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When Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, John Timmons, and Randy Wicker announced that they were homosexuals and asked to be served a drink, the bartender at Julius’ refused their request. The sip-in was part of a larger campaign by more radical members of the Mattachine Society to clarify laws and rules that inhibited the running of gay bars as legitimate, non-mob, establishments and to stop the harassment of gay bar patrons. This was particularly important because bars were one of the few places where gay people could meet each other.
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The State Liquor Authority regulations were one of the primary governmental mechanisms of oppression against the gay community because it precluded their right of free assembly. On April 21, 1966, three members of the Mattachine Society, an early and influential gay rights organization, organized what became known as a “sip-in.” Their intent was to challenge New York State Liquor Authority regulations that were promulgated so that bars could not serve drinks to known or suspected gay men or lesbians, since their presence was considered de facto disorderly. Julius’, now the oldest gay bar in New York City (and also one of the oldest bars in the city in continuous operation), is a bar and restaurant that dates back to the nineteenth century, with its current design probably dating from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.īy the 1960s, some four decades after Greenwich Village had become the center of New York City’s LGBT community, the bar was attracting a significant number of gay men, although it was not exclusively a gay bar. One person going out with the virus who gives it to 10 people, and then those 10 people give it to another 10 people.Julius’ Bar in Greenwich Village is significant in the area of social history for its association with an important early event in the modern gay rights movement. “One person can destroy all of this again.
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“Everyone is in the same boat,” she said. She said she was eager to get back on firm financial footing, but also “afraid of what is to come.” She renegotiated the rent for her Manhattan bar down from $19,500 to $12,000, but the monthly bills for the Brooklyn club are usually $40,000. These community spaces may remain imperiled for years, though, because of the continuing threat of the coronavirus.īrenda Breathnach, who owns the Phoenix in the East Village and 3 Dollar Bill in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, said she expected both establishments to open in July. “I think people are sort of yearning for their spaces and their community again.” “People are really excited to go out, even if it’s in a limited capacity or it’s a little more restricted,” he said.
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The club, whose rent of $9,500 per month has gone unpaid since April, has raised more than $20,000 on GoFundMe.īut a new bar he is opening in Park Slope, Brooklyn - its planned April start date was delayed by the pandemic - will likely open next month because it is a smaller space. “We really want to be safe and that kind of means being one of the last spaces to open,” Mr. The question of when to reopen is a complex one for many gay bars, which often house stages, dance floors and areas where groups - sometimes as large as a wedding reception - can meet.Įric Sosa, the owner of C’mon Everybody, a club in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, said his establishment would not reopen for months because dance parties, live music and other types of performance were key to its business model. “Like, I got an email from a stripper who I have never even met: ‘Listen, I am going to do a strip show and donate everything to Henrietta’s.’ It’s incredible.” “It’s different for queer people, because all we have is each other,” Ms. She said there had been “an outpouring of support.” media organizations and raising money from supporters, including more than $32,000 on GoFundMe. That has included renegotiating the rent, talking about the bar’s challenges to L.G.B.T.Q. In the meantime, she has been busy working to keep it afloat. But Henrietta Hudson may not reopen until next spring, she said.