70s gay men

Nightfall had taken over the light-manufacturing zone in Hollywood where we got off the bus. We became fast friends, came out to each other, and started planning to transform our lives by visiting a gay club we had heard about from a friend of a friend.

Having the comfort of my entourage gave me the courage to make that trip to my future. One Friday evening, feeling bold, I left my family, who were watching TV in the living room. On one side of the intersection was the notorious men cruising ground of Pershing Square, and on Fifth Street there was a bookstore where you could peek at magazines like Physique Pictorial and After Dark.

This is the version flying over the Castro in June Private, consensual same-sex activity was decriminalized in England and Wales in [1] Most same-sex activity was legalized in Canada in [2] The Stonewall riots, which occurred in New York City in Juneare generally considered to.

The bus engine groaned, and the black queens strained to talk smack over the noise. But Hollywood did. I met my two best friends in the bus and at school. This was my community and we owned the city from in back of the bus. He dedicated his life to championing for LGBTQ+ rights, giving a voice to the queer community and validating their struggle in mainstream political discourse.

Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the history of California, is a significant queer icon of the s. Nestled between industrial buildings along the stretch of Highland between Santa Monica and Melrose was the Other Side dance 70s, located on the second floor.

From to were the explosive, underground disco years in L. To meet the demands of L. Many of these places were small — on the order of 3, square feet — which created an intimate, social atmosphere. Our first trip to the club was by the Rapid Transit District bus.

“The clone was 70s reaction to things you would see in movies of gay men being flitty and nelly,” says John Calendo, a writer who lived in LA and New York City throughout the 70s and 80s, and. I never would have been able to make it alone.

We knew we were in the right spot when we met with a group of flamboyantly dressed African-American youth. The Gay Pride Flag, symbol of the Rights Movement, was first flown in in San Francisco. Nervously we met at the bus stop; it was still light out. In the back of the RTD bus we found our temporary social zone.

Many of these clubs and bars were intimate venues located in mini-malls, occupying retail store fronts less 3, square feet in size. George Dudley's images gay New York City pride parades have a warmth and intimacy that can only come from someone deeply entrenched in the community.

In the quiet of night under the darkness of ficus trees, as we gathered at the discrete entrance, other youth began men arrive with their entourages of sisters, brothers, friends, and neighbors. To be gay in the ’70s in New York and L.A.

(where I moved in with Ron Bernstein to open RSO Films for music entrepreneur Robert Stigwood) was sheer magic. East Los Angeles during the mids didn't offer many safe spaces for people like us. The Chicano Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Stonewall uprising had empowered queer Chicano youth like myself to embrace our newfound sexual freedom.

Both were shy social outcasts but our quirkiness brought us together. We took the bus downtown to the corner of Fifth and Hill, from gay all the buses to Hollywood departed. Here we invaded the quiet world of mainstream gay white culture. It was a typical looking LA diner with a big counter where people sat around — but all the customers were men.

The Chicano student movement, especially, had instilled in us a sense of pride. The macho landscape of the Eastside was a hard place for queer youth to find a safe space to be ourselves.