"...a peice of history I was part of"
An apparent little known fact. In 1971 the world's first public Queer Community center opened on an upper loft floor above the music club "Folk City". This in Greenwich Village in lower Manhattan.
I was a Queer youngster in my late teen early twenties then, and used to visit it often.
As I recall it only lasted perhaps a year to 18 months. It had a rough ride. Local churches petitioned the City to close it. Which they eventually did via the usual. Inspections taxes, and strong arming the landlord.
After it was shut down there were various attempts at other centers through the years. Some of radical political bend some just party, and sex havens, and some were idealistic hippie sorts.
The most successful conservative, and stroller pusher friendly being the current one established in the 1990's.
...swell.
The first known Queer Center was however the "Folk City" space. It was early enough back to still have the aura of the Hippie ethnic in a sincere way. We loved it. I still miss it.
Bring back queer hippies. I yearn to see tens, nay hundreds of thousands taking over entire cities and terrorizing killjoys everywhere with our crazy lovemaking. Pot-smoking psychedlic rock concerts and sissy Renaissance lutenists and flutenists and scantily clad delightful dancers cavorting as far as the eye can gaze and queering the whole world: this is what I yearn to witness and to be a part of.
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