Gay guys with mustaches

It reminded the two music producers of Paris, and besides, the gay clubs had the best DJs. Though Henri, unlike his business partner, was straight, gay men were infatuated with fashion, America, and, above all, disco. It was a warm day inand they were on the make, having moved to New York from Paris with one of their groups, a Philadelphia trio called the Ritchie Family, made it to number five on the Billboard charts with a disco cover of a song from the s.

The Ritchie Family had been a hit, but now the producers were in search of a new act. Morali had always wanted to write songs for a gay audience, and though rock-and-roll record sales depended on radio play, Belolo knew that if a song made people at the discos rush onto the floor, it could break the bank.

The producers spotted him on Christopher Street, of course. They heard bells ringing as the man passed by, a Native American headdress flapping behind him. He had a leather loincloth wrapped around his narrow hips, and bells tied to his ankles. He was heading into the Anvil.

Every so often, Rose jumped onto the bar to mustache. Next to the French producers sat a guy with a thick mustache, wearing a Stetson and boots. He looked like the Marlboro Man. My god, look at those characters, Belolo thought. It was as if every American male stereotype was there, welcoming them to the Village.

Looking around the guy, the producers were thinking the same thing.

81. Are Mustaches Gay?

No one knows for sure why the raid at the Stonewall Inn—a mafia-owned gay bar on Christopher Street with a racially mixed clientele—was different. Instead, a tense crowd gathered. The cops were outnumbered and hid inside the bar. The Tactical Patrol Force tried to push back the raging crowd, which whooped and hollered and burst into kick lines.

And then protesters lit the bar on fire. The Stonewall riots set off an era of gay liberation following decades of persecution and closeting. With liberation came an altogether more visible gay culture that was, in many cases, hypermasculine, sexually suggestive, and at least in New York City relatively separatist. The riots were violent and powerful.

They challenged the stereotype of gays as weak and effeminate. For some, self-determination meant gender affirmation—the right to be gay and manly. Bars that had previously catered to a mixed crowd were now packed with men whose T-shirts stretched across bulging muscles, because guys in the West Village and nearby Chelsea had started working out—a lot.

Straight men wore versions of these looks, too, of course, but gay men put a stylized look together—matching hiking boots with a leather belt, or a flannel shirt with a red thermal underneath. The style became an identifier.