Gay hippies

Hippies were 'phobes.

Dingle berries, OP, dingle berries all around. It was a disgusting time to be gay.

The 2009 movie Taking Woodstock is based on a true behind-the-scenes story and the young protagonist is a gay man who does at one point find a love connection with another guy...

r1, Thats the most absurd thing I ever heard.

Most hippies were indeed easy going and "whatever, man!". Of course any group has its black sheep who in the case of the Hippie movement (like, say, Charles Manson) were assholes, bigots, radicals, or pervs.

Hippies saw the establishment as strict, uptight, unflexible, evil and corrupt and their rebellion was love and whatever. Young gays had a lot in common with the Hippies by rejecting a system that rejected them and forced them to be something they know in their hearts they were not. The Hippie movement was a support system young gays could turn to in time where parents and other authority figures condemned homosexuality.

Funny, I am going to a reunion of my 1980 college commune this coming weekend.

I can tell you that two different guys thought highly enough of me to ask me to be their roommate. Then, apparently after talking it up with their friends and hearing that I was gay, they un-asked me. One never spoke to me again. The other did, but he was just across the hall, so he really had to. Overall, I thought they were just as phobic as everybody else in that era. The first guy Facebooked me last year and said something about me being the nicest person at school. Sometimes I wonder if people confuse me with someone else.

I was 45 back in 1969 and went to Woodstock. I was an English professor at Brooklyn College and saw a few of my ex-students there. I did hook up with two of them, they weren't hippies or "long hairs", but were vehemently against the Vietnam war.

I had a "six pack" and didn't know it. I didn't work out except for walking and swimming. My girlfriend told me years later. I thought I was just skinny. By the end of the 1970s, I would join a gym, and I quickly muscled up. I never heard the term "six pack," though, before I got on AOL (1995).

It was not a good time to be gay, the early '70s. I had sex with a guy for the first time in 1970, but I didn't tell anyone about it. I had a girlfriend for four years. It was only when she introduced me to the first guy I fell in love with that I came to any sort of acceptance of being gay. He only became my best friend, however, and when I told him how I felt about him, he did not react well. He was pissed I'd lied to him, and found the idea of two men having sex "wrong; sex is something you do with a woman." We never spoke again. It was terrible. I got very into drugs over the whole thing.

The only "gay hippie" I ever met wanted me to be in a porn movie he was producing or directing. I didn't want anything to do with it, or with him, but that may have been because his dick was small and gnarly (I now realize he was probably circumcised).

You're 92 years old, R7? Or is that a typo?

R6, there were no hippies in 1980. You're about 13 years too late.

there are hippie-types NOW, r10, so don't view history from your limited perspective...

Once more, Boomers attempt to rewrite their own history with a blatant disregard for their documented legacy of racism, sexism, and of course, homophobia.

"Free love" merely meant straight white kids could fuck like rabbits without consequence (except unwanted pregnancy, sexual diseases, and the like).

Straight boomers, including the surviving ex-hippies, are among the biggest homophobes still standing. I cannot wait for them all to die off.

The scene as many experienced it in Haight Ashbury in the late 60's was extremely gay friendly. Hey, San Francisco.

Don't forget that two of the original Beats, Alan Ginsberg and Neal Cassady, were very much a part of the hippie thing too. They were lovers for many years.

Elsewhere in the country, not so much. There was a certain amount of Jesus Freakiness around the edges of the movement that brought some negativity in, as friends and I lived through it.

Is it relevant that James Rado is a big ol' queen?

There are homophobes in all walks of life. Many elder gays are homophobes themselves. Many guys who sleep with men, I don't know you consider them closeted or not, are big homophobes. There are black homophobes. Liberal homophobes. I imagine there are hippies are who are homophobic but to say most of them. Thats doesn't make sense. Hippies were all about free love and freedom of expression. I would bet my last dollar most hippies were/are not bigots.

Well, smell you, R12. Thank God you have arrived on the scene and will fix everyone's problems. Go ahead: those of us who are still alive wouldn't miss this for anything.

The hippie movement was all about white men getting high and acting like Muslims -- sitting around scratching their balls while the women harvested the garden and made bread.

There was a long thread about this years ago.

In the book Taking Woodstock the author says a lot of gay sex was going on.

The hippie movement became mainstream very quickly...which of course, resulted in a proliferation of fashion hippies. Kids who hated "the man" and smoked pot, and fantasized about free love, but had very little interest in the politics or "spiritual" aspirations that at one time (just a year or two) defined the movement.

That said, real hippies tended to be a lot more sexually open than "squares," and had a lot more contact with gays. You have to remember that a lot of hippies followed the beat-hippie trajectory, and their development as adults was strongly influenced by Ginsberg et al.---even the ones who dropped off the face of the earth to follow some insane guru in India were most likely more tolerant of homosexuality than the guy who spent the 1960s terrified of marijuana and lobbing abuse at guys with long hair.

Also---a lot of guys rubbed up against each other, gave each other handjobs, and went down on each other during orgies in the 1960's. All of the people I have known in my life who participated in or witnessed them have attested to this.

Untrue, r17. At it's core, the hippie movement was about free love and will, and not being bound by convention. The women who found themselves involved with lazy men picked the wrong guys.

I would venture to say that the hippie movement was the #1 contributing factor in the rapid reform of sex roles in America. The men had long hair, wore flowered shirts, and cooked.

I think r19 hit on the nail.

Wow... where are the angry lesbians of DL? I want them to swoop in right now and READ these posters. To death.

The feminist movement in America both predates and exists, if anything, in OPPOSITION to the hippy youth movement in America. Early feminists understood that 1960s youth culture had everything to do with reducing women to sexual playthings and nothing to do with genuine political, economic, or social equality.

The feminist movement (and the gay civil rights movement) far more resembled the African-American civil rights movement than it did the "turn on, tune in, drop out" narcissistic drug culture of hippies.

The hippie movement was an extremely broad social movement, not a political movement, genius.

It didn't "reduce" women to anything; one thing it actually did was encourage women to become sexually autonomous, and not accept the virgin/whore dichotomy that was so pervasive up until that point. Of course, the downside was the assumption that any woman who didn't make herself sexually available was a prude or a bitch. Beyond that, though, it was a mixed bag. Many hippies were feminists; some were gay. A lot were involved in politics, but not the majority.

Just a side note: "Hippie" is the long-haired advocated of free love from the '60s, "hippy" is what my female relatives in the Midwest have become.

My reunion dinner is tomorrow, yippie!

Commune? Were you at UCB?

"Manson really did become involved in the closet Hollywood homosexual underworld when he parked in Cary Grant’s space in the Universal Studio parking lot. And he’s told me in great detail about other closet cases in the music and movie industry who he serviced as a ”rough trade” male prostitute, clients he calls the ”secret suckers.” Manson’s relationship with Dennis Wilson was so intense it even made some of the girls in Charlie’s commune jealous. One of the many show business secrets the Helter Skelter myth covered up was the then career-destroying fact that Dennis Wilson, the Beach Boys’ only sex symbol, was a promiscuous bisexual, who, like Manson, was notorious for fucking anything that moved, regardless of gender. Worse still for the Beach Boys innocent public image was the notion of their macho dreamboat drummer being sodomized by a man reviled as the most sinister serial killer in history. While none of these escapades would shock anyone today, these were deep dark secrets even in the ”free love” atmosphere of the late 60s. But these hidden homosexual hijinks aren’t just celebrity gossip – they led directly to the murders. Manson first met Dennis Wilson while buying dope from their mutual friend, the gay drug dealer and musician Gary Hinman, who also discreetly serviced Hollywood homosexuals. Bobby Beausoleil only met Hinman, who he killed, because he was trying to get away from Kenneth Anger’s unwanted advances. The Hinman connection led directly to Wilson introducing Manson to his live-in friend Tex Watson, who Manson and several other sources allege was also an active bisexual. Again, much of the secrecy this case is enshrouded in was meant to obscure the kinky lifestyles of the rich and famous and their sexual slumming in society’s lower depths."

[quote] Commune? Were you at UCB?

No, UCONN. Hippies were everywhere.

This makes me want to watch the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

I recorded a bunch off E! years ago on VHS, but now I don't have a player.

I wonder if Dennis Wilson was secretly gay. Just gay. Not "bi."

I have arrived at my alma mater for my tribal gathering! I wonder if there are any other punctuation enthusiasts here? Ah well, an education can kill an interest in information. If Randolf doesn't stop fiddling with the hotel room air conditioner I may lose my mind. I will let you know if [italic]that [/italic]happens.

Lots of artists expected. A few became incredibly financially successful. Last time, we had people from all over the world, including Singapore, and Europe. My X, the murderer, is not expected. I suppose anyone who is still living in a teepee off campus can't afford to come, so it tends to be more financially successful hippies.

[quote]My X, the murderer, is not expected.

Tell us the story, r31

I have told it before, you don't remember?

Aren't radical faeries basically gay hippies?

After my two years in the Haight, I moved to a town called Bolinas from about 1971 to 1974. Being a gay hippie, social outcast was the best years of my life. Easy to head into San Francicsco and yet sheltered from all the turmoil of city life.

What was left of the Cockettes would visit our little hamlet and the most exhilaratingly freedoms ever. Memories for a lifetime.

Bolinas is still that way, and they like being isolated.

Eh, he had too many wives and girlfriends and kids for me to think he was gay, R30. But it's nice to imagine him fooling around with James Taylor on the set of Two Lane Blacktop...

Dinner at the Tribal Gathering last night was great. In an homage to our salad days, we were served mystery meat and bug juice. There are a lot of vegetarians here, as well. We had a very extream hail storm rip through the campus during dinner, and I thought the tent might come down, but no.

We had a Greatful Dead tribute band perform after dinner. With all due respect to my geriatric friends, I would leave the dancing to a younger generation. My suggestion of a Polkabration band was overruled. Democratically, of course.

Lots more divorces since the last reunion. I guess some hippies were waiting for their kids to mature before dropping the louse of a spouse. Lesbianism is also trending up. Our campus advisor is still alive, and still very, very grumpy.

Today there will be skinny dipping at the local quarry-watering hole, which I imagine will be even better than the dancing, so I think I will skip that.

Oh, adorable Lenny P. could not attend, due to his recent arrest for sale of crack. He's the guy who was living in a teepee off campus, back in the day. I learned that in his teepee days, he and his gal were hospitalized for malnutrician because their vegetarian diet was insufficient. I recall him once explaining that it wasn't healthy to shower daily, and he smelt like it. Almost everybody here is a character in their own right.

All the liberation movements had their problems. The black liberation movement was sexist to the extreme. The gay liberation movement was sexist and racist. Women's liberation was homophobic. Acknowledging this doesn't negate all their accomplishments. People learned how to separate when necessary and cooperate when needed. Lesbians separated from gay men and straight women. Black women separated from black men. Black gay men learned they were often just sex objects and then still needed three forms of ID to get into a mostly white bar. And, yes, some hippies were hypocritical. As with the founding fathers, freedom for all meant basically freedom for them.

About the worst gossip you can share here is a version of the following:

Hippy 1: "It a very sad story...Jeanne, she....(in hushed tone)... she became a Republican"

Hippy 2: "(stage whisper)... A Republican!?"

Hippy 1: "I know, I couldn't believe it. I think she even voted for Reagan!"

Hippy 2: "for Reagan?! No, really?"

Fragment from "The Wedding of Tricia Nixon" by gay hippies The Cockettes.

Another nice day at the reunion, though I am talked out now. Spent a good bit of time swaping stories of near-arrests with an old friend. Heard a lecture on communes from our former faculty advisor. She must be 800 years old.

The very nice lesbians from San Francisco have the cutest kids! A ten year old ginger and a 14 year-old girl. I want one of my own! Randolf doesn't count.

I should clarify that, of course Randolf [italic]counts[/italic], just not like have an actual ginger child. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Randolf.

There were no punctuation enthusiasts amount my hippy friends. Lots of musicians, though.

I guess the spelling went out the window with all the focus on punctuation?

Exactly, R45. Though I am happy anyone is still reading along at this point.

I forgot my tie-dyed shirt. I am kicking myself for not bringing it. I have only the one, bought at the last reunion, and never worn.

Back home now. I didn't know the Dead was still touring. It was a really nice weekend. It was the first time I smelt marijuana wafting in the air, in a long time. End of story!

I just found out that among 283 commune member on Facebook, on is transitioning! I don't know to what, or from what for certain, but it seems from male to female. What are the chances!?

The one on the left in the original photo pings

r17 is right

white boys are delicious.....

I want to hear more about James Rado.

Please Google The Farm Summertown TN. that's where Stephen Gaskin lead the hippies from CA to settle. Also Elizabeth Barger. She was the commune midwife. I live about 20 mins away in Mt Pleasant and met both many times years ago. Both interesting and very nice, as well as published. Bought many tie-dyed T shirts directly off a broken down school bus on the farm. They were very picky about letting people come over. I was lucky to be a friend of a friend.