LGBTQ+ Nightlife

 "When I discovered bars, holy sh*t. That was one of the best things that ever happened to me."  
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​Robert Deibler (1)

Gay Era, February 1975. Courtesy of LGBT-001, DCA. (4)

One newspaper article described bars as the place to "experience the joys of Gay Sisterhood and Brotherhood." (2)  Ever since the 1930s, bars in Central PA served as havens for LGBTQ+ people.​

Unfortunately, in the 1960s and ‘70s, bar culture was "white male–dominated." (3) There was an expectation to wear conservative clothes and blend into straight crowds in order to avoid extra attention. In response, lesbian bars like the D-Gem opened. Many bars were still raided by police and shut down.

​Bars open during this time included My-Oh-My, the White Elephant, and Tally-Ho. 

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​See a full timeline of these bars in our History of LGBTQ+ Bars in Central PA exhibit.

The "Legendary" Reading Picnics

Reading Spring Picnic Flyer, 1979, Courtesy of LGBT-001, Dickinson College Archives. (6)

Will Kratz and Vince Grimm hosted a series of picnics in Reading, PA from 1961 through 1979. ​Their picnics funded elaborate drag shows that reached over 600 people in attendance! (5)

​Crowds from across the East Coast came to the picnics to eat, drink, and watch drag performers, comedians, and variety acts.

LGBTQ+ residents of Central PA would often travel into the cities like Philadelphia and New York to find safety.

But the rural, isolated nature of Central PA also provided an escape for city-based LGBTQ+ people.

​At events like the Reading Picnics, it was possible to dress how you wished and be surrounded by LGBTQ+ people without fear of being caught.

But just socializing wasn't cutting it anymore.

​​"Sure, a lot of us are scared, but the system needs
​re-evaluating ​and its time to do it!" (7)​​​

Citations

1. Bob Deibler, interviewed by Barry Loveland, 27, October, 2018, LGBT Oral History, LGBT History Project, Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.
2. Gay Era, Newsletter, April 1977, LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection Periodicals Collection, LGBT History Project, Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.
3. William Burton and Barry Loveland, Out in Central Pennsylvania: The History of an LGBTQ Community (University Park, Pennsylvania: Penn State University Press, 2020), 26.
4. Gay Era, Newsletter, February 1975, LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection Periodicals Collection, LGBT History Project, Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.
5. Burton and Loveland, Out in Central Pennsylvania, 35.
6. Reading Spring Picnic Flyer, 1979, LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection, LGBT History Project, Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.
7. Gay Era, Newsletter, February 1975, LGBT-001, LGBT History Project, Archives.

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