Many leaders of homosexual organizations tried to distance themselves from these people, whom they viewed as excessively flamboyant types. These kinds of individuals - the screamers - were really a problem for these early homosexual rights organizations because they were just bad p.r. Q: Why did she have such a strong policy against acting too gay?Ī: At that time, there some gay men who in their self-presentation, because of feeling so oppressed and belittled and beleaguered and trapped in their lives, they kind of acted out in almost wildly flamboyant ways, carrying on in ways that were more than just authentic expressions of maybe an degree of effeminacy on their parts. She was able to do things her own way, in a way that created a hospitable, friendly and inviting atmosphere but still maintained safeguards against problems with law enforcement and hustlers and people who were not necessarily out to treat her gay friends well. She didn't like some of the practices that she had to go along with in managing the other establishments. She had a lot of gay friends she'd developed since her divorce in the 1930s, and she had managed other gay bars for other owners. She really saw it as a kind of public living room. It was bottled beer, bottled soft drinks and various things to munch on.
It would have been very reasonable and understandable if she would have elected to use a pseudonym, and she didn't.Ī: There was nothing fancy, nothing high end about it. Here she is working as a small bar proprietor, trying to make enough to live on until she could make it to retirement and Social Security checks. She was writing this book when Senator McCarthy was still ranting and raving about things, a climate of what we could all call homophobia - great antagonism toward homosexuality and homosexuals, perversion and deviants, and all that sort of stuff. Q: What surprised you about the book and her story?Ī: It was just really remarkable that a woman like Helen would have been courageous enough, or bold enough, to publish this book with her real name attached to it. It was a pretty groundbreaking book: by my estimation, the first book by a straight person that depicts the lives of gay people positively. Then I gradually began to realize it was more significant than that. It struck me as a kind of curious, quaint and somewhat charming period piece of a book. Notes: Listed as Pirate's Den, formerly The Forum "Rough Neighborhood"Ĭredits: web site concept, design and format by Don Schwamb.Ĭreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.It occurred to me that a revival of the book seemed warranted. Notes: Listed as "Pirate's Den, formerly Forum" Listings in early "Gay Guides": (For more information on the Guides, click here.) More information about any of these businesses is welcomed from anyone who can contribute it. (All ads included the words "Hot Tamales" and "Black-White Bar".) After April 1972, it is no longer referred to in any local publications. Note that although national Gay Guides continued to list the bar as "Pirate's Den, formerly The Forum" as late as 1973, in local LGBT publication "GPU News", the bar was advertised as "Marie's Get Involved Lounge" from December 1971 through April 1972. This building/ location was host for at least three LGBT bars we know of:
Komassa was listed as owner of the Forum in a mid-1960's City Directory.) It is unclear whether this was simply a change of name, or also a change of ownership. The bar was first listed in various national Gay Guides in 1963-1965 as The Forum, but beginning in 1966 most listings show it variously as "Pirate's Den, formerly The Forum". Locals often called it "12th and Vine" so outsiders wouldn’t know what they were talking about. Out-of-towners found it by going north on 12th from Jesu Church. Contributors remember it as a crowded bar that was lots of fun, definitely a "gay bar". Previously known as The Forum Bar, Pirate's Den was on the northwest corner of 12th & Vine Streets in Milwaukee. Pirate's Den- Bars and Clubs in the History of Gay & Lesbian Life, Milwaukee WI- Businesses Historyġ801 N.