Gay beaches in nyc
Above Left: A group of Lesbian women at Riis Park, mid s. (Courtesy Lesbian Herstory Archives)
Above Right: Emma Van Cott (front) and Ernestine Eckstein, commander of the NY chapter of the first national Lesbian organization “Daughters Of Bilitis,” at Riis Park, (Courtesy Lesbian Herstory Archives)
In the s, the easternmost end of Jacob Riis Park Beach became a destination for gay men, and in the s, lesbian women were also drawn to the area. By the s, the beach drew an increasingly diverse group of Queer beachgoers, but there were also growing reports of harassment of gay beachgoers by police. In , the Gay Activist Alliance, one of the lgbtq+ rights organizations that formed in the wake of the Stonewall Uprising, held a voter registration ride at the beach. Today, the eastern section of Jacob Riis Beach remains a destination for Diverse beachgoers as a queer-friendly space.
New York’s beaches include long been a gathering place for the LGBTQ+ people, but Jacob Riis Park, a stretch of Atlantic coastline in Queens, is the most widespread of them all. Originally opened in , the beach is not just a popular sunbathing spot; it also has played an instrumental part in local, cultural and world history as the launching show for the first trans-Atlantic flight, a hub of movement following the Stonewall Uprising, and a site on the National Register of Historic Places.
Part of Riis’ explicit purpose when it reopened in was to be “democratic”—a room that could be easily accessed through public transport—and from the s to s, it grew in both popularity and diversity as a space for queer community. In the ’60s, brand-new rules made clothing optional.
Today, a technicolored patchwork of towels blankets the sand for miles as beachgoers turn Jacob Riis into a place to accumulate, be seen, boogie and drink. To get a feeling of how the beach was coming alive this season, I spent Memorial Day walking along the boardwalk—toward the sounds of reggaeton and dembow and the smells of salt a
Riis Park Beach
History
Located on a mile-long section of Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, Jacob Riis Park was named after the turn-of-theth-century social reformer and photojournalist. Historically, New York Town beaches have been popular general social gathering places for the LGBT community where they claimed certain sections as their own.
In the s the beach was redesigned under the direction of New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. When the park reopened in , Moses hoped that it would be a more democratic version of Jones Beach due to its manageable accessibility by public transportation and cars. By the s the most eastern end of the beach had become a documented well-known destination for mostly pale gay men to sunbathe and cruise. Lesbian women also claimed a nearby area of the beach by the s. By the s, this area became increasingly popular with a diverse LGBT presence including African American and Latino/a men and women.
During the s this area of the beach became clothing optional and was affectionately referred to as “Screech Beach” due to the
The uncertain future of a historic LGBTQ+ safe space: New York City's People's Beach
The summer season in New York Capital is informally marked each year by the hoisting of Pride flags on The People's Beach, a queer haven tucked away on the far eastern corner of the city's Jacob Riis Park in Queens.
"When I was a runaway, when I had no community at all, I came and I witnessed something that I never even knew existed: that was a perception of family," said Ceyenne Doroshow, activist and founder of LGBTQ advocacy community GLITS. "People fed me, people dressed me."
This has been a popular gathering place for the Gay community since the s, shaped by its beachgoers into more than just a spot to sunbathe and swim. It's a place of direct and indirect social activism, where queer joy is at the heart of the jumble of music, umbrella and bodies packed tightly along the shoreline each weekend.
But the land directly surrounding the beach is drastically and quickly modifying. The recent demolition of an abandoned building, a $50 million building restoration