Tea dance (gay event)

Tea dances were events organized on Sunday afternoons in the homosexual community in New York beginning in the 1950s and 1960s.[1] The name alludes to traditional tea dances of the English countryside.[2] The dances included tea service.[3] They were a place for singles to meet.[4]

History

It was illegal through the mid-1960s for bars in New York to sell alcohol to people known to be gay,[3] and New York City police would conduct raids on establishments catering to them. Hence, gay men in the area began to hold tea dances outside the city as an alternative venue for meeting. In New York, these generally took place on Fire Island, in Cherry Grove and the Pines, on Sunday afternoons. Serving tea rather than alcohol made them more acceptable and less law-defying. Because they were held in the afternoon, attendees could catch a ferry and return home and be ready to work on Monday morning.[5]

As homosexuality became more accepted and legally protected, the tea dances were subsumed into nighttime club events such as circuit parties.[2]

References
  1. "Tea Dance Isn't What You Think—It's Actually Way Cooler". Cincinnati Refined. Sinclair Broadcast Group. 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  2. "The Very Gay and Interesting History of the Almost Lost Tradition of the Sunday Tea Dance". Back2Stonewall. 2019-05-26. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  3. Spataro, Joanne (2018-04-23). "The Tea Dance Is Part of NYC's LGBTQ Living History". Vice. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  4. "StackPath". citybeat.com. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  5. Huff, Rebecca (2018-10-30). "Cincinnati is reviving the lost tradition of gay tea dances for a new generation". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved 2020-04-12.


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