A Lesbian Herstory:
Lee Remembers lesbian life in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond.
I came out when I was 14 years old and my
girlfriend
was the same age. We were sure we were the only ones on earth that
felt
this way. When I was 17, I went away to school and she got married
shorty after that. I was heart broken but that was what we did in
those
days. Someone told me about an all girl's bar in the Village
(Greenwich
that is) and so I went in search of this really scary place. It was
called The Bagatelle and it was on University Place. I went alone and
was greeted at the door by a great big man who was the bouncer. Later
found out his name was Eddie and he was a sweetheart to the girls but
not to men or trouble makers. There seemed to be two types of
women...girls in sexy dresses (femmes) and masculine looking females
dressed in men's clothing (butches). The butches often wore suits and
ties with their chests taped to hide their breasts. Others wore
buttoned down shirts (pink and lavender were in) and khaki chinos with
loafers. If two women dressed alike they were called Kaikai and it was
assumed they could not make up their minds about what they were.
Pretty
funny by today's standards. Some butches never let their women touch
them sexually. They wore dildoes (sometimes with their suits) and they
used vibrators called "green hornets". Oh yes, the dildoes were often
made from rubber crutch tops with a rubber (condom) over it. There
were
other bars for women that had different dress codes. A place called
the
Seven Steps was down on Houston Street and it was pretty famous.
Celebreties would visit from time to time. Erroll Flynn would drop in
when he was in town. He loved to do poppers (amyl nitrate) and he
always had some on him. He was a favorite with the crowd. There were
other famous folks that stopped by. I was there when Audrey Hepburn
visited, also Jack and Jackie Kennedy while he was a Senator from
Massachussetts. The police loved to raid these places and it was
always
a possiblity that you would go to jail. Since most of us lived at home
it was quiet an adventure to go bar hopping. Chances of getting beaten
up were also pretty good since there were guys from Little Italy who
would go queer hunting in those days. Word of mouth was how we found
out about new places and we travelled in groups to be safe. When
someone we knew got beaten up we hid out for a week or two before we
headed to the bars or Village again. There were no leaders or role
models as I remember. That came later.
The 60s were more of the same. Dirty bars, mostly Mafia run, with
cover
charges and very aggressive sales people. If your glass was empty they
might suggest you go elsewhere if your weren't going to drink.
Finally,
Stonewall in 1969. That brought about some changes. The Mattachine
Society came to Greenwich Village to put on workshps for the Police
Precincts in the gay areas. They trained the police to treat gays
decently. I worked in a bar in the Village and often the police would
stop in and buy everyone drinks. One of the cops gave me a tiny DEA
badge which I have to this day. We had softball games in the Village
with Gaybars against the Police. Things started to change. This was
New York City and we were making great strides. The rest of the
country
was still being "gaybashed". We used Stonewall as the jumping off
event. We began the first Gay Pride Parades called Christopher Street
Pride Parades and they brought lots of people out of the closets. Some
gays began running for small political positions, like School Board
Officials. I have always been proud to be me. Not everyone I hung out
with felt that way. Being willing to March and be seen has always been
important to me. Today I live in a community which is very welcoming
to all life styles. And my partner who is much younger than I am is
back in the closet. She is in a Mexican medical school and would
probably be expelled from the University. Life in some parts of Mexico
is still back in the 50s. We shall overcome!!!!!
