The Slide “also tells the story of oppression and harassment,” says Lustbader. The struggles by police and reformers to shut it down “helped to define the construction of what homosexuality would be.”Īt the turn of the century, the New York State Legislation went on a campaign to rout out corruption. These bars, according to Chauncey, were able to exist because of bribes and “they became targets,” he says.īut it wasn’t long before another legislative initiative, Prohibition, provided the environment for a new wave of bars to open up. The Roaring Twenties saw a huge number of speakeasies open in Harlem and Greenwich Village that catered to gay men and lesbian women. The 1890s and the 1920s were “incredibly open periods in New York history,” says Chauncey.
Once drinking became legal again, that openness unfortunately began to dissipate. Sleziest gay bars new york citt series#.
