Post by Rachel Cleves

Takahē

#Chautauqua, the famous summer arts and philosophy resort in western NY, founded as a Bible camp, was also apparently “crawling with queers” in the early 1950s. Here’s Michael Rumaker‘s description of Chautauqua in 1951, when he was 18. Yes, he lost his “gay virginity” (his words) at Chautauqua that summer. Has anyone written a queer history of Chautauqua? #queerhistory #histodons #LGBTQ

Excerpt from Rumaker: “Roger worked evenings, as he had for many summers, at a drive in that sold delicious locally-made ice cream (this was, after all, the heart of the dairy country), which meant that I spent my evenings hitchhiking to the Bemis Point cable ferry across Lake Chautauqua to the Chautauqua summer resort some twenty miles away, which Roger introduced me to soon after my arrival- "It's crawling with queers,” he smirked proudly for the concerts and the operas.”

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Rumaker excerpt: “Through "Woody” I met a number of like-minded acquain- tances, young and old, who also summered at Chautauqua. Their prime purpose for showing up season after season appeared to be not only for the cozy cultural and intellectual stimulation Chautauqua afforded (even to those who worked at the place as artists) but rather to keep their eyes peeled for new boys and in a time-honored tradition, bringing them out, then passing them around to one another for additional tutor- ing in the pleasures of eros. "Did you bring him out?" was a common question. "Remember you owe me one," was often the immediate followup. Roger was right: Proper, sedate, high-minded Chautauqua, it turned out, was crawling with queers.”

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