Mafia oppression of lesbians
One of the things I learned recently about the bad old days of oppression of homosexuals: the mafia ran or exploited bars that catered to lesbians. Michela Griffo, an early member of the Gay Liberation Front, describes these circumstances in a piece [1] on the LGBTQ History website.
I had discovered that website quite recently when I searched for obituaries for John Lauritsen. The website has a wealth of historical information, including many personal accounts about the Gay Liberation Front [2], including one about Lauritsen [3].
I was living and learning in Australia in the 1940-60s, where and when homophobia and institutional oppression of homosexuals was routine; in Sydney, for example, it was common knowledge that some policemen would visit public restrooms to find gay men to beat up.
The Australian TV series, Deep Water [4] gives an entirely authentic account of those days, set near beaches where I used to walk and was occasionally, as a young boy, myself solicited furtively by gay men.
So I have had much to learn about what life was really like for homosexual people, and Lauritsen's writings are among the things that helped.
When Sydney hosted the Olympic Games in 2000, one of the documentaries about Sydney featured the annual Gay Pride Parade in which one of the floats had been hosted by the local police; quite a change from the Sydney in which I had grown up.
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[1] https://www.lgbtqhp.org/post/michela-griffo
[2] https://www.lgbtqhp.org/blog/categories/glf
[3] https://www.lgbtqhp.org/post/john-lauritsen
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep Water (TV_series)