"Queer Design" - Eaklor's Queer America Chapters 4/5

The Beats Generation

The Beats Generation was a group of mostly young men and some women who wrote prose and poetry. Sexual freedom was a big part of their lives and works. Some writers were gay or bisexual, published works that were controversial, and had relationships with other Beat Poets. For example, Allen Ginsberg published Howl (1956), controversial for its references to drugs and sex, both heterosexual and homosexual. He was gay and involved with Peter Orlosky, William S. Burroughs, and Neal Cassady. Similarly, another writer, Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road (1957), which was also controversial for references to drugs and sex. He was involved with both women and men. Though controversial, these works provide validation and representation in literature and bring awareness to an ongoing issue. Since heterosexuality was considered the norm, there weren’t as many works written about homosexual relationships. Controversy surrounding these works brought attention to the inequality that queer individuals faced.

Historian John D’Emilio

In 1983, Historian John D’Emilio published Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970. In this book, he pointed out the minority status of homosexuals. A minority was a group considered to have less power than the majority as a result of institutionalized discrimination based on a shared trait, such as race, religion, or sexuality. Especially after the Holocaust, people realized that discrimination and other forms of unjust treatment against a vulnerable group were not tolerable. D’Emilio pointed out two things I found interesting: When equality and equal opportunities are denied under the law, these jumpstart movements for civil rights, and a thriving subculture may even undermine a civil rights movement. Since oppression creates unity among the oppressed, the desire for equality and representation leads to these groups speaking out, but those who are “privileged,” as D’Emilio states, may not be part of the community as they do not see a need for change, or they might fear losing what they have.

Social Classes

In the female queer community, women were separated by social classes and thus shared different cultures. While middle and upper-class lesbians and bisexual women preferred private homes and resisted the division of masculine and feminine, working-class women organized public and private gatherings around the division. Queer slang was used to refer to individuals: “Butch” for masculine women, “femme” for feminine women, and “bluff” or “kiki” is used to refer to the middle and upper-class women who did not have clear “roles”. This separation is interesting- in a minority community that should be supporting one another, there is discrimination and even judgment- working-class women went as far as ridiculing the upper-class women for copying heterosexual roles, which can be invalidating to an individual’s identity.

After Stonewall

Before Stonewall

The Boys In The Band (the play, 1968)

Toggle the table of contents The Boys in the Band (play) Article Talk Read Edit View history Tools From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Boys in the Band One of early theatrical release posters Written by Mart Crowley Characters Hank Alan Bernard Cowboy Michael Harold Emory Donald Larry Date premiered April 15, 1968[1] Place premiered Theatre Four, 424 West 55th Street, Manhattan, New York City[1] Original language English Genre Drama Setting Manhattan The Boys in the Band is a 1968 American play by Mart Crowley.[2] The play premiered Off-Broadway, and was revived on Broadway for its 50th anniversary in 2018. The play revolves around a group of gay men who gather for a birthday party in New York City, and was groundbreaking for its portrayal of gay life.[3] It was adapted into two feature films in 1970 and 2020. A sequel, The Men from the Boys, premiered in 2002. Synopsis The play is set in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, "a smartly appointed duplex apartment in the East Fifties",[4] and the backgrounds of characters are revealed in the course of a birthday party. Harold celebrates his birthday. In the character's own words an "ugly, pock-marked Jew fairy",[5] he becomes increasingly morose about losing his youthful looks and claims that he no longer can attract cute young men. In the dramatis personae, he is described as being "dark" with an "unusual Semitic face".[6] "Cowboy", an attractive blond hustler who is "not too bright"[7] and "too pretty",[6] is one of Harold's birthday presents. Alan McCarthy, Michael's married college friend[8] and roommate, is an unexpected party guest. He is visiting New York and anxious to tell Michael something, but hesitant to do so in front of the others. It is suggested that he once had homosexual affairs while in college, but his sexual orientation is never explicitly stated, leaving it to audience interpretation. The dramatis personae describes him as "aristocratic" and "Anglo-Saxon".[6] The party is given by Harold's six closest friends: Michael is Harold's "smartly groomed"[6] "frenemy",[8] the host, and a lapsed Catholic as well as an alcoholic. He is the catalyst for most of the drama of the play. Donald is Michael's ex-boyfriend, current friend (though the exact nature of their relationship is ambiguous) who has moved from the city to the Hamptons to spurn the homosexual "lifestyle", and is undergoing psychoanalysis. He has "wholesome American good looks".[6] Bernard is an African-American librarian who still pines for the wealthy white boy in whose house his mother worked as a maid. In the dramatis personae, he is "Twenty-eight, Negro, nice-looking".[6] Emory is a flamboyant and effeminate interior decorator. He is often campy in his sense of humor, which serves to irritate others. Larry is a commercial artist who prefers multiple sex partners and is "extremely handsome".[6] Hank is Larry's live-in boyfriend who has been married to a woman from whom he is separated and is divorcing. He "passes" as straight and disagrees with Larry on the issue of monogamy. Physically, he is described as "solid, athletic, attractive".[6] During the party, the humor takes a nasty turn, as the nine men become increasingly inebriated. The party culminates in a "game", where each man must call someone whom he has loved and tell them about it. Michael, believing that Alan has finally "outed" himself when he makes his call, grabs the phone from him and discovers Alan has called his wife. The audience never learns what Alan intended to discuss with Michael in the end. Title and creation The Boys in the Band was written by American playwright Mart Crowley. In 1957, Crowley started working for a number of television production companies, before meeting Natalie Wood on the set of her film Splendor in the Grass[9] while working as a production assistant.[10] Wood hired him as her assistant,[10] primarily to give him ample free time to work on his gay-themed play.[5][11] Wood, Crowley's close friend, inspired him to move from New York to Hollywood.[10] According to Crowley's friend Gavin Lambert, Wood sympathized with Hollywood's gay scene, and financially supported Crowley[10][12] so he would be free to write his play.[13] Crowley worked as an assistant for Wood and her husband Robert Wagner for many years.[10] After several Hollywood film productions he was helping on were canceled, his wealthy friend Diana Lynn hired him to housesit. He lived in the Hollywood Georgian mansion where he only had to "throw dinner parties and drink myself into oblivion." He began writing instead of drinking, and began working on The Boys in the Band. Crowley told Dominick Dunne about the title: "It's that line in A Star Is Born when James Mason tells a distraught Judy Garland 'You're singing for yourself and the boys in the band.'"[14] According to Crowley, his motivation in writing the play was not activism, but anger that "had partially to do with myself and my career, but it also had to do with the social attitude of people around me, and the laws of the day". He says he "wanted the injustice of it all — to all those characters — known".[15] Crowley has also stated, "I was not an activist, then or now. I didn't know what hit me. I just wrote the truth."[10] Crowley made no secret that all characters were based on real people in his life,[10] with Michael reminding him of himself, describing the character as "a complex person who is aware of what is politically correct but has a sort of contempt for it".[10] He called Donald "a foil for Michael"[10] and inspired by a droll friend he would periodically take wry comments from.[10] In the 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet, Crowley explained, "The self-deprecating humor was born out of a low self-esteem, from a sense of what the times told you about yourself."[16] In The Boys in the Band: Something Personal, a short documentary accompanying Netflix's release of the 2020 film adaptation, Crowley clarified that Donald was based on Douglas Murray,[17] to whom the play was dedicated.[18] Harold, the character whose birthday was being celebrated, is a cipher for dancer/choreographer Howard Jeffrey, who died in 1988 of AIDS,[17] to whom the play was also dedicated.[18] Crowley took one of the key lines of the play, "I try to show a little affection; it keeps me from feeling like such a whore", from a hustler he danced with on Fire Island, telling, "I couldn't write anything that good!".[17] Production history Off-Broadway premiere, 1968 While Crowley was pitching the script, early agents stayed away from the project, and it was championed by playwright Edward Albee and Richard Barr, who at the time was head of the Playwrights Units in New York.[10] For the production, it proved "nearly impossible to find" actors willing to play gay characters.[10] An old college friend of Crowley's, 33-year-old Laurence Luckinbill, agreed to play Hank despite warnings from his agent that it would end his career, even though the agent was herself a lesbian. It proved hard for Crowley to find producers and theater owners who were interested.[19] The play premiered Off-Broadway on April 14, 1968, at Theater Four,[20] and closed on September 6, 1970, after 1,001 performances.[10] Directed by Robert Moore, the cast included Kenneth Nelson as Michael, Peter White as Alan McCarthy, Leonard Frey as Harold, Cliff Gorman as Emory, Frederick Combs as Donald, Laurence Luckinbill as Hank, Keith Prentice as Larry, Robert La Tourneaux as Cowboy, and Reuben Greene as Bernard. The play was one of the early works to present a story centered on homosexuals.[21] In 1968, although only originally scheduled to run for five performances at a small venue off Broadway, it was a fast success and was moved to a larger theater. It went on to have a run in London as well.[22] The premiere's actors such as Laurence Luckinbill drilled a hole in the set so they could spy on whoever was in the house's best seats, and in the initial weeks, saw Jackie Kennedy, Marlene Dietrich, Groucho Marx, Rudolf Nureyev, and New York mayor John Lindsay. Despite the success of the play, all the gay members of the original company stayed in the closet after the premiere. Between 1984 and 1993, five of the gay men in the original production (as well as director Robert Moore and producer Richard Barr) died in the ensuing AIDS epidemic.[19] Off-Broadway and London revivals The play was revived Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in 1996, running from August 6 to October 20,[23] after its initial sold-out run at the WPA Theater. The Boys in the Band was presented by the Transport Group Theater Company, New York City, from February 2010 to March 14, 2010, directed by Jack Cummings III.[2][7] A London staging in October 2016 at Park Theatre was the first revival there in two decades. It subsequently transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End. Positively reviewed, including in The Observer, the production starred Mark Gatiss as Harold and Ian Hallard as Michael, with Daniel Boys, Jack Derges, James Holmes, John Hopkins, Greg Lockett, Ben Mansfield, and Nathan Nolan.[24] The production was nominated for two awards in the 2017 WhatsOnStage Awards: Best Play Revival and Best Off-West End Production, with Hallard nominated as Best Actor in a Play. Broadway production, 2018 A Broadway production of The Boys in the Band, directed by Joe Mantello, opened in previews at the Booth Theatre on April 30, 2018, officially on May 31, and ran until August 11, 2018. This production, staged for the 50th anniversary of the play's original premiere, starred Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto and Andrew Rannells, as well as Charlie Carver, Brian Hutchison, Michael Benjamin Washington, Robin de Jesús, and Tuc Watkins.[25][26] Quinto portrayed Harold, whose birthday sets the premise.[27] All of the actors who were in the 2018 production are openly gay.[28] This production won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play,[29] and Robin de Jesús was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.[30] Reception and impact When The Boys in the Band premiered in 1968, mainstream audiences were shocked.[31] The play was profiled in the William Goldman book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway, an account of the 1967–1968 season. In the same year, a two-disc, vinyl LP set was released, containing the full dialogue of the play voiced by the original actors. Crowley wrote the 2002 sequel The Men from the Boys. In 2002, Peter Filichia from Theater Mania contended that the play's original production helped inspire the 1969 Stonewall riots and gay rights movement.[32] After gays saw The Boys in the Band, they no longer would settle for thinking of themselves as pathetic and wouldn't be perceived as such any longer. Now that [characters] had brought their feelings out of the closet, this new generation would dare to be different. And, just as some whites' view of blacks changed after seeing A Raisin in the Sun, so too did the outlook of many straights after they caught The Boys in the Band. Some whom I personally know felt terrible and–I saw this happen!–actually changed the way they treated gays. In 2004, David Anthony Fox from Philadelphia City Paper praised this play, its one-liners, and its live performance in Philadelphia. He rebutted criticism that the play portrayed "urban gay men as narcissistic, bitter, shallow".[8] In 2010, Elyse Summer in her review for CurtainUp called it a "smart gimmick" full of dated "self-homophobic, low self-esteem characters".[7] In the same year, Steve Weinstein from the Edge website called it "Shakespearean".[33] Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominee Result Ref. 1968 Obie Award Distinguished Performance by an Actor (8 awarded) Cliff Gorman Won [30][34][35] 1997 Obie Award Distinguished Performance (11 awarded) David Greenspan Won [30][36][37] 2019 Broadway.com Audience Awards Matt Bomer Favorite Featured Actor in a Play Nominated [38] Favorite Breakthrough Performance (Male) Nominated Charlie Carver Nominated 2019 Tony Awards Best Revival of a Play The Boys in the Band Won [29][30] Best Featured Actor in a Play Robin de Jesús Nominated [30] Sequel In 2002, Crowley wrote The Men from the Boys, a sequel to the play, which takes place 30 years after the original. It premiered in San Francisco in 2002, directed by Ed Decker,[10] and was produced in Los Angeles in 2003.[39] Film adaptations Main articles: The Boys in the Band (1970 film) and The Boys in the Band (2020 film) The play was adapted into a feature film by Cinema Center Films in 1970, directed by William Friedkin.[40] Ryan Murphy produced a second film adaptation for Netflix with the 2018 Broadway revival cast and Joe Mantello directing.[41] See also LGBT culture in New York City List of LGBTQ people from New York City References ​The Boys in the Band (1968–1970 production)​ at the Internet Off-Broadway Database. Retrieved October 14, 2020. Brantley, Ben (February 24, 2010). "Broken Hearts, Bleeding Psyches". The New York Times. Wild, Stephanie (April 1, 2018). "The Cast of The Boys In The Band Shares Group Photo From First Day of Rehearsal". BroadwayWorld. Crowley, Mart (2003). The Band Plays: The Boys in the Band and its sequel The Men from the Boys. Taylor & Francis. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-5558-3831-7. Biederman, Marcia (June 11, 2000). "Journey to an Overlooked Past". The New York Times. p. 1. Crowley, Mart (2003). The Band Plays: The Boys in the Band and its sequel The Men from the Boys. Taylor & Francis. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-5558-3831-7. Sommer, Elyse (February 19, 2010). "The Boys in the Band, a CurtainUp review". CurtainUp. Fox, David Anthony. (June 17, 2004). "Theater: The Boys in the Band review". Philadelphia City Paper. Archived from the original on October 20, 2004. Retrieved May 25, 2012. Wagner, Robert J. (2008). Pieces of My Heart. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 138. ISBN 9780061982316. Retrieved May 25, 2012. Roca, Octavia (October 26, 2002). "Boys to Men: Mart Crowley's latest play takes Boys in the Band through the past 30 years". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 27, 2007. Dunlap, David W. (June 9, 1996). "In a Revival, Echoes of a Gay War of Words". The New York Daily News. Retrieved May 25, 2012. Kinser, Jeffrey (November 23, 2011). "Mart Crowley on His Friend Natalie Wood". Advocate. Retrieved May 25, 2012. Jaques, Damien (May 31, 1998). "Boys in Band returns to stage, tamer now but still honest, witty". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Document ID: 0EB82BA95CE4B17C. (subscription required) Hofler, Robert (February 4, 2014). Sexplosion. From Andy Warhol to A Clockwork Orange - How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-208834-5. Lucas, Sherry (March 24, 2018). "Mississippi playwright's Boys in the Band marches triumphantly to Broadway". Mississippi Today. Retrieved May 16, 2018. Higleyman, Liz (February 6, 2004). "What was The Boys in the Band?". GMax.co.za. Archived from the original on May 4, 2004. Retrieved May 25, 2012. The Boys in the Band: Something Personal. Netflix. September 30, 2020. Retrieved October 3, 2020. Crowley, Mart (2003). The Band Plays: The Boys in the Band and its sequel The Men from the Boys. Taylor & Francis. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-5558-3831-7. Green, Jesse (February 26, 2018). "A Brief History of Gay Theater, in Three Acts". The New York Times. Retrieved January 31, 2020. "The Boys in the Band". Lortel Archives. Retrieved November 2, 2017. Lenker, Maureen Lee (November 1, 2017). "Ryan Murphy taps Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto for Boys in the Band Broadway revival". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 2, 2017. Clement, Olivia (May 10, 2018). "Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells, and Matt Bomer Lead The Boys in the Band on Broadway". Playbill. Retrieved May 16, 2018. ​The Boys in the Band (1996 production)​ at the Internet Off-Broadway Database. Retrieved October 14, 2020. Kellaway, Kate (October 9, 2016). "The Boys in the Band review – stuff of great drama". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 16, 2018. Clement, Olivia (November 1, 2017). "Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells, and Matt Bomer to Lead The Boys in the Band on Broadway". Playbill. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved December 5, 2017. "Introducing the First-Ever Broadway Cast of The Boys in the Band". TheaterMania.com. January 23, 2018. Archived from the original on January 26, 2018. Broverman, Neal (May 16, 2018). "Boy in the Band Zachary Quinto on the State of Gay". The Advocate. Retrieved May 16, 2018. Singh, Shane Michael (May 1, 2018). "Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells and Matt Bomer hit Broadway". TimeOut. Retrieved May 16, 2018. Forstadt, Jillian (June 9, 2019). "Tonys: The Boys in the Band Wins Best Revival of a Play". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 10, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2020. Reynolds, Daniel (April 30, 2019). "The Boys in the Band Is Finally Nominated for a Tony Award". The Advocate. Archived from the original on October 11, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020. Warfield, Polly (July 30, 2003). "The Men from the Boys review". Backstage. Archived from the original on October 11, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020. Filichia, Peter (October 18, 2002). "Bring on the Men!". TheaterMania. Weinstein, Steve (February 12, 2010). "Mart Crowley: The Man Behind the Boys". Edge New York. "Cliff Gorman, 65; Tony-Winning Stage, Film and Television Actor". LA Times. September 14, 2002. Archived from the original on October 11, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020. "1969". Obie Awards. Retrieved October 11, 2020. Lefkowitz, David (May 19, 1997). "Obie Awards Honor Best of 1996-97 Off-B'way". Playbill. Archived from the original on October 11, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020. "1997". Obie Awards. Retrieved October 11, 2020. Wontorek, Paul (May 7, 2019). "Fan-Picked 2019 Broadway.com Audience Choice Award Nominations Announced; Be More Chill Leads With 12". Broadway.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 7, 2019. Hitchcock, Laura (August 3, 2003). "Men From the Boys". CurtainUp. Retrieved March 27, 2007. "The Boys in the Band" Turner Classic Movies, retrieved November 2, 2017 McPhee, Ryan (April 17, 2019). "The Boys in the Band to Be Adapted for Netflix With All-Star Broadway Cast". Playbill. Retrieved April 17, 2019. Further reading Lambert, Gavin (January 11, 2012). Natalie Wood: A Life (First ed.). New York: Knopf Doubleday. ISBN 978-0307816801. External links The Boys in the Band at the Internet Off-Broadway Database ​The Boys in the Band​ at the Internet Broadway Database

Mick Jagger, 1969, the White Dress and Butterflies

A satellite website of Documenting Fashion A Dress History Blog Show Menu Skip to content Party frock or military uniform?: Mick Jagger performing gender at Hyde Park, London, 5th July 1969. November 16, 2021Posted by: meganstevensonCommentary Dress in Focus No Comments On a summer’s afternoon in 1969, Mick Jagger bounds onto the stage set up in Hyde Park with characteristic explosive energy. He swaggers across the stage, donning a white dress designed by Michael Fish, paired with white flared trousers and clutching a battered book of poetry. Bowing and blowing kisses to adoring fans, he oozes an aura of masculine self-assurance as his balloon sleeves and gathered skirt waft around him. Figure 1: Mick Jagger reading an excerpt from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s elegy Adonais in memory of Brian Jones, 5th July 1969, Robert Hunt Library/Shutterstock Their first performance in two years, what the Rolling Stones had intended as a free concert to give back to the fans they had somewhat abandoned during this time, as well as to introduce their new band member, Mick Taylor, as Brian Jones’ replacement, ended up as a more sombre affair. Jones had been dismissed from the band in June that year due to his struggle with addiction, resulting in the multifaceted musician and originally integral element to The Stones becoming a liability not only to the band’s recording sessions and success, but also to himself. Brian Jones was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool on 2nd July, three days before the concert. Jagger attempts to calm the crowd with the fragile authority of a substitute teacher struggling to tame a classroom of hormone-fuelled teenagers. But, because he’s Mick Jagger, he (just about) pulls it off. ‘OOOOWWRRIGHT! Okay now listen! Will you just cool it for just a minute because I really would like to say something for Brian.’ He resorts to ‘OKAY ARE YOU GOING TO BE QUIET OR NOT?’, which seemingly settles the gathered spectators. Jagger proceeds to recite a few verses from Shelley’s poem Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats. The touching words of Shelley honouring a fellow artist struck down in his youth feel hauntingly relevant. Despite Jagger’s slightly wooden recital, it is a moving and fitting tribute. Hundreds of white butterflies were then shaken out of cardboard boxes, fluttering above the stage and crowd in dizzy liberation. Yet what is most memorable about this iconic performance is that dress. Not many men could wield the same degree of authority over a crowd of 250,000 to 500,000 people whilst wearing a dress that was compared to a ‘little girl’s white party frock’ by the British press. Jagger, luckily, is one of them. There is undeniable androgynous hybridity to Jagger’s ensemble. The white dress is ornately decorated with a ruffled collar and cuffs which mirror the pleated skirt, billowing full sleeves, and individual bow fastenings down the fitted bodice. All of these intricate details do evoke a young girl’s frock. The dress-making pattern image from the 1950s below exhibits the femininity and girlishness of puff sleeves, delicate collars and bows, and full skirts, which are arguably paralleled, or parodied, by Jagger’s garment. Figure 2: Girl’s One-Piece Vintage Dress Sewing Pattern: Flower Girl, Party Dress, 1st Communion, 1950’s, Simplicity Pattern Co. Designer Michael Fish was a pioneer of the ‘Peacock Revolution’. The evolution of menswear shifted drastically throughout the 1960s, prioritising rich fabrics, extravagant colours and more effeminate silhouettes over traditional tailoring. Mr Fish, a boutique in Mayfair, stocked and sold his flamboyant garments, from frilled silk shirts to men’s caftans, to the emerging demographic of the London dandy. Below, we see Michael Fish wearing one of his designs, with almost identical ornate details of ruffled collar and bow fastenings to Jagger’s dress. The context of the sexual revolution, triggered by the circulation of the contraceptive pill in Britain from 1963, brought in an era of sexual liberation, meaning that men could challenge traditional notions of masculinity and indulge in androgynous ways of dress. Figure 3: Michael Fish and Barry Sainsbury, 1968, Courtesy of Mason & Sons Jagger did not stop at dressing in a feminine manner. He went as far as adopting the female gender signifiers of long hair and makeup in a convincing performance of gender play. His eyes are shrouded in mysterious smokiness and his infamous pout is accentuated by lipstick as his hair sweeps down past his shoulders. Having said this, Jagger’s dress can also be read as a display of masculinity. The full, pleated skirt arguably evokes the fustanella – a skirt-like garment worn throughout South East Europe, but in particular by the Evzone elite ceremonial unit of the Greek Royal Guard (below, left). Figure 4: The Archbishop Regent Damaskinos of Greece with an Evzone Guard at the Regency in Athens, 15 February 1945, Capt. Tanner War Office official photographer, Imperial War Museum The dramatic flare of the Evzone Guard’s sleeve combined with the fullness of the kilt-like skirt both hint at the yards of fabric that have gone into the construction of this garment, whilst simultaneously providing a prototype for the defining features of Jagger’s frock. Origins on the fustanella date back to the nineteenth century, but the garment is also perhaps a continuation of men’s short tunics from Ancient Greece. Looking back to another time or another country became an increasingly important source of fashion influence throughout the 1960s. Arguably Jagger was drawn to Michael Fish’s garment as it takes inspiration from then and there to challenge the gender divide of here and now. Figure 5: Mick Jagger performing at Hyde Park in 1969, Ray Stevenson/Shutterstock Later on in the performance, as the afternoon heat descends, Jagger removes his smock, untying each individual bow to release himself from his effeminate exterior. Beneath, he is wearing a simple vest which exposes his slender but undeniably masculine frame. Therefore in its fluid state, gender, like clothing, can be tried on, worn, taken off and worn again. Such was the case for Jagger. Not only was he rumoured to have worn this same dress to his financial adviser’s white-themed party two days before, but he also revisited this look forty four years later with a strikingly similar white smock garment during The Rolling Stones’ return to Hyde Park in 2013. Figure 6: Mick Jagger performing at Hyde Park in 2013, Roger Tooth for the Guardian By Claudia Stanley Sources: The Rolling Stones – Tribute to Brian Jones / I’m Yours and I’m Hers (Hyde Park 1969) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ5VhQMgjYw Costantino, Maria. Men’s Fashion in the Twentieth Century: from frock coats to intelligent fibres. London: B. T. Batsford LTD, 1997. Langkjær, Michael A. A case of misconstrued Rock Military Style: Mick Jagger and his Evzone “little girl’s party frock” fustanella, Hyde Park, July 5, 1969. Historical, sociological and methodological approaches. Conference Proceedings, Athens, 9-11 April 2010. Nafplion: Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation, 2012. Langkjær, Michael A. ‘Then how can you explain Sgt. Pompous and the Fancy Pants Club Band?’ Utilization of Military Uniforms and Other Paraphernalia by Pop Groups and the Youth Counterculture in the 1960s and Subsequent Periods. Textile history, Vol. 41, no. 1. Published online 19 Jul 2013. https://doi.org/10.1179/174329510X12646114289824 Lester, Richard. Boutique London, A History: King’s Road to Carnaby Street. Suffolk: ACC Editions, 2010. Luther Hillman, Betty. Dressing for the Culture Wars : Style and the Politics of Self-Presentation in the 1960s and 1970s. Lincoln, Nebraska : University of Nebraska Press, 2015. Morgen, Brett. Crossfire Hurricane: The Rise of the Stones. London: Milkwood Films, Los Angeles: Tremolo Productions, 18th October 2012. Sims, Joshua. Rock Fashion, London and New York: Omnibus Press, 1999.

Laura Nyro at Monterrey Pops Festival singing Wedding Bell Blue and Poverty Train

New York Tendaberry (1969)

Little Richard in the 1960's

Little Richard: I Am Everything

Lisa Cortez, Director of I Am Everything

Leslie Gore (1963)

Making Queer History Apr 30 Lesley Gore Happy Endings A black and white close-up photo of Lesley Gore’s face. She is looking off camera, smiling. A black and white close-up photo of Lesley Gore’s face. She is looking off camera, smiling. "I just kind of lived my life naturally and did what I wanted to do," — Lesley Gore In honour of Lesbian Day of Visibility recently, we wanted to look at a woman whose music is incredibly well-known, but whose queerness is often erased. Her music has been used in PSAs and presidential campaigns alike, and she worked hard to become a prolific singer, songwriter, actress, and LGBTQ+ activist. Lesley Gore was a vibrant and proud Jewish lesbian. Unlike many of the people we write about, she was fortunate enough to have the language to talk about her identity—and did. It’s an unfortunate truth that one of the rare people we’ve written about who used clear terms to describe their experiences still had her experiences erased. Born in 1946 as Lesley Sue Goldstein, Gore’s family changed their name shortly after her birth, likely to combat rising antisemitism. She and her brother spent their childhoods in New Jersey. Gore’s early years were mostly uneventful—until she turned 16. Her vocal coach at the time recorded a demo that eventually found its way to the producer Quincy Jones. Jones would later go on to work with stars like Michael Jackson, but he and Gore found their start together. Gore found her first hit single with “It’s My Party (And I’ll Cry If I Want To).” It’s success boosted not only her career but also that of Jones, who quickly became the first black VP at Mercury Records. Gore’s success continued with a new style. When “You Don’t Own Me” was released in 1964, Gore went from a sweet, heartbroken young woman to an independent one. Even years later upon releasing a revised version, Gore felt it was a particularly special song: "It's a song that takes on new meaning every time you sing it." It changed not only the way the public viewed the singer but the conversations that were being had about women. It became an anthem of independence and feminist ideals. During the hype of her first few releases, she attended Sarah Lawrence College, studying literature. She noted that women there considered pop music uncool. "Had I been tall with blonde hair, had I been Mary Travers, I would have gotten along fine,” the young singer said. Still, she felt it was important to give herself options; music was a far too uncertain path to pursue without a backup plan. In fact, she only toured during the summer and holidays; she enjoyed spending her weekends holed up in the library. It was in school that she got involved in activism, first volunteering for Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign. Though she continued to perform music and act in films and television, even working with her brother to create music for the film Fame, she would come back to activism again and again. Later meeting Bella Abzug, the first woman mentor in her life and a leader in the women’s rights movement, changed her approach to activism. “She kind of mentored me as to what’s important for women and where to put my energies in terms of gay women, and what I could best do to help women in our community and children. And that’s pretty much what I live by now, pretty much where I like to concentrate my efforts. You can only bite off so much, so you gotta know what you want to do.” There’s something to be said about the fact that a woman whose music inspired so many conversations around men and heterosexuality was herself a lesbian. She lived at a time when heteronormativity was expected, perhaps even more than today. She dated men and women while she was young, but her first serious relationship in her twenties confirmed for her that she was a lesbian. Though she believed that her family and friends understood, she didn’t publically come out until 2004 when she hosted the PBS series In the Life, which focused on LGBT issues. It was easier to let the public assume who she was rather than risk her career—and her future. During the height of her fame, she allowed and perhaps encouraged the mixed perception of the public. She was a weepy teenager and an independent woman and a teen heartthrob and a young lesbian. She was a complex woman who could not and would not be condensed into easy terms. Though she was not open about being a lesbian yet, she said that she did not hide it. When she did come out in 2004, she said it “was just kind of my way of saying, here I am and this is what I feel I should be doing now, and it was sort of a natural evolution for me as opposed to, you know, this great gong in the head.” Lesley Gore passed away in New York at the age of 68. Her partner of 33 years, Lois Sasson, stayed at her side. Her music, particularly her rendition of “You Don’t Own Me,” continues to be a symbol of feminism and women’s rights; it’s been used in film, television, and ads for things like marriage equality and reproductive rights. Upon her death, rapper G-Eazy and singer Grace released their rendition of the classic. Grace said that she has been inspired by Gore’s career and wanted to give the song—and her—the justice it deserved. “It’s so important to go after what you want, to be strong. Lesley’s generation paved the way, so I felt like this was a way to say thank you and to keep that momentum going.” Gore spent her life in the limelight, and she walked a careful line between personal and private life. We often discuss the idea of coming out as if it is inevitable; for some, it is never. For others, it is a celebration. And for others still, it is quiet and constant. Lesley Gore felt that it was no one’s business but hers, and she came out in her own time. Those around her, she believed, already knew. Whether she worried about her career and safety or just wanted to have something for herself, she made a decision that is only hers to make. Each of us must decide when, how, and if we want to come out; it is a deeply personal experience. No one is owed your story, and choosing to share it is a courageous act. [Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material] Farrell, M. (2017). “Forebears: The Teenage Wisdom Of 'Lesley Gore Sings Of Mixed-Up Hearts’.” NPR. Gaar, G. G. (2002). She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock and Roll. Seal Press. Glitz, M. (2016.) "Singing Her Own Tune: Lesley Gore Is on Her Second Run of Celebrity-From the "It's My Party" Songbird of the '60s to the out Singer-Songwriter of 2005's Quietly Haunting Indie CD Ever Since." The Advocate. Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. Sinclair, P. (2015). “Lesley Gore: Lesbian, Jewish, Feminist.” My Jewish Learning. Swartz, S. (2005). “Interview with Lesley Gore.” AfterEllen.

Wed, Jan 24 Orientation Session

Wed, Jan 24 Orientation Session Introduction to participants and work of the seminar. In class screening of the 1967 CBS documentrary, “The Homosexuals,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu1r6igCODw In class discussion of the documentary and the context in which it was made. The context: The Civil Rights movement and legislation, the Vietnam War, The Pill and Griswold v. Connecticut; Sunday Bloody Sunday, Hair, Dusty Springfield, Little Richard, Leslie Gore, The Killing of Sister George, Reflections in a Golden Eye, Pop Art, Andy Warhol, James Baldwin, The Summer of Love, Woodstock, Bayard Rustin, N.O.W., Pauli Murray, The Feminine Mystique and Betty Friedan, physique magazines, Kenneth Anger, One Magazine, Mattachine Society, The Black Cat, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, Pickets for Gay Rights, San Francisco’s first Drag Ball, Drum Magazine, Oscar Wilde Bookstore opens, Students Homophile League at Columbia University, JFK, Malcolm X, MLK, RFK assassinated, Loving v. Virginia, The Advocate begins publication… Assignment: In Eaklor’s Queer America… Read chapter 5 Pgs. 107-129 ; watch the documentary, Before Stonewall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYddtKw3NlY; and read the June 26,1964 Life Magazine Article, “Homosexuality in America, http://time.com/3891557/gay-life-in-america/

The Fall of '55: The Boise Boys Boise homosexuality scandal Article Talk Read Edit View history Tools From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Boise residents read of the first arrests, igniting a moral panic in the town. The Boise homosexuality scandal refers to a sweeping investigation of a supposed "homosexual underground" in Boise, Idaho that started in 1955. Beginning with the arrest of three men in October 1955, the investigation broadened to encompass allegations that more than 100 young men and teenage boys had been involved in sexual acts with a ring of adult homosexual men. By the time the investigation wound down in January 1957, some 1,500 people had been questioned, sixteen men faced charges, and fifteen of them were sentenced to terms ranging from probation to life in prison. Reportage of the investigation and arrests set off a moral panic in Boise, fueled by incendiary editorials in the city's newspaper. Although framed in terms of "protecting children" from adult predators, the probe was not confined to investigating charges of men having sex with underage boys and some of those convicted and sentenced to prison were found guilty only of sexual encounters with other consenting adults. The scandal highlighted the tension between the perception of homosexuality as a mental illness requiring treatment and homosexual sex as a criminal act mandating punishment and led to an examination of the problems of juvenile delinquency. The reasons behind both the start and the end of the investigation are unclear. In his book on the scandal, The Boys of Boise: Furor, Vice and Folly in an American City, journalist and academician John Gerassi suggests that the investigation began as a means for the wealthy elite of Boise to assert and maintain economic control of the city and the state. He asserts that a gay millionaire known as "The Queen" was the target of the probe, although he was never charged. With the son of the loudest proponent of the investigation implicated, Gerassi suggests that the forces behind the probe realized that homosexuals were at every level of society and that their wealth and power would not necessarily insulate them, leading them to quietly halt the investigation. D'Emilio and Freedman, who are historians of sexuality, situate the Boise investigations within national Cold War politics that led to a national obsession with homosexuality across the US.[1] Investigation and first arrests The first arrests in the scandal came on October 31, 1955, following an investigation by private detective Howard Dice at the behest of an unnamed client.[2] Those arrested were Ralph Cooper, a 33-year-old shoe repairman; Charles Brokaw, a 29-year-old freight worker; and Vernon Cassel, a 51-year-old store clerk.[3] Cooper and Brokaw were charged with "lewd conduct with a minor child" (Cooper based on an incident from June 1954) and Cassel with "infamous crimes against nature",[4] in other words, sodomy. When the arrests were announced, Ada County Probation Officer Emery Bess stated, without offering supporting evidence, that the investigation had only "scratched the surface" of "child molestation activities" in Boise involving several adults and over 100 teenagers.[3] According to Jim Brandon, at the time the chief of the Boise Police Department, the investigation began when the local YMCA became concerned about the number of transients who were staying at the facility and possible sexual improprieties. Dice's "unnamed client", a lawyer connected with the YMCA and who was connected to the power elite of Boise, hired Dice to investigate. Dice initially discovered nothing, then began speaking with some youths who told him about "juvenile delinquents" who congregated at the YMCA and who engaged in homosexual acts with adult men. With the involvement of underage males, probation officer Bess became involved and, according to Brandon, compiled a list of 75 youths supposedly involved in homosexual activity. Bess refused to turn over the list to the police or the prosecutor and Dice, operating under the direction of a local organization, the Allied Civic Group, continued the investigation that led to the three initial arrests.[5] The reasons behind the investigation are murky and complex. Gerassi asserts that a "power elite" in Boise, whom he refers to as the "Boise gang", sought to use the investigation (and the resulting scandal) as a means of maintaining control over the city of Boise and, by extension, the entire state of Idaho. He suggests that different members of this elite sought to aim the investigation at different targets. The editor of the Idaho Statesman, Jim Brown, and others wanted to undermine the current reform-minded mayor and his administration. Others targeted the Boise City Council, specifically Councilman Harold T. "Buck" Jones,[note 1] whose son, Frank,[note 2] was one of the youths involved in the scandal. Still other "Boise gang" members were after a fellow member, a wealthy homosexual known as "The Queen", who they believed was too powerful to be brought down by any other means.[6] It is equally unclear what triggered the investigation. According to attorney J. Charles Blanton, who had worked in the County Prosecutor's office until September 1955 and who represented Cassel, the office did not routinely search for homosexual activity to prosecute. Between early September and late October, something unknown happened that caused the heightened pursuit leading to the three initial arrests.[7] "Crush the Monster" The Idaho Statesman, Boise's only daily newspaper, reported the arrests on November 2. News of the arrests ignited a panic in the citizens of Boise. In particular, mothers called the high school, the police and each other, turning in the names of suspected "perverts" and feeding their own and each other's fear.[8] On November 3, the paper ran an editorial under the headline "Crush the Monster". In it, the editors called homosexuality everything from "moral perversion" to a "cancerous growth... calling for immediate and systematic cauterization". The Statesman then called for "the whole sordid situation" to be "completely cleared up, and the premises thoroughly cleaned and disinfected" using "the full strength of county and city agencies".[9] The editorial increased the panic among Boise citizens, who decided that if the normally-staid Statesman was so alarmed at the situation then there must be good reason to be alarmed.[10] The panic increased anew with the announcement of the arrest of Joe Moore. Moore, then the vice-president of the Idaho First National Bank, was arrested for an "infamous crime against nature" committed with Lee Gibson, a 15-year-old boy who had also been the complaining witness against Cooper. With his arrest, the Statesman published another inflammatory editorial under the headline "This Mess Must Be Removed". The editors characterized homosexuals as a "scourge" that "ravage our youth", lamenting the "number of boys [who] have been victimized by these perverts".[11] Claiming that those so "victimized" would "grow into manhood with the same inclinations of those who are called homosexuals", the Statesman concluded, "No matter what is required, this sordid mess must be removed from this community."[12] Anonymous calls to the police turning in the names of any man who in the opinion of an observer seemed to pay too much attention to any young male flooded in and the city's gay residents realized that a witch hunt was in full swing. One man, a teacher, was so terrified upon reading of Moore's arrest over breakfast that he abandoned the city for San Francisco without informing the school or even finishing his eggs.[13] With Boiseans terrified of the "monster" in their midst and Ralph Cooper sentenced to life in prison, the Statesman abruptly reversed itself. In a November 20 editorial, the newspaper called for "shock and disgust" to be "replaced with calm and calculated analysis and consideration". Noting that homosexuality existed in every community and had existed "as long as the weaknesses of the human mind have been evident", the Statesman declared that homosexuals were not criminals and that incarceration was not an appropriate solution. It claimed that as long as the focus was on punishing the adult homosexual, then the involved boys, who had been "infected" by the adult men in the same way that the men had themselves been "infected" as children, would "travel the same path and carry the identical threat to the next generation of youth". The paper concluded that homosexuals should still be pursued "before they do more damage to youth", but with a goal of psychiatric treatment rather than imprisonment, and that plans for assistance to the boys must be made immediately "in order that they do not grow into manhood to become homosexuals".[14] The editorial did nothing to abate the panic and the investigation continued.[15] National news coverage On December 12, 1955, Time magazine published an article called "Idaho Underworld" in which it recounted the initial arrests and convictions and claimed that a "widespread homosexual underground" had "preyed on hundreds of teen-age boys for the past decade".[16] Time followed up on January 2, 1956, reporting additional arrests and sentencing and the suggestion from Boise psychiatrist John L. Butler, who had been appointed director of the Idaho Department of Mental Health in December 1955, that rather than sentencing the homosexual adults to prison terms, the state should instead "build up community supports for them... One alternative might be to let them form their own society and be left alone."[17] On December 22, 1955, the Boise city council issued a statement in which it announced the hiring of a new private investigator to take over the investigation, William Fairchild.[note 3] Fairchild was known for his work investigating homosexuals employed by the State Department; the city, the county and the prosecutor's office jointly paid for his services.[18] Fairchild expanded the investigation and quickly developed a list of 500 suspected homosexuals.[19] The boys When news of the arrests broke, Probation Officer Emery Bess claimed that close to 100 underage boys had been involved in sexual activity with adult men. Gerassi interviewed 28 men who had been enrolled in Boise High School during the scandal. They all disputed the notion that 100 underage boys were involved with adult men. Psychiatrist Butler agreed, stating his belief that only 65 boys were involved in any same-sex sexual activity, including mutual masturbation.[20] There were only four or five boys whose sexual involvement with adults went as far as oral-genital contact. These boys were characterized by Butler as "tough gang members",[21] who engaged in prostitution, making $5–$10 each time they engaged in sex,[16] and blackmail, threatening to expose the men to the police if they refused to pay.[21] On December 15, 1955, three days after Time broke the story and in the wake of closing arguments in the sentencing hearing of Joe Moore, Boise residents held a meeting to discuss the problems of homosexuality and juvenile delinquency. Speakers included psychiatrist Butler; L. E. Clapp, the warden of the state penitentiary; Jim Fowler, the counselor from the local junior high school; and Boise lawyer Frank Church (who would go on to the United States Senate in 1957). The meeting, featuring contradictory remarks from the various speakers on the nature of homosexuality and the role of parents in the lives of their children in preventing delinquency, angered many in the community who felt that Butler in particular, whom they viewed as an outsider despite his roots in the city, was casting aspersions on their ability as parents and calling for government interference in the lives of their families.[22] One boy who was particularly affected by the scandal was Frank Anton Jones. Frank was the son of Boise city council member and strong investigation proponent Harold T. "Buck" Jones. Frank was named in a statement given to Blaine Evans by Melvin Dir, an actor and director who had left Boise for San Francisco in the early days of the investigation, in January 1956. Dir stated that he had engaged in mutual oral-genital contact with Frank once in the summer of 1953, when Frank was 14. Frank was in 1956 a cadet at West Point. Sheriff D. C. House flew out to retrieve Frank, who was separated from the academy. Frank was not tried for the relationship. Dir initially pleaded not guilty, then later switched to a guilty plea and was sentenced to probation. Frank's father Harold maintained that sending the sheriff after his son was "a political witch hunt... There were other names, big shots, involved—one very big name. But nothing happened to them."[23] End of the investigation The end of the investigation was perhaps as murky as its beginning. On December 29, 1955, William Harvey Baker admitted shooting and killing his father. Baker was convicted of manslaughter in June 1956 and sentenced to ten years in prison.[24] Baker was a key prosecution witness against Moore and other defendants and his involvement in the shooting was one factor which seemed to shift public opinion regarding the witch-hunt. If Baker could kill his father, some of the public reasoned, his credibility as a witness was compromised. Others in the community were embarrassed by the publicity and attention focused on Boise by the Time article. As a defense attorney later put it, "[I]t was as if there was a general feeling that the cases had gone far enough. Not only the court but the people of Boise felt this — I think."[25] Gerassi marks the sentencing of Melvin Dir on January 21, 1957, following a probation violation as the conclusion of the scandal.[26] Along with the public unease over the Baker incident and the embarrassment of the Time publicity, Gerassi suggests that the crackdown was getting too close to people entrenched within the same power elite that had pushed the investigation in the first place. Boise police sergeant Don Jerome, speaking several years after the wind-down, concurred in this assessment. "The 1955–1956 scandal boomeranged. Too many people were hurt. The city's reputation was too drastically damaged."[27] However, some of the men convicted in the crackdown dispute this interpretation. One stated, "The real big shots I knew as homosexuals never were arrested."[27] Another agreed: "And they knew who that millionaire 'Queen' was. They knew all about him before they picked me up, because they asked me about him. And... I confirmed it."[27] By the end of the investigation, 1,472 people had been interviewed.[28] Arrests and convictions Defendant Arrested Charge Result Sentence John Calvin Bartlett[29] December 11, 1955 Infamous crimes against nature Pleaded guilty Six years of probation.[30] Charles Brokaw October 31, 1955 Lewd conduct with a minor Pleaded guilty Six months in prison plus probation. Vernon Cassel October 31, 1955 Infamous crimes against nature Pleaded guilty Ten years in prison Ralph Cooper October 31, 1955 Lewd conduct with a minor Pleaded guilty Life imprisonment. Served nine years. Melvin Dir January 7, 1956 Lewd conduct with a minor Pleaded guilty Five years in prison, suspended. Later violates probation and is sentenced to seven years. Charles Herbert Gordon December 11, 1955 Lewd and lascivious conduct Pleaded guilty 15 years in prison Gordon Larsen December 11, 1955 Infamous crimes against nature Tried, found guilty Five years in prison Paris Martin[note 4] December 11, 1955 Infamous crimes against nature Tried, found not guilty[31] None Joe Moore November 14, 1955 Infamous crimes against nature Pleaded guilty Seven years in prison. Loses appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court. Charles Pruett December 11, 1955 Infamous crimes against nature Pleaded guilty Five years in prison Reginald Shaffer December 11, 1955 Infamous crimes against nature Pleaded guilty 15 years in prison Willard Wilson December 11, 1955 Infamous crimes against nature Pleaded guilty Five years in prison.[29] Loses appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court. Four more men pleaded guilty to infamous crimes against nature and received probation. Gerassi does not identify these men by name in his book, stating that although they were convicted, they were sentenced to probation "and were therefore capable of establishing new lives without the stamp of ex-con, and perhaps without their convictions disclosed."[32] Martin, Larsen and two others were charged only with contacts with adults 18 and older.[33] Invasion of privacy lawsuit In 1995, the 40th anniversary of the start of the scandal, The Idaho Statesman printed an account of the scandal that included a photograph of a statement written by Melvin Dir in which Dir claimed to have had a sexual affair with a cousin. The cousin was Fred Uranga, although he was not identified in the story. Uranga sued for invasion of privacy. The trial court dismissed the suit, citing the First Amendment rights of the newspaper, and the appellate court upheld the dismissal. The Idaho Supreme Court reinstated the suit but eight months later reversed itself and unanimously dismissed it. Uranga appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which in 2003 declined his appeal without comment.[34] Media coverage The most comprehensive account of the scandal written to date is The Boys of Boise, a 1966 book by John Gerassi. Gerassi uses the language of the day regarding homosexuality, which at the time was considered a mental illness.[note 5] Gerassi deplored how the cases of those homosexuals who were "unchangeable" and only "broke the law" with other adults were handled while calling those who had had sexual contact with teenagers child molesters who were "sick and should have been treated".[35] When his book was republished in 2001, Gerassi wrote in the introduction that his tone was "a bit too superior." He said no reviewer had criticized him for "sharing the common assumptions of the day." He took credit for getting the last remaining incarcerated man released from prison.[36] CBS Reports: The Homosexuals, a 1967 documentary and the first nationally broadcast program on homosexuality in America, includes a segment on the scandal.[37] Producer Harry Morgan said that the case "illustrates the fact that homosexuality cannot be stamped out; that it is everywhere, not just in the big cities. Society must be made aware of the realities of homosexuality in order to evolve more educated means for dealing with the problem."[38] The Fall of '55, a 2006 film written, directed and produced by Seth Randal, recounts the story,[39] as does Boise U.S.A., a stage play written by Gene Franklin Smith and produced in 2008 by the Salem K Theatre Company in Los Angeles, California.[40] Former Idaho Senator Larry Craig's arrest in 2007 for lewd conduct prompted a brief flurry of attention to the Boise scandal. Craig was ten years old in 1955 and a college student in 1966 when Gerassi's book was released. Fall of '55 director Randal argues that there is little to no chance that Craig was not aware of the Boise scandal and suggests that Craig, in trying to withdraw his guilty plea, had absorbed a lesson from the original scandal: "sexual misconduct — or even the mere perception that one is gay — could ruin a man's reputation. But steadfast, straight-in-the-eye denial just might get him off the hook."[41] Cold war politics D'Emilio and Freedman, writing two decades after Gerassi's book, situate the Boise panic about homosexuals within the context of Cold War politics and the changes in family life experienced in the 1950s. They link the Boise investigations to similar witch hunts for homosexuals that occurred in cities and towns across the nation. In the District of Columbia and in Philadelphia, between 1000 and 1200 suspected homosexuals were arrested per year in the early 1950s. Police raids on gay bars in large cities resulted in hundreds of arrests, and newspaper stories about the raids frightened lesbians and gay men into abandoning their homes and fleeing.[1] D'Emilio and Freedman also discuss how the increasing visibility of gay and lesbian subcultures, particularly in urban areas such as Dallas, Baltimore, New York, Miami, New Orleans, and San Francisco, undermined one of the "props" of Cold War politics: the traditional, heterosexual, nuclear family and its norms of sexuality. Nationally, Americans had become "obsessed" with the alleged "homosexual menace," and its potential threats to American security and morality.[1] See also Lavender scare, with links to articles about other investigations of homosexuals around the country in this period. Larry Craig scandal Notes Gerassi identified Buck with the pseudonym "Henry Morton" in 1966. In his 2001 introduction, Gerassi revealed Buck's identity because Buck was dead (Gerassi, p. xx). Gerassi identified Frank with the pseudonym "Jim Morton" in 1966. In his 2001 introduction, Gerassi revealed not only Frank's identity, but also that Frank had committed suicide in 1982 (Gerassi, p. xxi). Because the investigator was still operating in an undercover capacity in 1965, Gerassi assigned him the pseudonym "Bill Goodman". Martin is identified by the pseudonym "Mark Rome" in Gerassi's book. The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its diagnostic manual in 1973 (Hogan and Hudson, p. 647).

Rudi Gernreich

RudiGernreich

Rudolf "Rudi" Gernreich (August 8, 1922 – April 21, 1985) was an Austrian-born American fashion designer whose avant-garde clothing designs are generally regarded as the most innovative and dynamic fashion of the 1960s. He purposefully used fashion design as a social statement to advance sexual freedom, producing clothes that followed the natural form of the female body, freeing them from the constraints of high fashion. He was the first to use cutouts, vinyl, and plastic in clothing. He designed the first thong bathing suit, unisex clothing, the first swimsuit without a built-in bra, the minimalist, soft, transparent No Bra, and the topless monokini. He was a four-time recipient of the Coty American Fashion Critics Award. He produced what is regarded as the first fashion video, Basic Black: William Claxton w/Peggy Moffitt, in 1966. He had a long, unconventional, and trend-setting career in fashion design. He was a founding member of and financially supported the early activities of the Mattachine Society. He consciously pushed the boundaries of acceptable fashion and used his designs as an opportunity to comment on social issues and to expand society's perception of what was acceptable.

The Designer Who Wanted to Liberate People from Gendered Clothing Looking back on the work and philosophy of Rudi Gernreich, who broke norms and made waves in the 1960s and ’70s. Avatar photoDan Schindel May 22, 2019 Share Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich at the Skirball Cultural Center (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic) LOS ANGELES — Rudi Gernreich had a vision that society still hasn’t fully caught up to. A fashion designer who made waves in the 1960s and ’70s, Gernreich sought to wholly decouple clothing from the preconceived notions surrounding it. He removed stifling boning from swimsuits and bras to create pieces that were comfortable but still stylish, introducing the first swimsuit with a built-in bra. He worked extensively on clothes for the “wrong” gender or in unisex, making caftans, pantsuits for women, skirts for men, and more. Gernreich’s life and design philosophy are on display in the new exhibition Rudi Gernreich: Fearless Fashion at the Skirball Cultural Center. The Skirball is an institution focused on Jewish-American history and culture, and Gernreich’s Jewish identity is inseparable from his philosophy. Born in Austria in 1922, he and his mother fled for the United States after Germany annexed Austria in 1938. In the US, however, the young Gernreich still struggled to feel accepted because of his homosexuality. For a time in the ’50s, he was a member of the Mattachine Society, one of the US’s earliest gay rights groups, as well as the lover of its founder, Harry Hay. Varying experiences of oppression shaped his conviction to break norms, devising clothing that was wearable, good looking, and made a statement. Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich at the Skirball Cultural Center Gernreich brought the libertine interwar European attitude he’d been raised in to the cultural upheaval of the ’60s. He wanted to decouple nudity from sexuality, and called the acceptance of nudity “a natural development growing out of all the loosening up, the re-evaluation of values that’s going on. There is now an honesty hangup, and part of this is not hiding the body — it stands for freedom.” To this end he invented the topless bathing suit, the “monokini,” which could be seen as an intermediary step to help people loosen up their ideas of proper bathing attire. It naturally caused an uproar at the time, though Gernreich strenuously denied any lascivious intent. The exhibition nods to the controversy by displaying one monokini-wearing mannequin with a “censored” bandeau over its breasts. Gernreich experimented with making clothing as a political statement. One section of the exhibition presents a military-styled ensemble he created in protest of the Vietnam War. (Alongside it is a video of the original model speaking about how she thought that releasing the piece so soon after the Kent State massacre was ultimately in poor taste.) His thong designs (for both men and women) were a direct response to Los Angeles banning nude beaches in 1974. His work puts an entirely different spin on the idea of the personal being political, making the body itself into a statement. Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich at the Skirball Cultural Center Setting artistic and political impact aside, Gernreich made great headway in incorporating greater functionality into clothing without sacrificing style. A former dancer who also worked with different dance companies, he had an intuitive understanding for how to facilitate movement. This showed even in smaller ways; he had his models show either barefoot or in flats. (The exhibition reflects this in its specially made mannequins.) Discussions around gender identity and presentation have only in recent years entered the cultural mainstream. We still trail behind what Rudi Gernreich pictured. The monokini was a strong statement that didn’t quite take off, and certainly didn’t pave the way for eventual social acceptance of nude swimming. In this climate, there’s been an increasing reassessment and new appreciation of Gernreich, of which this exhibition is only one facet. Who knows, though, how long it will take before the free-gender utopia he envisioned comes about.

January 23, 2024

1/23/24 Discussion of responses to assigned article and documentary LGBT History and American history and “an American value system.” Assignment: in Eaklor’s Queer America …read Chapter 3 Each student should come to class with three examples of “queer design” that relate to the assigned reading and be prepared to discuss them in relationship to mainstream, queer and design cultures of the period under discussion in your readings. Post these examples with the heading: Food for Thought: Queer Design Examples and your name. Also view the documentary, After Stonewall,

January 16, 2024

1/16/23Introductions, interests & backgrounds, overview of themes, issues and goals; determine tool set among participants; The blog associated with this course is https://queercurrentssva2024.blogspot.com/; and discussion of bibliography and resources. Primary texts for this course will be: Queer America: A People’s History of the United States by Vicki L. Eaklor and Art and Queer Culture by Catherine Lord and Richard Meyer. Each student must buy these books. View in class Before Stonewall, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYddtKw3NlY Assignment: Read Time magazine on the June 26,1964 Life Magazine Article, “Homosexuality in America,” http://time.com/3891557/gay-life-in-america/; Watch the 1967 CBS Report, “The Homosexuals,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu1r6igCODw Make a list of ten statements that one would believe to be facts based upon these artifacts; make a list of ten questions raised by these artifacts. Post these statements and questions to the class blog. In addition, after reading descriptions of the books listed in the selected bibliography below, each student must choose two books that pique their interest and purchase them as resources for the work they will do in this course. Come to class with evidence that the selected books have been purchased. "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYddtKw3NlY">