The History of Greenwich Village’s Gay Street - CySignal

Contents:

• THE HISTORY OF GREENWICH VILLAGE’S GAY STREET
• GREENWICH VILLAGE, STORIED HOME OF BOHEMIA AND GAY HISTORY
• GAY BARS GREENWICH VILLAGE, THE VILLAGE NEW YORK
• TOP 5 GAY CLUBS & BARS GREENWICH VILLAGE (NEW YORK CY)GAY CLUBS & BARS GREENWICH VILLAGE
• Y, THERE’S A NEW GAY BAR GREENWICH VILLAGE
• GAYLY SERVING OUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1969!
• JULI’, THE GAY-ELR DIVE BAR OF THE VILLAGE, GETS LANDMARKED
• THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW

THE HISTORY OF GREENWICH VILLAGE’S GAY STREET

The Stonewall Rts, also lled the Stonewall Uprisg, began the early hours of June 28, 1969 when New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay club loted Greenwich Village New York Cy. For stance, solicatn of same-sex relatns was illegal New York such reasons, LGBT dividuals flocked to gay bars and clubs, plac of refuge where they uld exprs themselv openly and socialize whout worry. However, the New York State Liquor Authory penalized and shut down tablishments that served alhol to known or spected LGBT dividuals, argug that the mere gatherg of homosexuals was “disorrly.

But engagg gay behavr public (holdg hands, kissg or dancg wh someone of the same sex) was still illegal, so police harassment of gay bars ntued and many bars still operated whout liquor licens— part bee they were owned by the Rights Before StonewallThe first documented U. Police raids forced them to disband 1925, but not before they had published several issu of their newsletter, “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter. In 1966, three years before Stonewall, members of The Mattache Society, an anizatn dited to gay rights, staged a “sip-” where they openly clared their sexualy at taverns, darg staff to turn them away and sug tablishments who did.

GREENWICH VILLAGE, STORIED HOME OF BOHEMIA AND GAY HISTORY

When The Commissn on Human Rights led that gay dividuals had the right to be served bars, police raids were temporarily Stonewall Inn The crime syndite saw prof terg to shunned gay clientele, and by the mid-1960s, the Genove crime fay ntrolled most Greenwich Village gay bars. And was one of the few—if not the only—gay bar left that allowed were still a fact of life, but ually rpt ps would tip off Mafia-n bars before they occurred, allowg owners to stash the alhol (sold whout a liquor license) and hi other illegal activi. Stonewall's LegacyThough the Stonewall uprisg didn’t start the gay rights movement, was a galvanizg force for LGBT polil activism, leadg to numero gay rights anizatns, cludg the Gay Liberatn Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn), and PFLAG (formerly Parents, Fai and Friends of Lbians and Gays) the one-year anniversary of the rts on June 28, 1970, thoands of people marched the streets of Manhattan om the Stonewall Inn to Central Park what was then lled “Christopher Street Liberatn Day, ” Ameri’s first gay pri para.

”In 2016, then-Print Barack Obama signated the se of the rts—Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surroundg streets and siwalks—a natnal monument regnn of the area’s ntributn to gay Gallery The Stonewall Inn is a bar loted New York Cy’s Greenwich Village that served as a haven the 1960s for the cy’s gay, lbian and transgenr muny. At the time, homosexual acts remaed illegal every state except Illois, and bars and rtrants uld get shut down for havg gay employe or servg gay patrons. Most gay bars and clubs New York at the time were operated by the Mafia, who paid rptible police officers to look the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threateng to “out” them.

Here, protters monstrate outsi the New York gay bar, Christopher's the early hours of June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn was raid by police wh no warng.

GAY BARS GREENWICH VILLAGE, THE VILLAGE NEW YORK

As -founr of the Gay Liberatn Front, Rivera was known for participatg the Stonewall Rts and tablishg the polil anizatn STAR (Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari). After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village. " This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay unintified group of young people celebrate outsi the board-up Stonewall Inn after the rts.

TOP 5 GAY CLUBS & BARS GREENWICH VILLAGE (NEW YORK CY)GAY CLUBS & BARS GREENWICH VILLAGE

”Over the next several nights, gay activists ntued to gather near the Stonewall, takg advantage of the moment to spread rmatn and build the muny that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement. They are pictured here marchg Tim Square,, Sylvia Ray Rivera (ont) and Arthur Bell are seen at a gay liberatn monstratn, New York Universy, 1970 Marsha P. Johnson is seen at a Gay Liberatn Front monstratn at Cy Hall New York, a large crowd memorat the 2nd anniversary of the Stonewall rts Greenwich Village of New York Cy 1971.

It is bee of this associatn, that people like to assume ’s named after Sydney Howard Gay, the edor of The Natnal Anti-Slavery Standard and a key figure the Unrground Railroad. In the late 19th century, when Greenwich Village was the hub of New York Cy’s Ain-Amerin muny, many of the rints on Gay Street were POC and also micians.

The first meetg of what me to be the anizatn now known as PFLAG — Parents, Fai, and Friends of Lbians and Gays — took place at what is now known as the Church of the Village, at 13th Street and 7th Avenue, then known as the Metropolan-Duane Uned Methodist Church.

Y, THERE’S A NEW GAY BAR GREENWICH VILLAGE

In June of 1972, Jeanne Manford, a schoolteacher om Queens, marched the Christopher Street Liberatn March, the precursor of today’s LGBT Pri Para, wh her gay son Morty to show support for her child. So many people me up to Jeanne and asked her to speak to their parents that she cid to hold a meetg for parents stgglg wh acceptg and supportg their gay children.

GAYLY SERVING OUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1969!

That meetg took place on March 26, 1973, and eventually led to the foundg of PFLAG, which now has 400 chapters natnally and 200, 000 members, provis rourc and support to the fai of Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr people, and lobbi for greater unrstandg and equal treatment of LGBT people. But In 1982, the first meetg of the Gay Officers Actn League (GOAL)–now a 2, 000 member anizatn wh 36 chapters across the untry reprentg LGBTQ persons law enforcement and crimal jtice profsns–was held the basement. By 1982, the church had bee known as one of the most welg and acceptg Catholic church the cy for gay ngregants, and to this day the church holds a special mass durg LGBT Pri Month June to memorate those lost to AIDS.

In 1981, Cochrane beme the first NYPD officer to publicly reveal that he was gay when he ttified ont of the New York Cy Council support of the gay rights bill. Cochrane’s public claratn was historic and directly followed ttimony by the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Associatn opposg the legislatn, which clud the assertn that there were no gay police officers the NYPD. Though Cochrane’s ttimony received a standg ovatn om supporters and he reportedly receivg a posive rponse om fellow officers to his g out, the gay rights bill was feated and did not bee law until 1986.

The empty firehoe soon beme the home of boistero parti, meetgs, and polil anizg when the Gay Activists Alliance, one of the most highly fluential LGBT groups of the post-Stonewall era, took over the space 1971. Other anizatns that have been loted here (or got their start here) clu SAGE (Senr Actn a Gay Environment), the Metropolan Communy Church (an LGBT ngregatn), the AIDS activist group ACT UP, and GLAAD (Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn). Among s early acplishments, the Task Force helped get the feral ernment to drop s ban on employg gay people, helped get the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn to drop homosexualy om s list of mental illns, and arranged the first meetg between a stg U.

JULI’, THE GAY-ELR DIVE BAR OF THE VILLAGE, GETS LANDMARKED

The Osr Wil Bookshop origally opened 1967 at 291 Mercer Street as the first gay bookstore the world (that buildg has sce been molished), a full two years before the Stonewall Rts.

Owner Craig Rodwell stocked his shelv wh lerature by gay and lbian thors and refed to stock pornography of any kd, spe havg a limed selectn of materials. Sce s closg, the Osr Wil Bookshop has been lled “clearly pneerg” as monstrated for the first time that was possible to own a bookstore, however small, that tered to a gay clientele.

THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW

One of the most shockg and visible maniftatns of the backlash agast creased gay visibily the 1980s was the btal shootg and massacre that took place outsi the Ramrod Bar on November 19, 1980.

The gay prs reported at the time “there were few, if any, lls for the blood of Ronald Cmpley… Anger was directed at the system which treats gay people as a subhuman speci. The Ramrod was one of the dozens of bars, clubs, and other tablishments that tered to LGBT people the Wt Village the heyday of gay life Greenwich Village between the Stonewall Rts and the onset of the AIDS crisis the 1980s.