The Mattachine Society was the respectable face of gay liberation back in the late 50s and early 60s and the ‘Sip-In’ was a non-violent, alcohol-based act of civil disobedience – albeit carried out in smart jackets and ties – against regulations prohibiting the sale of booze to openly gay men, who were considered ‘disorderly’, just by being gay. So New York, the city that never sleeps but sometimes passes out drunk on the bed.īearing in mind this is probably the first bona fide gay bar in the whole wide world, it’s great to see there’s still life at the location where they recently celebrated the 52 nd anniversary of the Mattachine Society’s ‘Sip-In’, which happened right there at that long, brown bar where cocktails have been rested since the 1800s. It doesn’t look much from the inside either.Ī spur-of-the-moment Vogue-ing ball has just broken out among some gay boys too young to know the history they are trampling, and little do we realise that it’s all going to end in a conga round the bar to something by Gloria Estefan. It’s Julius’, the oldest gay bar in New York, and who knows what time it is because daylight would never dare come in here. As we gear up to the mother of all Prides – World Pride, with Madonna and everything! – we check out what the LGBTQs get up to in modern-day NYC. New York City is the birthplace of the global Pride movement and spiritual home of gays everywhere… all thanks to some trouble in some gay bars.