Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940

A popular medical term in the late 1800s and early 1900s, “invert” described individuals we would today call gay. As the book describes, the term referred to the belief among doctors and psychologists that an individual’s gender was “inverted” in the sense that a biological man had effeminate traits and vice versa.

An early 20th-century political and social reform movement in the US, the Progressive Era sought to address the social, economic, and environmental problems emerging out of industrialization, such as labor rights, public education, corporate regulations, environmental laws, and the establishment of nature parks, among other reforms. The time period the book focuses on coincides with this era.

In 1919, the US Congress passed the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, which enacted a nationwide ban on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages. “Prohibition” can refer to both the national ban and the era that followed from 1919 to 1933, when the 18th Amendment was overturned by the 21st Amendment. As the book describes, the gay community flourished in New York during Prohibition through the popularity of speakeasies and nightclubs that served alcohol under the protection of organized crime.

During the period covered in Gay New York, “queer” was a term used by gay men themselves. Generally, the men who used the term were middle-class gay men who rejected the effeminate identity of “fairy.”

The late 19th and early 20th century practice of middle-class people going into working-class neighborhoods and red-light districts was known as slumming. Their motives tended to be simply “morbid curiosity.” The book notes how both people who identified as straight and those who identified as gay engaged in the practice.

During the era of Prohibition, speakeasies became popular. These were bars and clubs that illegally sold alcoholic beverages. The book notes that speakeasies helped the gay community thrive in New York during that time.

Although the book covers a period long before the Stonewall riots, it mentions them several times because they are highly relevant to the discussion of LGBTQ history. These historic riots asserting gay rights occurred in 1969 in response to police violently raiding a gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village in the early morning on June 28.

Gay New York frequently uses the slang term “trade.” It refers to a sexual relationship between masculine man who considers himself “normal” or “straight” and a gay man, which during the period the book covers was usually a “fairy.”