First gay bar in america
The history of Iowa’s oldest queer bar has been made into a documentary. Here's how to watch
On a typical Friday night at the Blazing Saddle in Des Moines’ East Village, tightly packed bodies crowd around the bar’s main stage, hands poking out from the throng to give cash tips to performersdressed in queenly. It’s the Saddle Gurls & Friends show, and once the artists obtain their final duck (or more commonly, dip into their most impressive split), the spotlights chop and the song bumps. Bargoers shift the stage into a technicolor sway floor, strong drinks in hand, staying true to the bar's motto: "Always a double, never a cover."
The Blazing Saddle is Iowa's oldest operating same-sex attracted bar. It just celebrated its 40th anniversary. Opened in 1983 by Bob “Mongo” Eikleberry, it’s been referred to as the “Gay Cheers” and has seen Iowa — and the nation — through decades of change for the LGBTQ population: from the origin — and finish — of Don't Ask, Don't Inform, to the outbreak of the AIDs epidemic, to the legalization of queer marriage and the more recent passing and signing of anti-LGBTQ laws in the state.
That history will soon be shared in the form of a six-episode complete
Today, people tend to equate queer bars as being places to party especially hard. They’re amusing spots if you’re gay, unbent, or anywhere in between. ‘Wild night out’ stories often contain or end at the neighborhood gay bar.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the homosexual bar within the LGBTQ+ rights movement over the past couple hundred years. These bars hold served as (not always) secure places for the LGBTQ+ group to be together, to mingle, and to simply exist as their true selves. In honor of Pride Month, we wanted to highlight the historical significance of gay bars and their impact on equality for all. A history that begins a little more than 200 years ago.
Because of the need for intense secrecy, the very earliest history of the gay block has been mostly lost. However, in 1810, we get our first recorded instance of a gay bar—under admittedly unfortunate circumstances. In London, a bar called the White Swan was raided under laws against sodomy. In total, 25 men were arrested, eight were convicted, and two were hanged (one of whom was 16 years old, while neither were even present at the White Swan on the night of the raid). Although it is nice to contemplate of gay bars as u
Gay Bars 101: The History of Gay Bars
Gay bars play a vital role in the LGBTQ2S+ society. These spaces not only affirm but also commemorate diverse sexual and gender identities by helping LGBTQ2S+ people:
- explore their identities
- build relationships
- engage in social pastimes that focus on their happiness, joy, and personhood
While homosexual bars are much more prevalent than they were a century ago, the road to building—and maintaining—these spaces as safe and joyous is paved with turmoil, advocacy, and social progress.
Building Community Through Criminality
The recorded and known presence of gay bars dates back to the 17th Century in Europe.
They’ve always been a taboo room, a place where people could put aside their fears of persecution, socialize freely, and escape the prying, judgmental eyes of a public that understands little about the nuances of sexual orientation and gender identity and accepts those differences even less.
History has taught us that people with diverse sexual and gender identities possess always looked for spaces where their “kind” can congregate and enjoy each others’ company.
Queer and transitioned people have existed for time immemorial, but rel
Every June, the Joined States celebrates Celebration Month, commemorating the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn that inspired a global movement toward LGBTQ+ equality. The rich history of gay bars primary up to and since the Stonewall Riots is thoroughly explored in The Bars Are Ours: Histories and Cultures of Gay Bars in America, 1960 and After, written by Lucas Hilderbrand, UC Irvine professor and chair of film and media studies.
The combination of a dearth of books investigating the history of homosexual bars and the closure of many gay bars around the nation catalyzed Hilderbrand’s motivation to tackle what he calls an “ambitious project” to “look at the role of gay bars in shaping collective politics, subcultures and the ways in which we conceive what queer universal life could be in the Merged States.”
In this episode of The UCI Podcast, Hilderbrand shares how bars are powerful community cornerstones; what he learned on his extensive research journey examining archival accounts in all corners of the U.S.; and why he chose to inform this unique history with anecdotes, stories and even musical references. Playlists to accompany the book can be found on both YouTube and Spotify.
The musi