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It is important to not forget our presence in history.” Eaton ends his sharing by asking everyone to raise a glass to the “brothers, sisters and trans folks of color that didn’t make it.” We were in the white spaces and in the white clubs, but there were also Black gay dance clubs, Black gay social groups, house parties and a whole community of Black gay people. We have to put that out there so people see that lens and know we were here. The ones we have been told about Gay Liberation and Stonewall, those are all told through a white lens. Now we need to pass down the stories about the Boston gay movement. I don’t think I appreciated how much Black spaces meant to me then, but now I understand how important they are. But it was seeing “all these Black folks coming together, there was a flavor, a specialness, this was our place and we didn’t need to navigate any white spaces to be here.”Įaton went on to say “This was such a wonderful time. He spoke about the entrance everyone would make when they pulled the back the curtain, took a deep breath and stepped into the club. Eaton spoke about going to the Elite Restaurant and going to the back where the curtain separated the restaurant from the dance club. So many of the speakers shared about the challenges of navigating the white gay club scene which was not very welcoming to people of color. One of the reasons that the Black gay club scene and the house parties were so important to LGBTQ people of color in those years was the freedom of having a place of their own. But you would find the most gorgeous Black men in Boston there all dressed in splendid attire.” Pearson said many of the people he met at the house parties have become lifelong friends, but sadly more than half of them passed away from AIDS. ago!’ “The house parties were always tits-to-ass crowded, and it would take you 30 minutes to get from one side of the room to the other. Curtis Pearson, from Dorchester, came onto the stage to tell his story carrying his silver lame shirt, which he said was from ‘100 lbs. Some of these were incredibly elaborate, themed parties. This part of Roxbury, originally known as Dudley Square, is the heart of the Boston’s Black community and the neighborhood where Elite, the one and only Black gay bar, once stood.Īnother fond memory raised that night that needs to take its rightful place in Boston’s history is the role of the Black gay house parties. But more importantly is its location in the center of Nubian Square.
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Soleil has been the home for Flashback Café, a monthly supper club for LGBT elders of color and their friends. The setting for this evening of storytelling could not have been more perfect. Everyone was proud and happy and excited to be gay.”
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I saw a whole room full of men who were dancing-it was the first time I had ever seen that, and I felt right at home. This was music to my ears!” During his sharing, Donnell Graves from Dorchester said “I knew I was gay since I was six, but my gay life didn’t start until the ’80s when I discovered the gay clubs. Shirley Royster said “I stepped into a place where people looked just like me…and they were dancing together. One of the themes that ran throughout many of the stories that evening was the feeling that everyone had the moment they stepped into a Black gay club for the first time. This was a chance for this group to claim their place in Boston’s history. On September 8, the LGBT Elders of Color, a program of the Multicultural AIDS Coalition (MAC), hosted an evening of live storytelling called “Stories of our Inheritance: An Evening of Memory Sharing with LGBT Elders of Color.” This event was held at Soleil Restaurant in Nubian Square and was cosponsored by The History Project, whose mission is dedicated to documenting and archiving New England’s LGBTQ history.Įvery one of the guests gathered for this event was filled with such joy, not only at the chance to be together again in person, but also to relive wonderful memories of a time when Boston’s Black Gay Scene was in its prime.