Tea dances are events organized on Sunday afternoons in the US gay community, originating in New York in the 1950s and 1960s. [1] The original dances included tea service. [2] They were a place for singles to meet. [3] The name alludes to traditional tea dances of the English countryside. [4]
It was illegal until the mid-1960s for bars in New York to sell alcohol to people known to be gay, [2] and New York City police would conduct raids on establishments catering to them. Hence, gay men in the area began to hold tea dances outside the city as an alternative venue for meeting. In New York, these generally took place on Fire Island, in Cherry Grove and the Pines, on Sunday afternoons. Serving tea rather than alcohol made them more acceptable and less law-defying. Because they were held in the afternoon, attendees could catch a ferry and return home and be ready to work on Monday morning. [5]
Tea dances spread beyond New York and lasted into the 1990s and beyond, regularly taking place in Miami, [6] Fort Lauderdale, [7] Provincetown, [8] and Los Angeles and San Francisco, [4] among other cities.
As gay people became more accepted and legally protected, the tea dances were subsumed into nighttime club events such as circuit parties, although have recently seen a resurgence, particularly at gay vacation destinations such as Provincetown [4] and Fire Island. [4]
A gay village, also known as a gayborhood, is a geographical area with generally recognized boundaries that is inhabited or frequented by many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBT) people. Gay villages often contain a number of gay-oriented establishments, such as gay bars and pubs, nightclubs, bathhouses, restaurants, boutiques, and bookstores.
Cherry Grove is a hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is located on Fire Island, a barrier island separated from the southern side of Long Island by the Great South Bay. The hamlet has approximately 300 houses on 41 acres (17 ha), a summer seasonal population of 2,000 and a year-round population of 15.
A circuit party is a large dance event. It extends through the night and into the following day, almost always with a number of affiliated events in the days leading up to and following the main event. Proto-circuit parties in the late 1970s, the precursors of what later became circuit parties, were called disco parties. They lasted only one evening and were held in various large venues in metropolitan areas with large gay populations.
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communities.
The Stonewall Inn is a gay bar and recreational tavern at 53 Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which led to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States. When the riots occurred, Stonewall was one of the relatively few gay bars in New York City. The original gay bar occupied two structures at 51–53 Christopher Street, which were built as horse stables in the 1840s.
A drag show is a form of entertainment performed by drag artists impersonating men or women, typically in a bar or nightclub. Shows can range from burlesque-style, adult themed nightclub acts to all-ages events with sing-alongs and story times.
The Knickerbocker Sailing Association (KSA) is a members club set up by and for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender sailors in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. KSA membership is open to all LGBTQ and straight people, and it has a goal of being a "friendly, nonjudgmental group of people that have joined the club to share new life experiences, on the water together".
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+(LGBTQ+)music is music that focuses on the experiences of gender and sexual minorities as a product of the broad gay liberation movement.
This article concerns LGBT history in Florida.
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New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest and most prominent LGBTQ+ populations. Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rise buildings, and Broadway theatre". LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". LGBT advocate and entertainer Madonna stated metaphorically, "Anyways, not only is New York City the best place in the world because of the queer people here. Let me tell you something, if you can make it here, then you must be queer."
A lesbian bar is a drinking establishment that caters exclusively or predominantly to lesbian women. While often conflated, the lesbian bar has a history distinct from that of the gay bar.
LGBT culture in Leeds, England, involves an active community of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender/transsexual. A BBC News Online article published in 2012 stated that, while Leeds City Council has not published statistics relating to the number of LGBT residents, the figure can be estimated at 10% of the overall population, which currently suggests a total of at least 77,000. The tenth year of the Leeds Pride march and celebration, held in 2016, was attended by over 40,000 people.
Miami has one of the largest and most prominent LGBTQ communities in the United States. Miami has had a gay nightlife scene as early as the 1930s. Miami has a current status as a gay mecca that attracts more than 1 million LGBT visitors a year. The Miami area as a whole has been gay-friendly for decades and is one of the few places where the LGBTQ community has its own chamber of commerce, the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (MDGLCC). As of 2005, Miami was home to an estimated 15,277 self-identifying gay and bisexual individuals. The Miami metropolitan area had an estimated 183,346 self-identifying LGBT residents.
C. Fitz is an advertising, marketing and filmmaking professional. In her digital work she has produced social media branding campaigns winning four Webby’s for creative content. As a filmmaker, TV showrunner and film director she has won multiple awards for her scripted and unscripted work. She is also an activist and speaker.
Julia's on Broadway, or simply Julia's, is a restaurant in Seattle's Capitol Hill, in the United States. It is associated with a small chain of restaurants in the metropolitan area called Julia's.
JR's Bar and Grill is a gay bar in Neartown, Houston, in the U.S. state of Texas. Charles Armstrong is the owner.
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