYC'S OLST GAY BAR DIGNATED A LANDMARK FOR ITS HISTORY-MAKG ROLE ADVANCG LGBTQ+ RIGHTS

This was particularly important bee bars were one of the few plac where gay people uld meet each other.

The Sip-In was part of a larger mpaign by more radil members of the Mattache Society to clarify laws and l that hibed the nng of gay bars as legimate, non-mob tablishments and to stop the harassment of gay bar patrons.

Dick Lesch, Craig Rodwell, and John Timmons, acpanied by several reporters, went to a number of bars, announced that they were “homosexuals, ” and asked to be served a drk. …when we walked , the bartenr put glass ont of , and we told him that we were gay and we tend to rema orrly, we jt wanted service.

JULI CAAR, YOUNG AND GAY: A GROUNDBREAKG 1971 OPERA GETS REVIVED FOR A NEW ERA

And he said, hey, you’re gay, I n’t serve you, and he put his hands over the top of the glass, which ma wonrful photographs.

The reactn by the State Liquor Authory and the newly empowered New York Cy Commissn on Human Rights rulted a change policy and the birth of a more open gay bar culture.

Scholars of gay history nsir the Sip-In at Juli’ a key event leadg to the growth of legimate gay bars and the velopment of the bar as the central social space for urban gay men and lbians. The first terpretatn of the Ganyme tale is born om the homosexual relatns that were acknowledged some ancient Greek stat.

THE STORY OF JULI', THE FAMED GAY BAR CAN YOU EVER FIVE ME?

Even as they emphasised the Christian msage of this scene, homosexual artists of the Renaissance were not bld to the more obv meang of the Ganyme myth. While many homosexual men had to rema gey about their love, there were some outspoken artists who were relatively open about their sir.

'A PLACE OF GAY HISTORY': DTATN BAR FOR NEARLY 160 YEARS STGGL TO SURVIVE

Today his works, cludg a patg of Ganyme before he is rried off, are some of the few ma by a homosexual artist that explore the psychology of gay men.

Dpe the ubiquy of Ganyme wtern art, his populary fell away the late neteenth century favour of another symbol for homosexual love. It may be that openly displayg a work of Ganyme, wh all of s illic homosexual unrton, would too openly 'out' a llector as a Ganyme himself. In one of the most famo portras of Wckelmann, the great art historian and homosexual n be seen proudly examg an engravg of a statue of Anto.

In the 'Gay Corner' of the Congrsnal Cemetery Washgton, you will fd the name of Anto scribed on an obelisk unr the shady branch of a cherry tree. It didn’t matter whether you were whe or Black, straight or gay: He had somethg up his sleeve for any of . Eastman may have been weled for beg a gay Black man a mostly whe, if sexually fluid, new mic muny, but that only seemed to unrlie his outsir stat.