Buzzfeed ran these cool vintage pics of old-timey gay couples. Check out the undiluted-by-workouts-kale diets-manscaping-bronzer hotness of some of these dudes. Everyone looks so unaffected and masculine. It kind of makes you want to go back in a time machine to hang out with them and pick up a sepia-toned sailor of your own.
Actually, you’d have to make sure you were in a really remote area when you hung out. And watch out for police raiding your makeshift gay bar. And probably have to marry a lady to cover your gayness. Would anyone else like to help me destroy this time machine with baseball bats?
– J. Harvey
Photo credit: Buzzfeed
Check out the teeny little vintage pics of gay back in the day after the JUMP:
3, 4, 5, 9, & 13 are my favorites.
3, 4, 5, 9, & 13 are my favorites.
3, 4, 5, 9, & 13 are my favorites.
On the plus side, they probably never had to worry about dying from not wearing a condom. Being born in the 90’s was great and all. But I often find myself daydreaming about promiscuous gay life in the pre-aids era. Bathhouses…mmmm.
Love these pix!
Love these pix!
Oh the days when Masculine gays were the majority and not the minority.
The most beautiful thing about these pis is how swet they are, and how the guys are happily into each other. Bless our Gay uncles!
These are really adorable and hot. 🙂
Thank you for this amazing glimpse into an era of gay life that is sadly unappreciated by younger gay generations…Although the pure emotion & romance of these photos bring a lump to my throat, I am saddened to recall the incredible social & legal risk that our ‘gay grandfathers’ were taking by allowing any public hint of their sacred identities to surface…In those wildly intolerant decades, being gay was termed as a mental illness that could lead men to be arrested, institutionalized & brutalized without any hope of public support or legal recourse…God bless these amazing individuals and all their hidden’brothers’ from the last century…They paved a long, hard road of sacrifice and suffering so that we could FINALLY have a chance for a balanced and respectful existence in this socially-evolving but STILL-intolerant world…Please think twice the next time you walk into a gaybar and retreat from social contact with an elderly gay man: that brave ‘pioneer’ helped shape the evolvingly-tolerant culture that WE now enjoy….
WTF are you talking about? They could all be flaming queens, there isn’t anything inherently masculine about these images or dynamics, they’re just in black and white.
Second to last photo can almost pass as an old A&F ad.
Second to last photo can almost pass as an old A&F ad.
Are you guys sure about the nature of the pic that’s 6th from the bottom? Those guys look related, lol
Here, here!
Here, here!
Beautiful
Beautiful
Hate to break it to you, but these guys probably aren’t gay. Intimate displays like these were common among friends back then. You see it a lot today in some sex segregated societies.
http://artofmanliness.com/2012/07/29/bosom-buddies-a-photo-history-of-male-affection/
First, I want to emphasize people live long and healthy lives now after contracting HIV or any other STIs. Most STIs are curable or treatable. Hep C being the one except and it’s not entirely clear if Hep C is a STI. HIV is no longer a death sentence. It is a manageable, albeit life-changing, disease. People with HIV still continue to work, play, fuck, date, and get married, among all the other myriad activities that people without HIV partake in. Second, bathhouses are still open in many gay communities (Steamworks in Chicago, Crew Club in DC, and Steamworks in Toronto just to name three). Third, there are plenty of people who choose to have sex without a condom for various reasons (not that I am necessarily condoning such behavior). And finally, syphilis is a serious disease which left untreated may end in death or debilitation. It is also a disease that has been with us since at least the 16th century. My point being there is no such pre-AIDS Golden Age of promiscuity.
I was thinking the same thing…I’d love to think all of these guys were actually couples, but I tend to lean otherwise.
Thanks so much for posting these pics! It just goes to show that our relationships are valued as much or more than hetero relationships
Thanks so much for posting these pics! It just goes to show that our relationships are valued as much or more than hetero relationships
Thanks so much for posting these pics! It just goes to show that our relationships are valued as much or more than hetero relationships
These are really beautiful. And I prefer to think they are real reflections of the same-sex love and affection that these men felt for one another.
These are really beautiful. And I prefer to think they are real reflections of the same-sex love and affection that these men felt for one another.
These are really beautiful. And I prefer to think they are real reflections of the same-sex love and affection that these men felt for one another.
While you are correct in observing that not all of these photos portray same-sex couples who are sexually and emotionally intimate, a good number of them do. Some of these photos are from the nineteenth century so to say they portray gay couples is lazy and anachronistic. Still there are a number of images in this series which are clearly depicting homosexual couples, whereas others are merely ambiguous.
While you are correct in observing that not all of these photos portray same-sex couples who are sexually and emotionally intimate, a good number of them do. Some of these photos are from the nineteenth century so to say they portray gay couples is lazy and anachronistic. Still there are a number of images in this series which are clearly depicting homosexual couples, whereas others are merely ambiguous.
that was really amazing and so totally enjoyable. I would love to see what happend to all of those pioneers so we can thank them for not backing down
that was really amazing and so totally enjoyable. I would love to see what happend to all of those pioneers so we can thank them for not backing down
that was really amazing and so totally enjoyable. I would love to see what happend to all of those pioneers so we can thank them for not backing down
I love the pictures of the sailors. They look perfect for each other 🙂
I love the pictures of the sailors. They look perfect for each other 🙂
Very nice and thank you for this post. You’ve outdone yourself J. Harvey!
Very nice and thank you for this post. You’ve outdone yourself J. Harvey!
Thanks for ripping a hole in your shit filled douche bag and dumping it on us.
Thanks for ripping a hole in your shit filled douche bag and dumping it on us.
Great pics. They make me happy.
Please don’t generalize “younger gay generations” as a whole. There are many of us out there and younger who appreciate the past.
Please don’t generalize “younger gay generations” as a whole. There are many of us out there and younger who appreciate the past.
Sorry if i unintentionally gave offense…Although there ARE many 20-something guys who are aware of the challenging road that our civil rights have been faced with, you must understand how this can still present itself as the minority…I remain hopeful that the more EDUCATED our newest generation of gay men & women are to our cultural history and to the civil rights struggles that we have endured, the MORE progress they will continue to make for our culture while STILL respecting the noble sacrifices of the gay elders who have gone before…
Sorry if i unintentionally gave offense…Although there ARE many 20-something guys who are aware of the challenging road that our civil rights have been faced with, you must understand how this can still present itself as the minority…I remain hopeful that the more EDUCATED our newest generation of gay men & women are to our cultural history and to the civil rights struggles that we have endured, the MORE progress they will continue to make for our culture while STILL respecting the noble sacrifices of the gay elders who have gone before…
picture 8 is my favourite: it’s like homeboy is a pimp, with his trophy proudly displayed on the side like that.
(you just know they had wild kinky sex!)
pic 10 looks like it could be from a recent time..
..sailour on the right was totally trolling anyone who would dare Have A Reaction to him smooching the other sailour, who’s taking it all in stride.