Clubs and Pubs have been historically places where lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and trans* people have gone to meet and to socialize. This presentations presents some of the bittersweet history.
Pragya Champions Chalice 2024 Prelims & Finals Q/A set, General Quiz
A Condensed History of Queer Clubs & Pubs
1. By Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld
warrenblumenfeld@gmail.com
2. England, 1700-
1830s
Network of men
gathered for
company & sex
Series of houses or
rooms in pubs
Some raided by
police
Men tried,
Some executed
3. U.S. change from agricultural to
industrial economies, late 19th
century
Cities with large number of
unmarried people
People of different identities
mixed: race, class, gender
Homosexual subcultures and
networks
Many single-sex boarding
houses, hotels
Bars, Cafés, Theaters, Dance
Halls, Clubs, Parks, Streets
4. Drag balls in pre-World War II New York gay
society.
Harlem Renaissance, homosexual women and
men part of black night club life.
“Beau of the Ball”
Photographer:
James VanDerZee
5. Many songs had homosexual
subthemes.
Clam House in Harlem
Flirted with & dedicated songs
to women in audience
7. Same Sex Sexuality Illegal in all States and in
D.C. before 1962 when Illinois became first to
decriminalize.
8. Same-sex sexuality had become legal in Illinois in 1962, Connecticut in
1971, Colorado and Oregon in 1972, Delaware and Hawaii in 1973,
Massachusetts and Ohio in 1974, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and North
Dakota in 1975, California, Maine, Washington, and West Virginia in 1976,
Indiana, Iowa, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming in 1977, Nebraska in
1978, New Jersey in 1979, Alaska, New York, and Pennsylvania in 1980,
Wyoming in 1983, Kentucky in 1992, Nevada and District of Columbia in
1993, Tennessee in 1996, Montana in 1997, Georgia and Rhode Island in
1998, Maryland and Missouri (Western District counties only) in 1999,
Arizona and Minnesota in 2001, and Arkansas in 2002, remainder in 2003
with Supreme Court Decision, Lawrence v. Texas.
9. "The petitioners
are entitled to
respect for their
private lives. The
state cannot
demean their
existence or
control their
destiny by making
their private sexual
conduct a crime.“
John Geddes Lawrence &
Tyron Garner
Supreme Court Overturned Sodomy Laws
10. 1930s: did not allow homosexuals to be
served in licensed bars in New York state
Penalty: revocation of the bar's license to
operate.
Confirmed by a court decision in the early
1940s.
Mere presence of homosexuals in
bars constitutes “disorder.”
12. F.B.I. Director
Emotionally and possibly sexually
involved with his assistant, Clyde Tolson
Hoover wrote in 1936:
“The present apathy of the public toward perverts
[homosexuals] generally regarded as ‘harmless,’ should
be changed to one of suspicious scrutiny. The harmless
pervert of today can be and often is the loathsome
mutilator and murderer of tomorrow…The ordinary
offender [turned] into a dangerous, predatory animal,
preying upon society because he has been taught he
can get away with it.”
“War on the Sex Criminal,” New York Herald Tribune
Tolson & Hoover
13. 1920s, Scientific Humanitarian Committee
25 chapters
Work continued to abolish Paragraph 175
Patrons Eldorado Club, Berlin enjoying pleasant night out
16. From small towns
Came to big cities
Lesbian & Gay Bars
Knotty Pine, 1940s
Mona’s 440 Club, 1940s
17.
18. San Francisco, August 1966
First collective violent resistance to
oppression against LGBT people in U.S.
Police conducted raid, entered Compton’s,
began physically harassing the clientele.
19. People fought back hurling coffee at the officers,
heaving cups, dishes, and trays around the cafeteria.
Police retreated outside as customers smashed
windows. Over the course of the next night, people
gathered to picket the cafeteria, which refused to
allow trans people back inside.
20. June 28, 1969
Stonewall Inn, 53 Christopher
Street
Greenwich Village, NYC
◦ Transgender people, lesbians, gays,
bisexuals, People of Color,
street people, students
Police Raid
Trumped-up charge:
Selling alcohol without license
21. Harassed too long
One of first time challenging police
flinging bottles, rocks, bricks, trash cans, parking
meters as battering rams
Five nights
22. Snake Pit Bar raid, NYC - March 8, 1970
Unlicensed bar, dancing and alcohol, a few blocks
from Stonewall Inn.
All of the patrons taken to police station.
One patron, Alfred Diego Vinales, 23-years old,
Argentinian national, expired visa.
At police station, terrified, threw himself from a
window in effort to escape
Impaled himself on iron spiked fence below in
five places on his body.
Fence had to be cut away.
He was taken to hospital.
He survived
Community organized protest
march.
23. Arson Fire, Molotov Cocktail, Kills 32
June 24, 1973
The UpStairs Lounge, New Orleans, LA
24. Shooting Outside Club, No Injuries
November 18, 1980
Ramrod club, New York City, NY
Shooter said gay men are agents
of the devil, are stalking him
and “trying to steal my soul just
by looking at me.”
25. Nail Bomb, 150 Inside, 5 Injured
February 21, 1997
Other Side Lounge, Atlanta, GA
26. Bomb, 2 Killed, 81 Injured
April 30, 1999
Admiral Duncan pub, London, England
27. Shooter Opened Fire, 1 Killed, 6 Wounded
September 22, 2000
The Back Street Cafe, Roanoke, VA
28. Arson Fire, Gasoline on Carpeted Stairway
No injuries
December 31, 2013
Neighbours night club, Seattle, WA
29. Shooter with Semiautomatic Weapon & Hand
Gun
49 Killed, 53 Injured
June 12, 2016
Pulse club, Latin Night, Orlando, FL
30. An LGBTIQ History: Part 1
http://www.slideshare.net/wblumen/an-lgbtiq-history-part-one
The first part of an extensive LGBTIQ history from before the common era to
the present.
An LGBTIQ History: Part 2
http://www.slideshare.net/wblumen/an-lgbtiq-history-part-two
The second part of an extensive LGBTIQ history from before the common era
to the present.
LGBT People under the Nazi Regime
http://www.slideshare.net/wblumen/lgbt-holocaust-full
This unique presentation investigates the life and times of LGBT people
leading up to and under the Nazi regime. It is a story of Surveillance,
Interrogation, Censorship, Incarceration, Brutalization, Mutilation, Murder, but
it is also a story of Resistance and Resiliency of the human spirit.