Gay History 101

OrlandoMike · Mar 12, 2006

Seems like some our younger friends dont have some of the knowledge that some of us....ummmmm....more experienced people do. Thought it would be fun to start this thread to share information.

I'll start.

Did you know Agnes Morehead was gay? Yes folks, Endora on Bewitched was a big ole Les! Think of that next time your watching TV Land.

Who's Next?

bubie2.5 · Mar 12, 2006

Are you forgetting Darrin#2 (Dick Sargent) and Uncle Arthur (Paul Lynde)? We can call Bewitched the Queer Eye of its time.

OrlandoMike · Mar 12, 2006

Paul Lynde Gay? Your kidding right? NO WAY! :rotfl2:

padalyn · Mar 12, 2006

ok - for the obvious - Rock Hudson!

Viki · Mar 12, 2006

Marlena Dietrich

iankh · Mar 12, 2006

Here are two more:

Claudette Colbert
Judy Holiday[font=times new roman, times, serif][/font]

OrlandoMike · Mar 12, 2006

OK now history for $500.

Anyone remember the hankies gay men wore in their back pockets?

Wow, that even amazed me that someone thought of all of that!

SeattleRedBear · Mar 12, 2006

OrlandoMike said:
OK now history for $500.

Anyone remember the hankies gay men wore in their back pockets?

Wow, that even amazed me that someone thought of all of that!

What-da-ya-mean remember it?!! I've still got the pocket size laminated chart!!

OrlandoMike · Mar 12, 2006

All gay men our age do! Kids these days must think we were crazy!

Ok we were!

LOL

iankh · Mar 12, 2006

Here's another one, to go along with the hankies, do you remember wearing keys clipped on to a loop of the jeans?

Do you remember that the right side and left side meant something different, and that on the east coast what it meant was the reverse of what it meant on the west coast?

SeattleRedBear · Mar 12, 2006

iankh said:
Do you remember that the right side and left side meant something different, and that on the east coast what it meant was the reverse of what it meant on the west coast?

Now, I didn't know that (having spent my formative years only on the west coast).

Okay, now I have a question for our lesbian sisters who are of a certain age. Did you all have some equivalent of hankies or keys to indicate certain, um, proclivities, interests or tendencies?

Stacerita · Mar 12, 2006

I learn something new everytime I visit this board. :woohoo:

disneynutt1225 · Mar 12, 2006

Stacerita said:
I learn something new everytime I visit this board.

Me too! Where's the popcorn smilie? This is fascinating!

LukenDC · Mar 12, 2006

When I was a college student in 1991-95, gay people and their supporters wore buttons with a triangle insignia. A pink triangle against a black background was for a gay man and a black triangle against a white background was for a lesbian. The triangle insignias were the same symbols that the Nazis used to label gay men and lesbians in the concentration camps.

I remember the first time that I wore a pink triangle button. It was a big step in my coming out and embracing my identity as a gay man. Now I rarely see the triangles used as a symbol of identification.

OrlandoMike · Mar 12, 2006

Me Too!

I wore a pink triangle on my belt in college, and it was also a big step for me in comming out!

WOW See it us a Small World after all.

I would love to hear from the girls how it was back in the day!

momsgoofy · Mar 12, 2006

Okay...I hope that I'm not out of line to ask this here, and if I am, I do apologize! I just have never thought to ask anyone I know around home...but I was told once that the rainbow colors used by the GLBT community were taken from the Rocky Horror Picture Show...one of my favorite movies. The guy who told me said it was from the scene when Rocky is brought to life. So, since this is Gay History 101, is this correct?

Thanks! And again I apologize if this question was out of line...I just want to make sure I have correct info so I don't perpetuate a myth.

SeattleRedBear · Mar 13, 2006

momsgoofy said:
Okay...I hope that I'm not out of line to ask this here, and if I am, I do apologize! I just have never thought to ask anyone I know around home...but I was told once that the rainbow colors used by the GLBT community were taken from the Rocky Horror Picture Show...one of my favorite movies. The guy who told me said it was from the scene when Rocky is brought to life. So, since this is Gay History 101, is this correct?

Thanks! And again I apologize if this question was out of line...I just want to make sure I have correct info so I don't perpetuate a myth.

This is the first time I've heard this. Wikipedia and a couple other sources cite 1978 as the first use of the rainbow flag as a gay pride flag (rainbow flags have represented several social movements over time). More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_flag

There also a short article at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/scotts/bulgarians/rainbow-flag.html that discusses the origin of the rainbow flag as a gay pride flag.

aunts2topher · Mar 13, 2006

Seattle in the '80s is where I learned about bandanas . . . for the most part, I only saw them on leather dykes. I had a bunch from when I was a camp counselor (yes, a Girl Scout) and was amazed that someone had come up with a whole 'code' using them!

iankh · Mar 13, 2006

LukenDC said:
When I was a college student in 1991-95, gay people and their supporters wore buttons with a triangle insignia. A pink triangle against a black background was for a gay man and a black triangle against a white background was for a lesbian. The triangle insignias were the same symbols that the Nazis used to label gay men and lesbians in the concentration camps.

I remember the first time that I wore a pink triangle button. It was a big step in my coming out and embracing my identity as a gay man. Now I rarely see the triangles used as a symbol of identification.

Just a slight correction, the Nazis used pink triangles for homosexuals and black triangles for prostitutes, not lesbians. In the 1980's the black triangle was adopted as a symbol for lesbians.

padalyn · Mar 13, 2006

There is a book called "The Men of The Pink Triangle" it is only about 50 pages long. This book tells the story of the pink triangle - personally I don't like embracing a symbol born in so much fear and hatred.

On another note - what is with the bathlis? I have been out for over 15 yrs and still don't get that one

I wrote a paper for school one time about the symbols of lesbians - pretty interesting stuff - the rainbow does have an orgin story in San Franscisco (I don't recall it off hand) and each color represents something. The bathlis or battle axe is usually used by the hard core lesbian, another symbol adopted is the Lambda or greek L - for the obvious reasons. I recently saw a silver lipstick of all things :rotfl2:

Does anyone remember the flap about earrings? Which ear and where on the ear?

Gay History 101

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