18th Century Gay Bars Thrived In A Very Dangerous England!
Like men’s club houses, molly houses were also places people went simply to socialize, gossip, drink and smoke. WELLCOME COLLECTION/CC BY 4.0 “There I found a company of men fiddling and dancing and singing bawdy songs, kissing and using their hands in a very unseemly manner” Like other oppressed groups, gay men have always felt the need to congregate and "take the mask off", even in very dangerous times!! It took a lot of courage and a lot of alcohol!! Via Atlas Obscura: "It’s hard to unpick exactly where molly houses came from, or when they became a phenomenon in their own right. In documents from the prior century, there is an abundance of references to, and accounts of, gay men in London’s theaters or at court. Less overtly referenced were gay brothels, which seem harder to place than their heterosexual equivalents. (The historian Rictor Norton suggests that streets once called Cock’s Lane and Lad Lane may lend a few clues.) Before the 18th century, historians Jef...