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© 2015 Christopher Adam Mitchell ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2015 Christopher Adam Mitchell ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE TRANSFORMATION OF GAY LIFE FROM THE CLOSET TO LIBERATION, 1948-1980: NEW YORK CITY’S GAY MARKETS AS A STUDY IN LATE CAPITALISM by CHRISTOPHER ADAM MITCHELL A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in History Written under the direction of James Livingston And approved by New Brunswick, New Jersey January, 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Transformation of Gay Life from the Closet to Liberation, 1948-1980: New York City’s Gay Markets as a Study in Late Capitalism By CHRISTOPHER ADAM MITCHELL Dissertation Director: James Livingston This dissertation argues for the historical significance of markets, information, and the politics of queer consumption to the transformation of queer subjectivity and social life in the postwar era from the closet to Gay Liberation in New York City. My dissertation situates this history of transformation and mobilization within a period of broad shifts from a manufacturing, industrial-based economy to a service and information economy based on cultural production. In this context, I argue that the queer economy’s provision of social space, information (including new forms of cultural representation), and identities should be understood as an exemplary feature of late capitalism. Using the frameworks of institutional economics and economic history, urban history, and queer theory, this dissertation explores two distinct phases of the queer economy and the ways in which legal regulations and cultural norms convened and constrained queer markets, consumer culture, and the politics of identity. The first phase of the queer economy, from the late 1940s to the late 1960s, was essentially organized as an illicit and stigmatized market, to which queer consumers responded with cultural patterns based on concealment and evasion, or what Jeffrey Escoffier refers to as the segregation of public and private ii information characteristic of the “double life.” The second phase of the queer economy, from the late 1960s until about 1980, was characterized by decriminalization and destigmatization of queer markets, consumer and entrepreneurial activism and direct engagement with local politics, and the dynamics of gentrification. Central to the transition from the closet economy to the economy of Gay Liberation was the cultural production of information, including pop psychology and sociology, pulp novels, gossip columns and tabloid literature, Homophile publications, gay guides, and records of gay businesses and gay business associations. This dissertation explores this archive in order to show both the quantitative increase in information (and therefore public knowledge) about homosexuality and queer social life, as well as the qualitative shift in information, much of it produced by queers themselves, that repudiated the logic of criminalization and stigmatization and anticipated the mass “coming out” and political demands of Gay Liberation. iii Acknowledgments Dissertations are notoriously thankless and lonely projects. At the outset, there is no guarantee that the work, which in my case took several years, can or will be completed. There is even less security in the job market that awaits those of us who complete dissertations, which makes the encouragement of friends and colleagues all the more valuable. As unpaid and sometimes thankless work, writers of dissertation incur enormous debts. I have drawn on a vast network of friends, family members, and colleagues in order to complete this project, and my thanks goes out to many people who are not included in the following acknowledgments. My friends and family are the only reason I have been able to complete this project. First and foremost are my brother, Michael, my close friend and now sister-in- law Le’Ann—the Duran-Mitchells—and my closest and oldest friend, Gilbert Barrera, II, who have nurtured, loved, and sustained me since I came out and who have provided me with an endless well of friendship and love. Gil brought me out of the closet and provided me with his advice and wisdom where mine failed, and I love him like a brother. Mike has been the best brother and friend I could ever hope for, and his loyalty, love, passion, and criticisms have made him a central part of this project. Le’Ann is my oldest reader, willing to slog through my bad poems and short stories in high school without judgment. It has been my good fortune to gain one of my best friends as a sister-in-law Wren, my niece who arrived in the midst of this project, has provided me with an anchor to the “real world” when I was lost in copyediting (or endless grading). My parents, Ricky and Pam Mitchell, have proven that unconditional love does, indeed, have the capacity to triumph iv over hidebound tradition. They have been my staunchest supporters and proven to be the most loyal of allies. Their material support, too, has helped patch holes in my finances, to pay for books, rent, and tuition when I could not. Spencer Duran and Bethany Sims, Mike and especially my former teacher Ann Duran, have been an incredible source of support and love. My grandparents, Dick and LaVera Mitchell, and Arnold and my belated grandmother, Kitty Adams, have also provided endless sources of encouragement, confidence, and love. My cousins Kathleen, Preslie, Hudson, and Thekla, and my Aunt Tamara and Uncle Mike, have been a marvelous cheering section, as have Aunt Sue, Mike, Molly, Ian, Michael, Heather, and all the Beardens. Thanks also to my sweet family through Benjamin: Janice, Josh, Naomi, Matt, Andrea, Carl, Lily, and Eva. Eric- Michael Rodriguez has also been an endless source of encouragement, constructive criticism, love, and company over gallons of hot coffee. My fabulously talented cousin Taylor Collier, has been a comrade-in-arms, slogging through his programs and offering lots of humor, commiseration, and marvelous reading suggestions. Others whose friendship and love, if not physical presence, have sustained and nurtured me through the long years of this project include Ryan Scanlan, Joseph Pizano, Alice Liu, Jessica Scott, Waleed Zaiter, Paragini Amin, K.C. Stafford, Molly Giblin, Daniel Villareal, Jenny Kurtz, Joseph and Claire Hung, Mona, Bertha, and Gilbert (I) Barrera, Ryan Peterson, Elisa Schreiber, and Shiva Bodhireddy. I owe an especially large debt of gratitude Glenn Bunger, who was truly responsible for my first migration from Lubbock to New York City. He first brought me to New York City in 2002 and showed me a real alternative to the more hostile environs of West Texas when he so graciously offered me a place to live in the spring and summer of 2003. v Colleagues from New Brunswick and Newark, especially in my cohort, have also provided both important and insightful criticism as well as encouragement to go back to graduate school and finish this project. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Leigh- Anne Francis, Robin Chapdelaine, Matt Friedman, and Alison Miller. I also owe much of this project to thinking formulated in the Sexuality Studies Group at Rutgers, particularly from Alix Genter, Jesse Bayker, Swanurr Peturrson, Birdget Gurtler, and Anita Kurimay. Christina Strasburger, Dawn Ruskai, and Candace Walcott have shown an infinite amount of patience, making my life easier and saner in the process. Thanks also to Barbara Sirman and Marty Barnett. Alex Warner, Laurie Marhoefer, Mel Schroeder- Stein, Stacey Patton, Alex Gomez, Elizabeth Villefranche, Shanita Tartt, Sara Rzeszutek Haviland, Rebecca Tuuri, Susan Stryker, and Andy Daily played an important role when this work was still in its formative stages. In addition to these colleagues, I have benefited from the work of a number of scholars working in the field that have read parts of the dissertation or raised important questions at conferences and talks, including Daniel Hurewitz, Tommy Hafer, Gayle Rubin, Justin Bengry, Lisa Davis, Devin Muchmore, Derrick Higginbotham, Lauren Joseph, Christina Hanhardt, Amin Ghaziani, and Tim Stewart-Winter. Colleagues at CLAGS (the Center for LGBT Studies), at Hunter College, and at Pace, have all been important sources of support, both material and immaterial, including Jen Gabourey, Andy Spieldenner, Stephanie Hsu, Sarah Chinn, Darnell Moore, Neil Meyer, André Carrington, Nancy Reagin, Lauren Gutterman, Kevin Nadal, Jim Wilson, Hugh Ryan, and Rupal Oza. It goes without saying that my students have been an vi important source of inspiration and encouragement, and have provided me with a reason to do what I do. Without the encouragement of my teachers from the public schools of Lamesa, Texas, Ann Duran, Debbie Park, and Bonnie Geiger, I don’t know that I would have had the confidence or skills to speak for myself and come out. Until my early twenties, there was still every possibility that I might live my life out, home on the range but deeply in the closet. In that regard, I also have to thank Jimmie Pace and Ann Adcock. At Texas Tech, Aliza Wong, Randy McBee, Gary Bell, Stefano D’Amico, and especially Julie Willett and Paul Deslandes encouraged me to go to graduate school, and then helped make that possible. Without these earlier teachers and mentors, I don’t know that I would have even known how to begin being a historian. Paul, especially, was an earlier mentor who showed me not only how to think about and teach history, but how to live one’s life out with fearless dignity and pride—even in Lubbock, Texas. I probably owe more than I can say to the help of Rich Wandel at the National LGBT Archive, who pointed me in the direction of the Greater Gotham Business Council. Thanks also to the incredible volunteer staff at the National LGBT Archive and at the Lesbian Herstory Archive in Brooklyn.
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