Wisconsin Pride – Bars

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Dick Wagner: Taverns are ubiquitous in Wisconsin.

Michail Takach: Wisconsin really was a breeding ground for bars of all different kinds. There were bars that were Serbian. There were bars that were African American. There were bars that were Polish. So, the idea of there being bars dedicated to gay people shouldn’t be surprising to anyone.

Narrator: In the post-World War II era, gay bars began to find a footing among a booming population. Though intense secrecy surrounded their existence, they started to play a pivotal role in LGBTQ+ lives.

Michail Takach: They went there to find community. They went there to find love. They went there to find hope.

Víctor Macías-González: You make friends, develop networks, and gradually begin to develop knowledge of what the gay world is.

Dick Wagner: About the only place you could actually be gay since you had to be straight at work and in your family was at a gay bar.

Narrator: The bars themselves kept a low profile, hoping to avoid attention from the police.

Víctor Macías-González: It’s almost like a holdover from the speakeasy culture. It won’t be marked. Right? The entrance is in the back. If they don’t recognize you, they won’t let you in sort of a thing.

Dick Wagner: It was not uncommon for police raids to occur in gay bars.

[police sirens]

The enforcement of norms and homophobia was a routine activity in those days.

Narrator: The police could carry out genital searches. Same-sex dancing could lead to an arrest. And bar owners could lose their license if caught serving homosexuals.

Michail Takach: The consequences were really extreme, and people still dared to live their best life. They still went out looking for each other, eager to find each other in a world that was actively trying to shut them down.