Joseph Dwan
Response 4 of 5
George Chauncey, Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture and the Making of the Gay Male World.
Chauncy’s Book, Gay New York, strives to reveal a hidden layer, a hidden group in a time when it was the agreed upon sentiment at the time, homosexuality was not something to be proud of.
Gay men were on the defensive and for the majority of the 1890s to 1940s, they were pretty much off the radar. Anti- gay laws allowed prosecutors to oppress the the gay community as freely as they wished. The oppression was so severe that the gay community even developed their own systems of code to identify each other and keep the general public in the dark. Many myths eventually arouse of this underground community. One of which was that because this gay community was so secretive, isolated gay men couldn’t join because they simply couldn’t find the underground movement. This was proven untrue as gay men loudly proclaimed their uniqueness with bright red ties and bleaching their hair. The city was an easy place for the gay community to hide, the massive amounts of people meant they could blend in and change society’s view of the gay community from the inside. This eventually lead to New York city to be one of the central hubs of the gay community. This isolation of the gay community today is less severe than in the past, however the gay community will always have an opponent to fight against. New York city stands by the community with its annual Gay Pride parade. The community no longer have to hide behind secret codes and dress, and can express themselves as freely as they want.
Questions
- There is much coverage on the gay male struggle, however, where is the coverage on the lesbian community struggle?
- Were the cities the only such “safe havens” for the gay community?
