Author Topic: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?  (Read 86914 times)

Offline Sheriff Roland

  • BetterMost Supporter
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,492
Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #90 on: February 25, 2007, 09:43:33 pm »


the caption ta the photo reads:

"A San Francisco bar run for and by homosexuals is crowded with patrons who wear leather jackets, make a show of masculinity, and scorn effeminate members of their world. Mural shows men in leather"
« Last Edit: February 25, 2007, 09:46:58 pm by Sheriff Roland »
2015 - Toronto: Pan Am Games
2015 - Edmonton, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg: Woman's World Cup of Soccer

Offline Sheriff Roland

  • BetterMost Supporter
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,492
Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #91 on: February 26, 2007, 01:06:20 am »

The ‘Gay ’ World takes to the City Streets                by Paul Welsh        --> from LIFE magazine circa 1965     (part 1 of 5)


In New York City, swarms of young college-age homosexuals wearing tight pants, baggy sweaters & sneakers cluster in a ragged phalanx along Greenwich Avenue in the Village. By their numbers and by their casual attitude they are saying that the street – and the hour – is theirs. Farther uptown in the block west of Time Square, on 42nd Street, their tough-looking counterparts, dressed in dirty jackets and denims, loiter in front of the cheap movie theatres and sleazy bookstores. Few of the passers-by recognize them as male hustlers.
 
*By Chicago’s Bughouse Square, a small park near the city’s fashionable Gold Coast on the North Side, a suburban husband drives his car slowly down the street searching for a ‘contact’ with one of the homosexuals who drifts around the square. A sergeant on Chicago’s vice squad explains: “these guys tell their wives they’re just going to the corner for the evening paper. Why, they even come down her in their slippers!”

*In Hollywood, after the bars close for the night, Selma Avenue, which parallels Hollywood Boulevard, becomes a dark promenade for the homosexuals. Two men approach one another tentatively, stop for a brief exchange of words, then walk away together in the shadows that reach out beyond the street lights. The vignette is repeated again and again until the last homosexual gives up for the night and goes home.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

Homosexuality – and the problem it poses – exists all over the U.S. but is most evident in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans and Miami. These large cities offer established homosexual societies to join, plenty of opportunities to meet other homosexuals on the streets, in bars or at parties in private homes, and, for those who seek it, complete anonymity. Here, tolerance, even acceptance by the ’straight’ world is more prevalent than in smaller communities. Where the gay world flourishes and presents so many social compensations, even the persistent pressure of antihomosexual (sic) police operations can be endured. Also, in the big cities those professions favored by homosexuals – interior decorating, fashion design, hair styling, the dance and theatre – provide the most numerous job opportunities.

Homosexuals can find some or all of these advantages in many parts of the U.S. but, because of its reputation for easy hospitality, California has a special appeal for them. In the city of San Francisco, which rates as the ‘gay capital’, there are more than 30 bars that cater exclusively to a gay clientele. The number of these bars changes from week to week as periodic police drives close them down (their life expectancy is about 18 months). Some bars, like the Jumpin’ Frog, are ‘cruising’ (pick-up) bars, filled with coatless young men in tight khaki pants. They spend the evening standing around (there are few seats in ‘cruising’ bars) drinking inexpensive beer and waiting. As each new customer walks into the dimly lit room he will lock eyes with a half dozen young men before reaching his place at the bar. Throughout the evening there is a constant turnover of customers as contacts are made and two men slip out together, or individuals move on to other bars in search of better luck, As closing time – 2 am – approaches, the atmosphere grows perceptively more tense. It is the ‘frantic hour,’ the now-or-never time for making contact.

In contrast to the ‘cruising’ bars are the gay cocktail lounges, some of them just off the lobbies of the cities better hotels. They are frequented by local businessmen and out-of-town visitors plus occasional innocent heterosexual travelers.

A step or two from the cocktail lounges are the ‘gay’ bars where a single personality draws the customers. Until it closed recently, the Backstage was one of the town’s most popular because of  José Sarria who entertained regularly on Sunday afternoons. Sarria winds up his routine – an interpretation of Salome – standing in full ‘drag’ (dressed and made up like a woman) and shouting to the audience: “All right you nellie queens, on your feet! United we stand, divided they’ll catch us one by one!”As San Francisco self-styled ‘dowager queen,’ José has achieved a certain notoriety – in 1961 he openly ran for city-county supervisor and polled almost 6,000 votes.

In San Francisco’s Tenderloin off Market Street, are the bottom-of-the-barrel bars where outcasts and misfits of all kinds hang out. Their bedraggled clientele include dope pushers and users, male and female hustlers. Most of the customers have been ‘busted’ (arrested) at least once. Here one finds the stereotypes of effeminate males – the ‘queens’ with orange coiffures, plucked eyebrows, silver nail polish and lipstick. There may be a man or two in ‘drag,’ a few Lesbians, some ‘gay’ prostitutes, drunks and cheap con men.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Sorry folks - it's a long article - will try and write more tamarow - gotta hit the hay!
« Last Edit: February 27, 2007, 07:44:45 pm by Sheriff Roland »
2015 - Toronto: Pan Am Games
2015 - Edmonton, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg: Woman's World Cup of Soccer

injest

  • Guest
Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #92 on: February 26, 2007, 01:20:18 am »
Roland...you are really giving us a unique view into the 1960s mindset. That line...Homosexuality - and the problem it poses - kinda sums up the attitude of so many people ...

just amazing. We HAVE come a long way...even if we have a ways still to go.

Thank you for taking the time and putting out the effort to share with us.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,165
  • "He somebody you cowboy'd with?"
Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #93 on: February 26, 2007, 10:05:41 am »
Howdy, Sheriff!

Thanks so much for excavating that piece of our past. Even though we may have a long way to go, we've also come a long way.

I get a big kick out of that phrase, "practicing homosexuals." Sorta reminds me of the old joke about how you get to Carnegie Hall. Anyway, I'm gonna keep practicing till I get it right. ...  ;D
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Sheriff Roland

  • BetterMost Supporter
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,492
Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #94 on: February 26, 2007, 05:56:42 pm »
thanks Jess and Jeff. the article continues as follows:
_______________________________________________________________________

disclaimer: this is part of an article published in 1965 in LIFE magazine, a very popular magazine of it's time. It is not a recent article!

The ‘Gay ’ World takes to the City Streets                by Paul Welsh                       (part 2 of 5)

________________________________________________________________________

On another far-out fringe of the ‘gay’ world are the so-called S & M bars (‘S’ for sadism and ‘M’ for masochism). One of the most dramatic examples is in the warehouse district of San Francisco. Outside the entrance stand a few polished motorcycles, including an occasional lavender model. Inside the bar, the accent is on leather and sadistic symbolism. The walls are covered with murals of masculine-looking men in black leather jackets. A metal collage of motorcycle parts hands on one wall. A cluster of tennis shoes – favorite footwear of many homosexuals with feminine traits – dangles from the ceiling. Behind it a derisive sign reads: ”Down with sneakers!”

“This is the antifeminine (sic) side of homosexuality” says Bill Ruquy, part owner of the bar. “We throw out anybody who is too swishy. If one is going to be homosexual, why have anything to do with women of either sex? We don’t go for the giddy kids.”

Metal is much in evidence in the room chains on the wall, the collage and bunches of keys hanging from their customers’ leather belts. “That’s part of the sadism business,” Ruquy explains. “We use to wear chains on our shoulders. Now the keys are in.”

The effort of these homosexuals to appear manly is obsessive – in the rakish angle of the caps, in the thumbs boldly hooked in belts. Ryquy says, “This is a place for men, a place without all those screaming faggots, fuzzy sweaters and sneakers. Those guys, the ones you see in other bars, are afraid of us. They’re afraid to come here because everything looks tough. But we’re probably the most genteel bar in town. ”

_______________________________________________________________

The hostility of the minority leather crowd towards the rest of the ‘gay’ world is exceeded by the bitterness of the individual homosexuals towards the ‘straight’ public. One junior advertising executive, who has been under a psychiatrist’s care spills out his rancor.

“I have to make believe all day long. If we go out for lunch, I go through the same complimenting and flirting routine with girls that you ‘straight’ fellows do. I have to be constantly on my guard not to do or say something that will make them suspect I’m ‘gay.’

“At night I have to get out and forget it. I don’t like to go to ‘gay’ bars night after night, but I’ll tell you what I do like to do. I like to go to ‘straight’ bars, find some guy with a good-looking girl and take her away from him. I couldn't be less interested in the girl, but it’s a way to get even.”

____________________________________________________________________

There are many homosexuals better adjusted than this young executive, who behave like solid members of the community. They hold good jobs in business, the professions or the arts. Many of them have apparently strong heterosexual relationships, get married and have children. They go to church, engage in civic activity, see their psychiatrists. They are there in unmeasured numbers, involved in some degree in homosexuality. The only difference between them and the ‘straight’ world is the fear of exposure and their troubled consciences.

There are also the ‘respectable’ homosexuals who pair off and establish a ‘marriage,’ often transitory but sometimes lasting for years. Unburdened by children and with two incomes, they frequently enjoy a standard of living they otherwise would not be able to attain. Recently such a ‘couple’ entertained at Sunday brunch in a New York suburb. Their country home – they also rent an apartment in the city, where both work – is a contemporary ranch house, with swimming pool. The hosts were a self-made businessman and the manager of a fabric salon. Their guests included a stockbroker, a TV actor, a couple of New York advertising men and a leading fashion designer.

In contrast to the homosexuals who avoid all public identification with other homosexuals are those who join ‘homophile’ organizations. A recent phenomenon in American society, the homophile groups actively conduct programs to increase public understanding of homosexuality in the hope of getting more sympathetic treatment, particularly from law enforcement agencies.

One of the earliest and most active homophile club, the Mattachine Society was started in 1950 as a secret organization by a group of Los Angeles lawyers, ministers and doctors, not all of whom were homosexuals. But by 1954 it had become incorporated as a nonprofit, educational group and branches had spread to other cities. Mattachine branches are now located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Washington D.C. and are independent of each other. Their common aim is to promote the acceptance of homosexuality by society.

In San Francisco, for example, The Mattachine Society operates much as a social agency: it helps homosexuals find jobs in the city, gives them legal advice when they get in trouble with the law and serves as a liaison with police and health departments. The Washington D.C. Mattachine Society however, functions much as a lobbying group. It has challenged what it considers to be discriminatory practices against homosexuals in Civil Servant jobs and in the armed forces. It has enlisted the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union in specific cases involving homosexuals and government agencies including the first such case to reach the Supreme Court.


__________________________________________________________________________

Will probly be back with another installment before the end a the day

Sheriff Roland
« Last Edit: February 27, 2007, 07:45:52 pm by Sheriff Roland »
2015 - Toronto: Pan Am Games
2015 - Edmonton, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg: Woman's World Cup of Soccer

Offline Jeff Wrangler

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,165
  • "He somebody you cowboy'd with?"
Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #95 on: February 26, 2007, 07:58:39 pm »
The effort of these homosexuals to appear manly is obsessive – in the rakish angle of the caps, in the thumbs boldly hooked in belts. Ryquy says, “This is a place for men, a place without all those screaming faggots, fuzzy sweaters and sneakers. Those guys, the ones you see in other bars, are afraid of us. They’re afraid to come here because everything looks tough. But we’re probably the most genteel bar in town. ”

I find that comment about the leather bar being "the most genteel bar in town" very interesting. I've read that "back in the day," the leather scene had a very rigid code of "etiquette"--as funny as that may sound--and that comment from someone who owned a leather bar back in the Sixties I think tends to support that point.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Sheriff Roland

  • BetterMost Supporter
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,492
Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #96 on: February 26, 2007, 08:49:35 pm »
at least two more long instalments to go, after this one.
_______________________________________________________________________

disclaimer: this is part of an article published in 1965 in LIFE magazine, a very popular magazine of it's time. It is not a recent article!

The ‘Gay ’ World takes to the City Streets                by Paul Welsh                       (part 3 of 5)
_________________________________________________________________________

One Incorporated, another homophile organization formed in Los Angeles in 1952, publishes a monthly, One Magazine, mailed to subscribers throughout the country and sold in newsstands. One Inc basically is involved in education and propaganda. It has an education division called the ‘One Institute of Homophile studies’ which offers courses designed to give parents, ministers, doctors, lawyers, psychologists, sociologists and the public an understanding of homosexuality and homosexual.

These formal homophile groups share the same problems – small memberships, insufficient funds and the hostile atmosphere in which they try to promote their cause. Although membership rolls of various societies are held confidential, homosexuals are reluctant to join simply because they fear that their names may reach the hands of the police.

Homosexuals everywhere fear arrest – and the public exposure that may go with it. In Los Angeles, where homosexuals are particularly apparent on city streets, police drives are regular and relentless. The running battle between police and homosexuals has produced bitter feelings on both sides. Leaders of homophile societies in Los Angeles and San Francisco have accused the police of “harassment, entrapment and brutality” towards homosexuals.
Actually there is no law in California – or in any other state – against being a homosexual. The laws which police enforce are directed at specific sexual acts. For the most parts, these laws make it a crime for two people to engage in any sex activity which could not result in procreation.

It is also unlawful in California to solicit anyone in a public place to engage in a lewd act. Under these laws, the police are able to make arrests. In many cases a conviction results in a homosexual being registered as a ‘sex offender’ (along with rapists) in the state of California.

Inspector James Fisk says that the 3,069 arrests for homosexual offenses made in Los Angeles last year represents merely a ‘token number’ of those that should have been made. “We’re barely touching the surface of the problem” Fisk says. “The pervert is no longer as secretive as he was. He’s aggressive and his aggressiveness is getting worse because of more homosexual activity”
________________________________________________________________________
« Last Edit: February 27, 2007, 07:46:36 pm by Sheriff Roland »
2015 - Toronto: Pan Am Games
2015 - Edmonton, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg: Woman's World Cup of Soccer

Offline ifyoucantfixit

  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *******
  • Posts: 8,049
Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #97 on: February 26, 2007, 10:19:26 pm »


     Thank you very much Roland for posting this entire series..I think that
this is the kind of information that this site should be providing.  It gives
real insite to the situation, as it is was and has been.  Maybe these types of
informed notices, can do a great deal toward making people aware of things
that can help the future to be informed and more fairminded..It should
be a subject made aware to all the young men and women that have need.
Thanks again for this timeless and knowledgeable post.      janice



     Beautiful mind

Offline Sheriff Roland

  • BetterMost Supporter
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,492
Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #98 on: February 27, 2007, 05:55:49 pm »
Thank you Janice. It's a long one today, and the last one too will be long. Then I'll start on the second article that deals with the 'scientific study' of homsexuality ...
_______________________________________________________________________

disclaimer: this is part of an article published in 1965 in LIFE magazine, a very popular magazine of it's time. It is not a recent article!

The ‘Gay ’ World takes to the City Streets                by Paul Welsh                      (part 4 of 5)
_________________________________________________________________________________

As part of the antihomosexual (sic) drive the Los Angeles police force has compiled an ‘educational’ pamphlet for law enforcement officers entitled ‘Some Characteristics of the Homosexual.’ The strongly opinionated pamphlet includes the warning that what the homosexuals really want is ‘a fruit world.’

In their unrelenting crackdown on homosexuals, the Los Angeles police use two approaches: one is an effort to deter homosexual activity in public, and the other is an arrest effort. The first includes patrolling, in uniform, rest rooms and other know loitering places such as Selma Avenue. The police go the rounds of the ‘gay’ bars to make their presence felt. To arrest homosexuals, the police have an undercover operation in which offers dressed to look like homosexuals - tight pants, sneaker, sweaters or jackets – prowl the streets and bars. The officers are instructed never to make an overt advance, they can only provide an opportunity for the homosexual to proposition them. Arrests are made after the officer has received a specific proposition.

In a typical arrest effort in Hollywood this spring, a plain-clothed officer loitered under the streetlight at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Stanley Avenue. Soon a car slowly turned the corner onto Stanley and the officer drifted into the darkness down the block. When the car pulled over to the curb, the officer (Jim) approaches it. After a few minutes of idle talk the driver establishes that his name was Jerry. He lives many blocks away but Jim indicates that he himself had a ‘place on Wilcox’ (actually the police station.) Part of the conversation, which the officer would enable him to make an arrest, went like this:


Officer: “What’s on your mind after we get home? That’s what I want to know.
Jerry: Well, what’s on your mind?
Officer: Well … I don’t know.
Jerry: “You don’t?
Officer: Well that is to say (laughs) … there isn’t anything to drink at my place, you know.
Jerry: Well, I can always drink coffee. I don’t drink anything stronger.
Officer: Uh huh … Well, anything else…?
Jerry: Anything Else?
Officer: I said, is there anything else?
Jerry: To drink?
Officer: No.
 Jerry: No?
Officer: I was just wondering … maybe … what else you had in mind, if anything.
Jerry: (sighs deeply) At this point I don’t care.
Officer: Well, I don’t know exactly how to take that.
Jerry: Well … how do you want it to go?
Officer: Like I say, it’s up to you, Jerry.
Jerry: Well, you call it and … we’ll go from there. I’m your guest … self invited.
Officer: Well … I know, but … I wouldn’t want to be a presumptive host, you might say in other words, a good host always looks out for the welfare of his guests. You understand? So … I’ll leave it up to you.
Jerry: Well … we can just let the chips fall where they may or forget it.
Officer: I always say, if you know what you want and aren’t man enough to ask for it, why then to heck with it. You know? (laughs)
Jerry: Yeah, I know.
Officer: Well, there’s no use wasting any more of your time or mine I guess, Jerry?
Jerry: Well, I don’t know. It’s up to you.
Officer: You don’t know? What’s the matter, are you afraid?
Jerry: Well, Isn’t everybody?
Officer: I’m not afraid of you.
Jerry: I don’t know you and you don’t know me.
Officer: Well, that’s true, but still and all, I’m not, although, maybe I should be. I don’t know. You’re not a policeman, are you?
Jerry: No.
Officer: Well, you could be.
Jerry: So could you
Officer: Well, that’s true. I understand they have a whole lot of plainclothesmen, so I don’t know what to think sometimes. But that’s why you got to be kinda careful.
Jerry: Uh huh … it pays …
Officer: You understand of course
Jerry: So maybe we should just drop it at that.
Officer: Oh? Well …
Jerry: I mean (laughs) we’re both getting on the leery (sic) side.
Officer: Yeah … Well so long Jerry. I won’t take any more of your time.”


The police officer had decided that the encounter was not going to reward him with an arrest. Jerry drove away and the officer went back to work on the corner.

Although the antihomosexual (sic) stand taken by the Los Angeles Police is unswervingly tough, it reflects the attitude of most U.S. law-enforcement agencies on the subject. Yet within the past decade this position has been criticized by legal and religious groups – here and abroad – which has asked for more social and official tolerance of homosexuals. They frequently quote the ‘Wolfendon Report,’ the famous statement on homosexuality made in 1957 by a British government committee headed by Sir John Wolfendon. The committee recommended that Britain change its sex laws so that ‘homosexual behavior between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offense.’ In its argument, the committee held the view that ‘there must remain a realm of private morality and immorality which is, in brief and crude terms, not the law’s business.

The position of the Wolfendon committee has since been supported by spokesmen from various religions. A group of Quakers in Britain challenged the view that homosexuality is immoral. In a pamphlet titled ‘Towards a Quaker View of Sex.’ Published in 1963, it was suggested that society ‘should no more deplore homosexuality than lefthandedness (sic). … Homosexual affection can be as selfless as heterosexual affection and therefore we cannot see that it is in some way morally worse …’

A Catholic viewpoint, which does not condone homosexuality but does regard it as a psychological problem has been provided in a book ’Counselling (sic) the Catholic” written for U.S. parish priests by Father George Hagmaier, C.S.P. and Father Robert Gleason, S.I. The book makes the point that in order to ‘bring one’s activity into accord with objective morality, one need knowledge and one needs freedom defect in either will normally imply some lessening in responsibility.’ The authors conclude that because they are subjected to this psychological disturbance, homosexuals do not have this freedom.

______________________________________________________________________________
« Last Edit: February 27, 2007, 07:38:49 pm by Sheriff Roland »
2015 - Toronto: Pan Am Games
2015 - Edmonton, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg: Woman's World Cup of Soccer

Offline David In Indy

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,447
  • You've Got Male
Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #99 on: February 27, 2007, 06:24:48 pm »




A Catholic viewpoint, which does not condone homosexuality but does regard it as a psychological problem has been provided in a book ’Counselling (sic) the Catholic” written for U.S. parish priests by Father George Hagmaier, C.S.P. and Father Robert Gleason, S.I. The book makes the point that in order to ‘bring one’s activity into accord with objective morality, one need knowledge and one needs freedom defect in either will normally imply some lessening in responsibility.’ The authors conclude that because they are subjected to this psychological disturbance, homosexuals do not have this freedom.[/i]
______________________________________________________________________________


I was born and raised Catholic. Everyone in my family and my extended family is Catholic. Catholicism has been in my family for centuries. But I stopped attending Mass several years ago. I couldn't take it anymore. The Catholic Church has taken part in many shitty crappy deals for a millennium, maybe longer, and yet they have the audacity to look me straight in the eye and condemn me for who I am and the way God created me.  >:(

The nerve!  >:(

And yet, I still struggle with it. Sometimes I really do question myself and my sexuality. I ask myself questions like "Am I really going to go to Hell when I die"? "Does my sexuality really offend God"?

I guess this is what happens after 40 years of Catholic teachings being beat into a person day after day and year after year.

The Catholic church needs to get its own priorities in order before they start condemning me for mine!  >:(  >:(

I'll never go back to Mass again.  >:(
« Last Edit: February 27, 2007, 06:28:28 pm by David »
Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.