This Month in the History of Gay and Lesbian life in Wisconsin--
Month by Month, Year by Year

This Month in Wisconsin LGBT History: July 2008
by Michail Takach and Don Schwamb

30 years ago-- 1978-- Located upstairs from the insanely popular Factory disco, the Broadway Health Club (158 N Broadway) was one of the city’s most popular bath houses, and rightly so. A $5 annual membership granted elite access to 43 rooms, 160 lockers, workout rooms, TV lounges, game rooms, a music room, a steam room AND a snack lounge. Most importantly, the Broadway Health Club also provided its members with a safe and discrete venue to meet and mingle. At least it seemed discrete, until May 6, when 30-40 uniformed policemen raided the property at 3:30 A.M during the “Great Bath Raid of 1978.”

When the police arrived, the doorman asked them for membership cards for the members-only club. At that time, two vice squad officers jumped over the counter and began beating the doorman with flashlights. The doorman, afraid he was being robbed, used a bar stool to defend himself. He was later handcuffed, arrested and charged with resisting arrest. The business owner called the club during the raid, was told he was being robbed, called the police and arrived at the property only to be arrested on three counts of sexual assault. Although there were almost 60 members on the premises during the raid, only 18 people were arrested. Ultimately, only 5 cases went to trial. The Vice Squad quickly pressed for counts of sexual perversion, a charge moving from a felony to a misdemeanor when new laws went into effect on June 1, 1978. As a result, bails ranged between $1,000 and $3,000, and some arrested were not released for 17 hours.

As the cases went to trial in July 1978, the gay community was enraged by the Milwaukee Vice Squad’s legal maneuvers and continued police harassment. The owner of the Broadway Health Club was summoned by the City Attorney’s office for bartending without a license at an adjacent property. The police issued an unusually high number of parking tickets in the neighborhood for several weeks. Four Vice Squad officers interrupted a Lambda Legal Defense benefit auction at the Baron Disco, and cited five citizens with conducting an illegal auction without a licensed auctioneer. (Twelve bottles of auction wine were confiscated and never returned!)

The GPU News ridiculed the Vice Squad’s behavior in their July issue, THE VICE SQUAD WANTS YOU, in which they reported that a surprise after-hours Milwaukee Vice Squad raid was staged at the Milwaukee County Zoo, after several weeks of undercover surveillance by several vice officers disguised as pelicans. The article states, “Evidence of illegal and immoral goings-on in the rhino cages was presented. Arrested in the raid were two rhesus monkeys, four leopards, three frogs, and an undisclosed number of African beetles.”

As the GPU writer noted, “A hundred years from now, anyone reviewing the police raid of 1978 will probably be struck by the silliness and humor of it all...” Despite the Great Bath Raid of 1978, the Broadway Health Club remained in business for another three years, closing in 1981. The property now houses the Broadway Theater Center, home to the Milwaukee Chamber Theater and the Skylight Opera.

20 years ago-- 1988-- The Mint Bar, operating at 422 W State Street for almost 40 years, closed its doors on June 28 to make room for the construction of the Bradley Center’s parking structure. The Mint Bar relocated to 819 South 2nd Street (now the site of Fluid) and reopened as Angelo’s Mint Bar II.

The Mint Bar opened in 1949 and was known as a “male bar” long before Stonewall. The bar began advertising in local gay listings as early as 1971. Owned by Angelo Aiello and his wife Betty, the Mint Bar celebrated 40 years in business on Saturday, May 6 at the new location, but closed only 3 years later.

15 years ago-- 1993-- Afterwords Book Store and Espresso Bar opened on July 9, 1993, providing LGBT Milwaukee with an East Side outpost and gathering place. The business quickly expanded beyond books and magazines to offer music, movies, gifts, apparel, candles, and more, as well as reading groups and community meetings. After a trademark complaint, the business changed its name to Outwords in 2001.

10 years ago-- 1998-- The Milwaukee Presbyterian Church stirred a national theological debate when it proposed to remove exclusionary guidelines that prevented gays and lesbians from becoming ordained ministers.

At the 210th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, the Milwaukee Presbytery would have asked all Presbyterians if they wanted to remove the recent amendment that requires all clergy officers (clergy, elders, and deacons) to uphold standards of “fidelity in marriage and chastity in singleness.” The Presbyterian majority had adopted this standard, widely understood as an anti-gay ordination measure, in 1997. An amended appeal requested to change the language from “integrity” rather than “chastity.” However, the proposal was rejected in a 412-92 vote.

"It is very clear to us that people matter, that we consider not who a person is but what a person does... and we trust our presbyteries and congregations to determine the fitness of individuals based upon their behavior," said Carol McDonald, part of the committee that fought for the inclusion of gay and lesbians in the ministry.

With each consecutive year, gay and lesbian ordination debates escalated at every Presbyterian assembly, as more and more presbyteries throughout the country protested the sexual orientation ban. In June 2008, Jane Spahr, a retired Presbyterian minister officiated one of the first legal lesbian weddings in California, in clear defiance of the Presbyterian ban on gay marriage.

See relevant articles related to the above, and do your own exploring, in issues of the following periodicals that appeared 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 years ago:

Note: Keep in mind that relevant news may appear in issues previous to or after the month of interest: earlier issues may have advertisements or announcements of upcoming events, and later issues may carry actual photos or more extensive coverage of events that occurred after publication deadlines.

 

Credits: "This Month in History" concept by Kate Sherry of Q-Life, and Don Schwamb;
Page design and arrangement by Don Schwamb.
Last updated: July-2008.