October 29th, 1997 to November 4th, 1997

What a Difference a Gay Makes

The Gay/Lesbian Movement, 5, 10, 15 & 20 Years Ago

by Sukie de la Croix

What was happening in the gay and lesbian movement 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago this month?

Here's this week's Outlines overview to help you trigger the memories of yesteryear ...

Oct. 26-Nov. 1

1992: 5 Years Ago
U.S.: Petty Officer Allen Schindler, 22, is murdered by one of his homophobic shipmates, Airman Apprentice Terrence Helvey, 20, in a public bathroom near the Sasebo Base in Japan. - The New Joy Of Gay Sex, co-authored by Dr. Charles Silverstein and Felice Picano, is in the bookstores. - Melvin Dixon, an award-winning Black gay author, dies of AIDS aged 42. - France: After 15 years, Gay Pied Hebdo, France's leading gay publication, shuts down because of a drop in sales. - Canada: The Federal Court of Canada strikes down the ban on lesbians and gay men in the military, saying it violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; Canada's bill of rights. - Russia: Russian President Boris Yeltsin proposes an overhaul of the nation's Criminal Code, that includes lifting the ban on anal sex between men. - Britain: Elton John starts his own AIDS charity. The 45-year-old singer says that the Elton John AIDS Foundation will operate in both the U.S. and Britain, and would be funded by royalties from his singles, as well as charity events and businesses.

1987: 10 Years Ago
U.S.: At a press conference, the Rev. Jerry Falwell says his ultra-conservative political efforts are, 'no longer breaking new ground,' and he steps down as head of the Moral Majority. - Brazil: Janio Quadros, Mayor of Sao Paulo, issues an order authorizing city police to help a ballet teacher expel any gay dancers from her corps and school. Quandros, once the President of Brazil, is known for his eccentricities: in the 1960s he tried to ban the bikini from public beaches, and in 1985 his first act as Mayor of Sao Paulo, was to spray his predecessor's chair with disinfectant. - Russia: The Soviet Union reports only 165 cases of AIDS, 23 of them resident foreigners.

1982: 15 Years Ago
U.S.: The Advocate publishes a quiz: Just How Butch Are You? The first question is: In first grade you received a box of crayons; the first crayon you picked was A: Gray B: Navy Blue C: Red D: Silver or E: Magenta. - What do GAY and CIA have in common? USA Today reports that both are banned from license plates in Colorado, along with GOD and SOB. - Washington, D.C. vice detectives raid Star, a gay magazine, and the apartment of the associate editor, Glenn M. Turner, as part of an investigation into child pornography. - Christopher Street publishes Andrew Holleran's Journal Of The Plague Year. - Italy: The murder of a gay man earlier in the year results in a demonstration of over 1000 people. Local journalist Francesco Guerre says: "This is perhaps the beginning of a new phase of gay lib.' Guerre also noted that Italian men are raised with 'Catholic and male sexist sensibilities,' and concluded that the murder of Salvatore Pappalardo was committed by someone who 'only applied, to the letter, what he'd been taught. 1977: 20 Years Ago
U.S.: Anita Bryant appears on the Phil Donahue Show. - Britain: Jeremy Thorpe, the former leader of the Liberal Party, says that he has no intention of resigning from the House of Commons, after accusations that he had a relationship with Norman Scott, a male model, in the early 1960s. - Canada: Dressed in battle fatigues and carrying semi-automatic M-16 weapons, a special squad of Montreal police raid Trucks, a leather bar, arresting 135 men. They are charged with "being found inside a bawdy house."

Chicago Whispers

A Very Personal Gay and Lesbian History

by Sukie de la Croix

My first gay bar ...
"The Trip in 1973. It was very colorful, very lively, a lot of people, very friendly ... it was more of a community center, than it was a place to pick up people." - Fred Steinhauer
Lost & Found: No zippers ...
"It's like when I used to go to Lost & Found years ago. You would go into a bar and the police would harass you. Women couldn't cross-dress, women couldn't wear pants with zippers in the front. You had to have pants with buttons on the side. You couldn't have men's shirts on. The buttons had to be, women are on the right, men are on the left, or they would actually come in and arrest you, and put you in a paddy wagon and you'd go to jail for cross-dressing." - Tessie
"It was sometime in 1979. I don't think it's changed at all ... well, I haven't been there in a long time, but when I went in the old days it was called Menopause Haven. It's funny, now being as old as I am ... back then we went to see what older lesbians were doing. Go in there, and you'd see a lot of gray-haired ladies. I heard great stories when I was there. I remember meeting a woman who looked like a man, and she told us that, when she came out in the '40s, she would be arrested for wearing shirts that buttoned on the wrong side, and wearing pants that zipped in the front. That was against the law. I thought that was just fascinating." - Anonymous Woman
Off The Line ...
"It was kind of artsy, it had an open mic area, guitar and poetry and all kinds of stuff. It was more like a coffeehouse atmosphere in a way, for a bar ... it was your Generation X-er lesbian types." - Angie Colella
The Swan Club ...
"The Swan Club was a mini-Paris Dance. I think there was a short period of time when Swan Club and Paris co-existed, but my impression was that Paris took over the Swan Club crowd. It was ... certainly you could go in there and see pretty women. Why not?! It was always packed. The main woman who ran it died of cancer. She was an amazing woman. She was a very attractive woman. She had long black curly hair, and a magnificent smile. You would walk in the door and she would literally be sitting on a bar stool at the door, greeting everybody who came in. That really left a very strong impression on me. I can't place when she died, but there was a huge crowd for the memorial service for her. She was like an icon in the community, and I feel bad that I can't think of her name." - Anonymous Woman
Kitty Sheon's in the '50s ...
"Kitty Sheons was located somewhere around 4000 North, either on Clark or Broadway, and Kitty was a legend. She was a woman, maybe 50-ish, and her husband was a police officer, which lead to the leak at that time that there was never any trouble with the police, because her husband was on the force. She was a stout, plain woman. She got a piano player, a woman named Eleonor Stat. Eleonor did parodies of popular songs, but with gay/lesbian/vulgar meanings with names like 'Wait 'Til Your Son Turns Nelly.' This was 1955 to '57." - David
"Kitty Sheons was there. I only went there once. She was a bitch. If she didn't like you, she'd kick you out of the place. She was a nasty whore. I only went there once. For some reason we went there, and I can't figure out why. It was one of those elegant bars where you sit there with a tie, you don't move, you don't say nothing, you're like a statue, you know. Those kind of places I don't care for. When I spend my money I want to enjoy myself." - Anonymous Man
Lesbian and Gay Veteran's of America...
"I was the one who got it started. It didn't start until a year or so after James Darby saw me on the Pride Parade.