A number a posts ago, I said I'd try an dig up the LIFE magazine's 1965 issue that dealt with 'Homosexuals in America today'. Here's the openin couple a paragraphs of this multiple article, multiple page view of gays, as portrayed by a very popular magazine of the times.
A secret world grows open and bolder. Society is forced to look at it - and try to understand it
These brawny young men in their leather caps, shirts, jackets and pants are practicing homosexuals, men who turn to other men for affection and sexual satisfaction. They are part of what they call the "gay world," which is actually a sad and often sordid world. On these pages, LIFE reports on homosexuality in America, on it's locale and habits (pp. 66-74) and sums up (pp. 76-80) what science knows and seeks to know about it.
Homosexuality shears across the spectrum of American life - the professions, the arts, business and labor. It always has. But today, especially in big cities, homosexuals are discarding their furtive ways and openly admitting, even flaunting their deviations. Homosexuals have their own drinking places, their special assignation streets, even their own organizations. And for every obvious homosexual, there are probably nine nearly impossible to detect. This social disorder, which society tries to suppress, has forced itself into the public eye because it does present a problem - and parents especially are concerned. The myth and misconception with which homosexuality has so long been clothed must be cleared away, not to condone it but to cope with it.
If interest there is, I will continue ta reprint, (I'm a slow typer) in the next few(?) days, the articles that reveal quit a lot about the times, and their perception of gays in the mid 60's. (sorry if there are typos in the article - I do try ...)