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This Month in Wisconsin LGBT History: August 2007

35 years ago-- 1972-- The Wreck Room bar opens, with an ad showing the front end of a car coming through the wall (a prominent feature of this bar for most of its 20+ years in business). Lydia's Bar relocated from Kenosha to Racine. Other popular bars include The Cove Bar and The Neptune, and "This Is It" serves food all the time, advertising "steak plate $3.95". The Stud Club, recently renamed Michelle's, holds a contest for Mr. Stud and Mrs. Stud.

30 years ago-- 1977-- July and August issues of GPU News include unique cover art by local artist Bob Stocki, which was also sold as posters: the July cover, "Fighting the Dragon", shows ten terms of intolerance, while the August cover, "The Language of Oppression", shows some 28 different words used to describe gay people (and which originally appeared on the cover of the January 1975 issue). At this time, the GPU News is an independent publication, no longer associated with the Gay Peoples Union, which was its origin; it has subscribers in every state, Canada, and several foreign countries, and is easily one of the top 5 gay periodicals in the nation.

20 years ago-- 1987-- August has been a popular month for new bar openings: this month, Wreck Room celebrates their 15th anniversary, while Fannies celebrates their 4th, Back East 3 years, and Gay St. Station 1 year anniv. Hot Legs however closed this month.

15 years ago-- 1992-- Madison's Leather Weekend is held at Phaze II and Hotel Washington. The Blue Light Bar opens in Sheboygan. Two people are attacked after leaving This Is It bar in two separate incidents in a 2 week period; an arrest is made. Terry Boughner begins a series of articles in Wisconsin Light newspaper explaining the work of the ARCW.

10 years ago-- 1997-- Kevin Rotar, popular Milwaukee bartender, drowns. Midwest Invitational Softball Tournament is held in Milwaukee for the first time ever. OZ bar (formerly the Mad Hatter) opens in Green Bay.

35 years ago 1972 GPU News, August 1972 View select pages from this issue		30 years ago 1977 GPU News, August 1977 View select pages from this issue
25 years ago 1982 (no resources available from August 1982)		20 years ago 1987 In Step, vol. 4 no. 13 (Aug 6-19, 1987)
15 years ago 1992 In Step, vol. 9 no. 16 (August 13-26, 1992) View select pages from this issue		15 years ago 1992 Wisconsin Light, vol. 5 no. 16 (August 6-19, 1992)
10 years ago 1997 In Step, vol. 14 no. 17 (August 21, 1997)		10 years ago 1997 Wisconsin Light, vol. 10 no. 17 (Aug. 14-27, 1997)		10 years ago 1997 Quest, vol. 4 no. 13 (Aug. 7-20, 1997)

Note: The issues appearing above are some of those dated in the featured month. However, relevant news may appear in issues previous to or after that pictured and linked above: earlier issues may have ads or announcements of upcoming events, and later issues may carry actual photos or more extensive coverage of events that occurred after publication deadlines.

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