Gay men in the 1950s

And queer people were not allowed to congregate. It's easy for us as a newer generation to think they must have just been living in hell — but to look back at these photos, the people in them are happy. Soon these “theater people” would start to formulate a strong community where people were able to be openly gay; they could cross-dress and play with gender norms.

What makes these photos so wonderful is that they are very rare.

They are joyous.

Let’s be honest, we are looking at predominantly white men, because that's the unfortunate truth of the world, that white men get everything first. I felt like, oh my god, I'm looking into the faces of people I know today.  Sometimes the police would line everyone up and ask for IDs and those without them would be arrested.

LGBTQ+ Communities and Resistance

• Underground Networks: Despite widespread discrimination, LGBTQ+ communities thrived in secret. The idea was hard to counter as few homosexuals were in a position to publicly discuss their identity. Social Attitudes Toward Homosexuality in the 1950s
  • Conservative Norms: The 1950s were a conservative decade, especially in Western societies, where heterosexual nuclear families were seen as the cornerstone of stability.
  • Stigma and Secrecy: Homosexuality was considered immoral and unnatural by mainstream society.

    A few anecdotes seemed to support the government’s reasoning homosexuals were a grave security threat because they could be blackmailed by foreign governments. The Cold War period gave rise to Senator Joseph McCarthy, who explicitly targeted “deviants,” not only in government service, but also in Hollywood as part of a larger project to rid America of its undesirable elements.

    With draft eligibility officially lowered from 21 to 18 in 1942, World War II brought together millions of people from around the country–many of whom were leaving their home states for the first time–to fill the ranks of the military and the federal workforce.

    In the Wings

    Fellow Travelers dramatically portrays how anti-gay prejudice shaped the lives of gay men and lesbians during the Lavender Scare of the 1950s.

    In the U.S., professionals often used the term “invert.” In the mid-19th Century, many cities formed “vice squads” and police often labeled the people they arrested “sexual perverts.” The government’s preferred term was “deviant,” which came with legal consequences for anyone seeking a career in public service or the military. People would immediately switch to partners of the opposite sex.

    We have a lot of lost history that was thrown away, so these photos from the archives add so much to our knowledge of what gay life was like. The military first developed formal punishments for homosexual behavior during WWI, and over time developed increasingly probing means to root out “deviants” from within and prevent them from enlisting.

    Psychiatry and Homosexuality

    • Pathologization: The 1950s saw homosexuality classified as a mental illness. The struggles and triumphs of this era laid the groundwork for the larger LGBTQ+ rights movements that would emerge in subsequent decades.
      

      In the years following WWII, homosexuals were more directly tied to communism.

      Seeds of Change

      • Academic Research: The work of Alfred Kinsey, especially his Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953), challenged traditional views on sexuality.  But in fact, many people managed to enjoy a fun, if very underground, nightlife in Boston and other cities.

        The longtime residents, who were mostly straight families from Long Island, used Cherry Grove as a fishing spot and for the amazing beach.

        Gay men and women working in New York City as costumers, directors, actors, and dancers were referred to as the “theater people” by locals. They served in silence, always fearful that revealing their identity to a potential new partner or friend could get them dishonorably discharged, if not court martialled.

        

        High-profile cases, such as the conviction of mathematician Alan Turing, highlighted the harsh penalties imposed on gay men.

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