Overview of the History of Gay Theatre in America It seems almost inconceivable today, with the abundance of openly gay playwrights and gay-themed plays, that less than 50 years ago a drama critic for The New York Times felt the need to call for “social and theatrical convention” to be “widened so that homosexual life may be as freely dramatized as heterosexual life, may be as frankly treated in our drama as in contemporary fiction.” EARLY GAY PLAYWRIGHTS: Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Tennessee Williams, William Inge, and Edward Albee, Lanford Wilson, Robert Patrick. Doric Wilson. Pansy Craze: By the end of the 1920s much of the public image of gay people was still limited to the various drag balls in Greenwich Village and in Harlem, but the early 1930s saw a new development within a highly commercial context, bringing the gay subculture of the enclaves of Greenwich Village and Harlem onto the mainstream stages of midtown Manhattan in a veritable Pansy Craze from 1930 until the repeal of prohibition in 1933. Hay’s Code: After the repeal of prohibition, this tolerance waned. Any sympathetic portrayal of gay characters (termed sexual perverts) was prohibited by the Motion Picture Production Code (or Hays Code) from being included in Hollywood films. Performer Ray Bourbon was arrested many times for his act, considered tame by today's standards. It seems almost inconceivable today, with the abundance of openly gay playwrights and gay-themed plays, that less than 50 years ago a drama critic for The New York Times felt the need to call for “social and theatrical convention” to be “widened so that homosexual life may be as freely dramatized as heterosexual life, may be as frankly treated in our drama as in contemporary fiction.” EARLY GAY PLAYWRIGHTS: Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Tennessee Williams, William Inge, and Edward Albee, Lanford Wilson, Robert Patrick. Doric Wilson. At the height of the Pansy Craze in the late 1920s, Mae West penned The Drag, a “social problem” play that argued for sympathetic treatment of homosexuals. However, after out-of-town tryout runs, the play received a scandalous reception. Never making it to the Great White Way, The Drag was censored, and West was arrested. Draconian measures from City Hall, including the passage of New York City’s 1927 “padlock bill,” prohibited homosexual subject matter on the Broadway stage. A few years later, the Hays Code of 1934 banned images of homosexuality on the Hollywood screen. Consequently, censorship of gay themes in theater and film was the norm in the U.S. from the 1930s through the 1960s. Expanding on the concept of the coffeehouse as a forum for beatnik poetry readings, Joe Cino opened his small Cornelia Street café in 1958 with the intention of creating a space where theater artists could develop their individual voices and form a community. The Caffe Cino’s locale rendered it out-of-the-way enough to feel like a private sanctuary and accessible enough for urban audiences ...

1. Overview of the History of Gay Theatre in America
It seems almost inconceivable today, with the abundance of
openly gay playwrights and gay-themed plays, that less than 50
years ago a drama critic for The New York Times felt the need
to call for “social and theatrical convention” to be “widened so
that homosexual life may be as freely dramatized as
heterosexual life, may be as frankly treated in our drama as in
contemporary fiction.”
EARLY GAY PLAYWRIGHTS: Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward,
Tennessee Williams, William Inge, and Edward Albee, Lanford
Wilson, Robert Patrick. Doric Wilson.
Pansy Craze: By the end of the 1920s much of the public image
of gay people was still limited to the various drag balls
in Greenwich Village and in Harlem, but the early 1930s saw a
new development within a highly commercial context, bringing
the gay subculture of the enclaves of Greenwich Village and
Harlem onto the mainstream stages of midtown Manhattan in a
veritable Pansy Craze from 1930 until the repeal of prohibition
in 1933.
Hay’s Code: After the repeal of prohibition,
this tolerance waned. Any sympathetic portrayal of gay
characters (termed sexual perverts) was prohibited by
the Motion Picture Production Code (or Hays Code) from being
included in Hollywood films. Performer Ray Bourbon was
arrested many times for his act, considered tame by today's
standards.
It seems almost inconceivable today, with the abundance of

2. openly gay playwrights and gay-themed plays, that less than 50
years ago a drama critic for The New York Times felt the need
to call for “social and theatrical convention” to be “widened so
that homosexual life may be as freely dramatized as
heterosexual life, may be as frankly treated in our drama as in
contemporary fiction.”
EARLY GAY PLAYWRIGHTS: Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward,
Tennessee Williams, William Inge, and Edward Albee, Lanford
Wilson, Robert Patrick. Doric Wilson.
At the height of the Pansy Craze in the late 1920s, Mae West
penned The Drag, a “social problem” play that argued for
sympathetic treatment of homosexuals. However, after out-of-
town tryout runs, the play received a scandalous reception.
Never making it to the Great White Way, The Drag was
censored, and West was arrested. Draconian measures from City
Hall, including the passage of New York City’s 1927 “padlock
bill,” prohibited homosexual subject matter on the Broadway
stage. A few years later, the Hays Code of 1934 banned images
of homosexuality on the Hollywood screen. Consequently,
censorship of gay themes in theater and film was the norm in
the U.S. from the 1930s through the 1960s.
Expanding on the concept of the coffeehouse as a forum for
beatnik poetry readings, Joe Cino opened his small Cornelia
Street café in 1958 with the intention of creating a space where
theater artists could develop their individual voices and form a
community. The Caffe Cino’s locale rendered it out-of-the-way
enough to feel like a private sanctuary and accessible enough
for urban audiences to find it.
Inside, the Cino resembled a converted living room decorated
for a very festive occasion. Its walls were encrusted with glitter
and spangles, strung with flapping photographs, flickering
Christmas lights, and twinkling wind chimes, with a shiny
jukebox in the corner. Cino wanted his café to be a magic box
that would feel like home but simultaneously conjure a sense of
child-like fantasy, play, and nostalgia.
IF “GAY THEATER” is defined as being by, for, and about un-

3. closeted gay people, then 2014 arguably marks the 50th
anniversary of the genre’s existence.
In 1964, despite a social climate of homophobia that pervaded
American life for the second third of the 20th century, two one-
act plays presented Off-Off-Broadway at the Caffe Cino
revolutionized how gay characters could be represented
theatrically.
The plays were Lanford Wilson’s “The Madness of Lady
Bright” and Robert Patrick’s “The Haunted Host.”
Mae West penned The Drag, a “social problem” play that argued
for sympathetic treatment of homosexuals. However, after out-
of-town tryout runs, the play received a scandalous reception.
Never making it to the Great White Way, The Drag was
censored, and West was arrested. Draconian measures from City
Hall, including the passage of New York City’s 1927 “padlock
bill,” prohibited homosexual subject matter on the Broadway
stage. Consequently, along with the Hay’s Code, censorship of
gay themes in theater and film was the norm in the U.S. from
the 1930s through the 1960s.

4. Expanding on the concept of the coffeehouse as a forum for
beatnik poetry readings, Joe Cino opened his small Cornelia
Street café in 1958 with the intention of creating a space where
theater artists could develop their individual voices and form a
community.
The Caffe Cino’s locale rendered it out-of-the-way enough to
feel like a private sanctuary and accessible enough for urban
audiences to find it.
Inside, the Cino resembled a converted living room decorated
for a very festive occasion. Its walls were encrusted with glitter
and spangles, strung with flapping photographs, flickering
Christmas lights, and twinkling wind chimes, with a shiny
jukebox in the corner. Cino wanted his café to be a magic box
that would feel like home but simultaneously conjure a sense of
child-like fantasy, play, and nostalgia.
In 1964, despite a social climate of homophobia that pervaded
American life for the second third of the 20th century, two one-
act plays presented Off-Off-Broadway at the Caffe Cino
revolutionized how gay characters could be represented
theatrically.
The plays were Lanford Wilson’s “The Madness of Lady
Bright” and Robert Patrick’s “The Haunted Host.”

5. In 1968 a play opened in New York that portrayed gay life
onstage in a way it had never been before. In the words of
another Times critic, Clive Barnes, it was “by far the frankest
treatment of homosexuality I have ever seen on the stage.” Mart
Crowley’s The Boys in the Band made theatrical history for gay
theater just as Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, had
done in the previous decade for African-American drama.
The Boys in the Band played 1,001 performances Off Broadway
and was then filmed by William Friedkin with the original cast,
marking a cinematic milestone as well. Over the years critics
within the gay community have criticized Crowley for
presenting stereotyped characters and an excessively negative
view of gay life. Yet this play, staged a year before the
Stonewall Riots that are often cited as the beginning of the
modern gay civil-rights movement, portrays the humor and
resilience of the characters as well as their pain.

6. New York’s gay community had grown weary of the police
department targeting gay clubs, a majority of which had already
been closed. The crowd on the street watched quietly as
Stonewalls employees were arrested, but when three drag
queens and a lesbian were forced into the paddy wagon, the
crowd began throwing bottles at the police. The protest,
however, spilled over into the neighboring streets, and order
was not restored until the deployment of New York’s riot
police.
The Stonewall Riot was followed
by several days of demonstrations in New York
and was the impetus for the formation of the
Gay Liberation Front as well as other gay, lesbian,
and bisexual civil rights organizations.
It is also regarded by many as history’s
first major protest on behalf of equal rights
for homosexuals.

7. Disco Culture: is a music genre and subculture that emerged in
the mid-1960s and early 1970s from the United States' urban
nightlife scene. Disco started as a mixture of music from venues
popular with African Americans, Hispanic and Latin Americans,
LGBT people (especially African-American and white gay
men).
Disco can be seen as a reaction to both the dominance of rock
music and the stigmatization of dance music by
the counterculture during this period.
By the late 1970s, most major U.S. cities had thriving disco
club scenes, and DJs would mix dance records at clubs such
as Studio 54in New York City, a venue popular
among celebrities.
Discothèque-goers often wore expensive, extravagant and sexy
fashions. There was also a thriving sex and drug subculture in
the disco scene, particularly for drugs that would enhance the
experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights,
such as cocaine and Quaaludes, the latter being so common in
disco subculture that they were nicknamed "disco biscuits".
Disco clubs were also associated with every kind of sexual
freedom promiscuity as a reflection of the sexual revolution of
this era in popular history.

8. Martin Sherman’s Bent opened in London with Ian McKellen in
1979 and then in New York with Richard Gere. Sherman
dramatized, in fictional form, the plight of gay men in Nazi
Germany who were arrested and sent to concentration camps for
their sexual orientation.
Bent not only brought to audiences’ attention tragic historical
events of which they may heretofore been unaware.
Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy, originally produced in
1978 and 1979 as three separate plays by La MaMa E.T.C.,
became a one-evening trilogy Off Broadway in 1981 and 1982.
It moved to Broadway later in 1982, ran for more than 1,200
performances, and won Tony Awards for Fierstein in both the
best play and best actor in a play categories.
A contemporary comedy about a gay man’s relationship with his
lover, ex-lover, mother, friends, and adopted son, the play
touched on such topics as gender identity, coming out, gay
bashing, and gay parenting well before these issues were being
discussed and analyzed the way they are today.

9. When Fierstein’s Safe Sex—opened in 1987, the gay
community had been galvanized by the AIDS Pandemic that was
causing widespread devastation through its ranks.
Just as AIDS transformed the gay community as a whole, it
transformed gay playwriting as well, becoming an almost
unavoidable source of subject matter.
The irony that AIDS made the gay community more visible than
it had ever been before was not lost on one of Fierstein’s
characters in Safe Sex: “Now they know who we are. ... We’ve
found our voices. We know who we are. They know who we are.
And they know that we care what they think. And all because of
a disease. A virus. A virus that you don’t get because you’re
Gay, just because you’re human. We were Gay. Now we’re
human.”

10. 12
Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, the longest-running
production ever presented at The Public Theater, is suffused
with anger and outrage at the lack of response to the crisis by
the medical establishment, politicians, society as a whole, and
the gay community itself.
Based on Kramer’s own experiences as an early gay activist and
founding member of Gay Men’s Heath Crisis (G.M.H.C.), it is
part polemic, part call-to-arms, and part love story—The
Normal Heart pulled no punches in confronting its audiences
with the enormity of AIDS and its devastation of the gay
community.
McNally's other plays include 1994's Love! Valour!
Compassion!, which examines the relationships of eight gay
men; it won McNally his second Tony Award.
With Kiss of the Spider Woman (based on the novel by Manuel
Puig) in 1992, McNally returned to the musical stage,
collaborating with Kander and Ebb on a script which explores
the complex relationship between two men jailed together in a
Latin American prison.

11. 1997 saw the world premiere of Corpus Christi, a modern-day
retelling of the story of Jesus' birth, ministry, and death in
which both he and his disciples are portrayed as homosexual.
The play was initially canceled because of death threats against
the board members of the Manhattan Theatre Club, which was
to produce the play.
When the play opened, the theatre was besieged by almost 2,000
protesters, furious at what they considered blasphemy.
Subsequent to a 1999 opening of Corpus Christi in London, a
group called the "Defenders of the Messenger Jesus" issued
a fatwa sentencing McNally to death.
In 2008, the play was revived in New York City at Rattlestick
Playwrights Theatre. Reviewing this production for The New
York Times, Jason Zinoman wrote that "without the noise of
controversy, the play can finally be heard. Staged with
admirable delicacy... the work seems more personal than
political, a coming-of-age story wrapped in religious
sentiment."
No Play had a more profound and lasting impact than Tony
Kushner’s Angels in America, the first part of
which, Millennium Approaches, was given its New York
premiere in 1992 at Juilliard when Kushner was a playwright-
in-residence at the School.
Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama and two successive Tony

12. Awards for
Millennium Approaches and Perestroika,
it was later filmed by Mike Nichols for HBO. Subtitled: A Gay
Fantasia on National Themes.
Angels in America mixes historical and fictional characters,
humor and heartbreak, to dramatize not only the effect that
AIDS had on gay Americans but how they are inextricably
bound into the fabric of American life.
Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States
policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians,
instituted by the Clinton Administration on February 28, 1994.
The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating
against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service
members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or
bisexual persons from military service.
The policy prohibited people who "demonstrate a propensity or
intent to engage in homosexual acts" from serving in the armed
forces of the United States, because their presence "would
create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale,
good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence
of military capability".
The act prohibited any homosexual or bisexual person from
disclosing their sexual orientation or from speaking about any
homosexual relationships, including marriages or other familial
attributes, while serving in the United States armed forces.
The act specified that service members who disclose that they
are homosexual or engage in homosexual conduct should be
separated (discharged)".

13. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) enacted September 21,
1996, was a United States federal law that, prior to being
ruled unconstitutional, defined marriage for federal purposes as
the union of one man and one woman, and allowed states to
refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws
of other states.
Until Section 3 of the Act was struck down in 2013 (United
States v. Windsor), DOMA, in conjunction with other statutes,
had barred same-sex married couples from being recognized as
"spouses" for purposes of federal laws, effectively barring them
from receiving federal marriage benefits.
DOMA's passage did not prevent individual states from
recognizing same-sex marriage, but it imposed constraints on
the benefits received by all legally married same-sex couples
Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American comedian, television host,
actress, writer, producer, and LGBT activist. She starred in the
popular sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and has hosted
her syndicated TV talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, since
2003.
She starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998,
and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002. During the fourth
season of Ellen in 1997, she came out as a lesbian in an
appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Her character, Ellen Morgan, also came out to a therapist played
by Winfrey, and the series went on to explore
various LGBT issues, including the coming-out process.
This made her the first openly lesbian actress to play an openly
lesbian character on television.

14. Will & Grace is an American sitcom Set in New York City. the
show focuses on the friendship between best friends Will
Truman a gay lawyer, and Grace Adler a straight interior
designer.
During its original run Will & Grace was one of the most
successful television series with gay principal characters.
Despite initial criticism for its stereotypical portrayal of
homosexual characters, it went on to become a staple of
NBC's Must See TV Thursday night lineup and was met with
continued critical acclaim.
Since the final episode aired, the sitcom has been credited with
helping and improving public opinion of the LGBT community,
with former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden commenting that the
show "probably did more to educate the American public" on
LGBT issues "than almost anything anybody has ever done so
far".
In 2014, the Smithsonian Institution added an LGBT
history collection to their museum which included items
from Will & Grace. The curator Dwight Blocker Bowers stated
that the sitcom used "comedy to familiarize a mainstream
audience with gay culture" in a way that was "daring and broke
ground" in American media.
Matthew Shepard: was an American student at the University of

15. Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die
near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He died six days
later from severe head injuries.
Perpetrators Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were
arrested shortly after the attack and charged with first-degree
murder following Shepard's death. Significant media coverage
was given to the killing and to what role Shepard's sexual
orientation played as a motive in the commission of the crime.
McKinney's girlfriend told police that he had been motivated by
anti-gay sentiment but later recanted her statement, saying that
she had lied because she thought it would help him. Both
McKinney and Henderson were convicted of the murder, and
each received two consecutive life sentences.
Shepard's murder brought national and international attention
to hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.
In October 2009, the United States Congress passed
the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes
Prevention Act (commonly the "Matthew Shepard Act" or
"Shepard/Byrd Act" for short), and on October 28, 2009,
President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law
Matthew Shepard's life, death, trial, and its aftermath have

16. inspired numerous works, including documentary and narrative
films and television shows, stage plays (such as The Laramie
Project), and musical and written works.
Additionally, NBA player Jason Collins wore the jersey number
"98" in honor of Shepard during his 2012–13 season with
the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards, and would
come out as gay following the season.
The movement to obtain civil marriage rights and benefits for
same-sex couples in the United States began in the 1970s but
remained unsuccessful for over forty years.
On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state
and the sixth jurisdiction in the world to legalize same-sex
marriage following the Supreme Judicial Court's decision six
months earlier.
Before nationwide legalization, same-sex marriage became legal
in 36 states; 24 states by court order, 9 by legislative action,
and 3 by referendum. Some states had legalized same-sex
marriage by more than one of the three actions.
On June 26, 2015 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled
in Obergefell v. Hodges that states must license and recognize
same-sex marriages. Consequently, same-sex marriage is legal
in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam,
U.S. Virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands.
List of TV Series and Characters from 1970 – Today
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dramatic_television_serie

17. s_with_LGBT_characters
Comprehensive List of Films with LGBT Themes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LGBT-related_films
0–9
8 (play)
A
Agokwe
The AIDS Show
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes
Another Country (play)
Arias with a Twist
As Is (play)
Asmara Songsang
B
Balm in Gilead
Bathhouse: The Musical!
Be Happy Be Mormon
Beautiful Thing (play)
Bent (play)
Blowing Whistles
Body Awareness
Boston Marriage (play)
The Boys in the Band (play)
Break Through (play)
Breaking the Code
Burning Blue
C
Casa Valentina
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

18. The Children's Hour (play)
Christine Jorgensen Reveals
Cloud 9 (play)
Corpus Christi (play)
D
Deathtrap (play)
The Destiny of Me
Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead
The Drag (play)
Dress Suits to Hire
E
Eastern Standard
Edward II (play)
Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens
Elizabeth Rex
Entertaining Mr Sloane
Execution of Justice
F
Fifth of July
The Fire that Consumes
The First Domino
Fortune and Men's Eyes
Fucking Men
G
Gemini (play)
Geography Club (play)
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
The Green Bay Tree
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
The Gulf (play)
H
Her Naked Skin
High (play)
The History Boys
Holding the Man (play)
Hosanna (play)

19. The Hot l Baltimore
The Hungry Woman
I
I Am My Own Wife
In Gabriel's Kitchen
The Invention of Love
J
Jagdszenen aus Niederbayern (play)
Jerker
Joni and Gina's Wedding
The Judas Kiss (play)
L
The Laramie Project
Last Summer at Bluefish Cove
Latin! or Tobacco and Boys
Lilies (play)
The Lily's Revenge
Lips Together, Teeth Apart
The Lisbon Traviata
The Little Dog Laughed
Lonely Planet (play)
Loot (play)
Lord Arthur's Bed
Love the Sinner
Love! Valour! Compassion!
Lulu (opera)
M
M. Butterfly
The Madness of Lady Bright
Le Martyre de saint Sébastien
Measure for Pleasure
Melancholy Play
The Men from the Boys
Miracle Day
Mother Clap's Molly House
Mothers and Sons (play)

20. My Big Gay Italian Wedding
My Night with Reg
My Own Private Oshawa
N
The Nance
Next Fall
The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me
No Exit
The Normal Heart
Norman, Is That You?
O
Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme
Old Times
Oscar Wilde (play)
P
Plague Over England
The Pride (play)
Privates on Parade
Proud (play)
P.S. Your Cat Is Dead
The Public (play)
R
The Ritz (play)
Rose by Any Other Name...
Ross (play)
S
Scent of Rain
Secrets of a Gay Mormon Felon
Seduction (2004 play)
Semi-Monde
Six Degrees of Separation (play)
Slavs!
Some Men
Sons of the Prophet
Staircase (play)
Stop Kiss

21. Streamers (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire
Suddenly, Last Summer