Of my two new gay friends-a revolution and a revelation unto itself. The evening was a drag extravaganza and most of Savannah knew about it To people who contributed to the community, as well as awards of infamy. Patrick's Day, when Savannah has its own Irishįorm of Mardi Gras, the Basement held what was known as the Sara Awards, For young gays like myself, it was aĭaring adventure and an act of bravery to go down those steps. Perhaps gays kept a lower profile, slipping into the basement bar andĭancing the night away undisturbed. In any event, there were no bar raids like the famous one at Stonewall. In 1969, Savannah was arguably more tolerant of gays than New York. Like a stairway descent into Caliban's den, still exists on the Located in the basement of the neglected Armory Building that laterīecame the home of the Savannah College of Art and Design. Gathered in a Stonewall-like club known as the Basement, which was Savannah, like New York, had its own gay counter-culture that Girlfriend introduced me to the two gay men who would change my lifeįorever. THE YEAR 1969 was when the straight brother of my high school
Leitsch, Rodwell, and Timmons-later joined by Randy Wicker-were members of the Mattachine Society, a group that tried to break the taboo around homosexuality and present themselves as clean-cut model citizens to combat homophobia and carve out a place in the public sphere for openly gay men. READ MORE: How the Mob Helped Establish NYC’s Gay Bar Scene It was not uncommon for bars to put up signs with messages like “If you are gay, please stay away,” or the slightly subtler “Patrons Must Face the Bar While Drinking,” a coded warning against men trying to pick up other men. These were acts of bigotry, but also self-preservation, as the NYPD routinely raided and shut down bars where gays were known to congregate.
Gay men were often accused of “disorderly conduct” simply for being gay and thrown out of bars even though there was no law against homosexuality or serving gays. In what will be dubbed the “Sip-In,” Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell and John Timmons publicly identify themselves as gay and demand to be served anyway, challenging the unofficial but widespread practice of banning gay customers from bars.Īlthough the gay community in New York grew and established numerous clandestine hubs over the course of the 1950s and '60s, they were still met with open contempt at most bars, restaurants, and nightclubs in the city. On the afternoon of April 21, 1966, a bar crawl in New York’s West Village leads to an important early moment in the gay liberation movement.