Unsure who this family is but based on the hair and what I can see I would guess this was taken in the early 1980s. Anyone know anything about this photo?
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
This week I’m doing something a bit different. I stumbled upon a story that includes a half dozen or more photographs of a gay motorcycle club from the 1960s taken by photographer Sylvan Rand. Check out Rand’s photos from his time with the Gay Motorcycle Club.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
Kenneth Macpherson shown on the left was a Scottish-born novelist, photographer, critic, and film-maker. Although married to a woman he and his wife both had a series of high profile affairs. Macpherson had a relationship with cabaret singer Jimmie Daniels (shown on the right). The photo above is of the two men attending the opening of the Federal Theatre Project’s production of Macbeth (April 14, 1936)
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
Do you recognize this photograph? Aaron Fricke (left) made history when he filed suit in U.S. District court after his high school in Pawtucket, RI told him he could not bring his date, Paul Guilbert (right) to his prom in 1980 in the court case, Fricke v. Lynch. For those who are interested in learning more about this ballsy teenager who challenged the status quo you can read his autobiography Reflections of a Rock Lobster in which he details growing up gay culminating at that high school dance. Read more about it here.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
Photos: Crawford Barton, Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California
According to the Historical Society of Northern California, this photo was taken in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood in the 1970s. For more images check out the article The Castro: The rise of a gay neighborhood.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
While collecting images and searching the web for more images of America’s LGBTQ past, I stumbled upon these images of what appears to be (maybe) our country’s first gay wedding captured on film. In the 1950s, a photoshop in Philadelphia allegedly refused to return wedding photos because the owner of the shop deemed the wedding to be inappropriate. You can see all their happy photos here.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
F.O. “Matty” Matthiessen, and Russell Cheney, Normandy, summer 1925
Russell Cheney (October 16, 1881 – July 12, 1945) shown on the left was an accomplished painter and Francis Otto Matthiessen (February 19, 1902 – April 1, 1950) shown on the right was an educator, scholar and influential literary critic. Matthiessen was twenty years Russell’s junior but the two met in 1924 and remained a couple until Cheney’s death in 1945.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
This week’s post deviates from many past posts that typically show couples but Technical Seargeant Leonard Philip Matlovich who was a Vietnam War veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart and Bronze Star is recognized as the first gay service member to purposely out himself to the military to fight their ban on gays. His case resulted in articles in newspapers and magazines throughout the country, numerous television interviews, and a television movie on NBC. His photograph appeared on the cover of the September 8, 1975, issue of Time magazine, making him a symbol for thousands of gay and lesbian service members and gay people generally.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
Bayard Taylor (1824-1878) is credited with writing the first gay novel in America, titled, Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania. We see George Henry Bocker (1829-1890) founder of Nassau Monthly and Bayard Taylor (1824-1878) sitting to the far left and in the middle respectively. It is believed that Taylor had a close relationship with George Henry Bocker.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
Thanks to Buzzfeed, I can tell you that this photo was taken at the 1980 New York City Pride. Little did these men know that a virus called AIDS would ravage their community while most of America pretended not to notice (if they were polite) while the rest openly gloated calling it ‘god’s will’.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
Photo from: Queer Newark – oral history project
Thanks to Queer Newark’s oral history project we know that this photo of John takes place at some point in the 1950s or 60s where he grew up and participated in Newark’s thriving gay scene.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
Thanks to the date scrawled at the bottom of this image we know that the photo was taken more than 100 years ago. I’m curious what these two mustached men were planning to do. The one on the left seems quite playful and the one on the right seems to enjoy his friend’s playful touch.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
Thanks to the note below from the photogapher Anton Parish, we know this photo of Robert Mapplethorpe and Marcus Leatherdale was taken at Studio 54 in 1979. At the time Leatherdale worked for Mapplethorpe as his office manager and as a model for Mapplethorpe before going on to be an accomplished photographer in his own right.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
BosGuy 