Time Line 1977
Books Published
- Publication of the first issue of Action Male Magazine, the successor to Gay Bondage, edited by Tau (Jim-Ed Thompson).
- Midnight Express by Billy Hayes, which documents his experiences in a Turkish prison. The later movie of the same title starring Brad Davis, while most interesting and enjoyable, differs greatly from the book.
- The Sexual Outlaw by John Rechy.
- Publication of the first issue of Piercing Friends International Quarterly magazine (PFIQ) by Gauntlet Enterprises, the Los Angeles based manufacturer of piercing jewelry.
Clubs and groups formed
- Formation of Ambassadors of Goodwill MC, Boston; Avengers MC West, Claremont, CA; Black Angels Koln; The Black Guard, Minneapolis; Boomer MC, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; Force-5, Palo Alto; Friends of Leather and Denim Club of Montreal; Guardians MC, New Haven; II MC Berlin; Lancers MC, New Orleans; Leatheriders Bike Club, Victoria, Australia; The London Blues, UK, MC Faucon, Montreal; Meisters der Manner, Orlando; Missouri Association of Clubs,; Mobile Man Van Club, Detroit; MSC Rotterdam; Nimbus Cycle Club, Grand Rapids; Nutcrackers MC, Indianapolis; Pennsmen, Harrisburg, Phoenix Uniform Club, SF; SLM Goteborg; SMBB International, Northampton, UK; South Orange Bikers, Santa Ana, CA; Texas Cadre, Austin; and Tsarus/Memphis. Colts MC of Ft Lauderdale disbands.
Bar openings include
- Dirty Edna's Stampede, NYC; Boots, Los Angeles; and The Brig, SF. Folsom Prison, SF, closes.
- The Balcony, a bar at 2166 Market St in San Francisco opens and becomes the prime hang out for the fisting crowd. [R]
- 1977
- Founding of American Uniform Association (AUA) in New York City. [JWB]
- 1977
- Run premiers include First Links MC Leather Cocktails in NYC; Lone Star in Texas; The Philadelphians Tri Cen; and Prairie Fire, at Chicago.
- 1977
- Peter Adair creates Word is Out, a feature film doccumentary portraying gay men and lesbians in a positive light.
- 1977
- Doric Wilson's play The West Street Gang is produced in NYC.
- 1977
Art by Olaf is first published in Drummer #13.
- 1977
"SM Gym" by G. B. Misa begins serialization in Drummer #14 and continues through issue #28!
- 1977
A drawing by the artist A. Jay is featured on the cover of Drummer #15, his first appearance in the magazine he will later art direct.
- 1977
Art work by The Hun is first published in Drummer # 15.
- 1977
Drummer #15 includes a drawing by Skipper, depicting a hard hat with nails etc. piercing all parts of his body. This is the first, and one of the very few, published works by this prolific southern California artist who focused on very violent SM scenes.
- 1977
Robert Payne interviews John Rechy, author of The Sexual Outlaw, in Drummer #16.
- 1977
A. Jay's cartoon strip "Harry Chess" begins its run in Drummer #16.
- 1977
Kurt Kreisler's "My Brother, My Slave" begins serialization in Drummer # 16.
- 1977
A folio of bondage drawings by Tom Hinde is included in Drummer #16.
- 1977
A new edition of Robert Payne's Story of Q, beautifully illustrated by Olaf, is published.
- 1977
Al Shapiro, a.k.a. A. Jay, becomes Art Director of Drummer starting with issue #17.
- 1977
Art by Go Mishima is first published in Drummer #17.
- 1977
"Trapped" by Houston Smith begins serialization in Drummer #18.
- 1977
Fist Goodbody's Traveling Torture Show, a 33 RPM record is issued. This is a Bolero-like crescendo of male moans and screams that is remarkably well done in spite of the gender bender album cover and other hype.
- 1977
Fred Halsted begins writing a column in Drummer #18.
- 1977
Jack Fritscher becomes Editor in Chief of Drummer beginning with issue #19.
- 1977
Drawings by the artist Matt first appear in Drummer #20.
- 1977
Salo, Pasolini's film version of deSade's "120 Days in Sodom", is released in the US. The film includes explicit stories and scenes of humiliation, scat, torture, and more. However even more such scenes have been cut to get past American censors.
- 1977
Drummer magazine moves from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
- 1977
Photographs by David Hurles, A.K.A. Old Reliable, are first published in Drummer #21.
- 1977
The art of Tom of Finland is featured in a show at Robert Opel's Feywey Studios in San Francisco. Opel interviews Tom in Drummer #22.
- 1977
Hard Corps by Michael Grumley & Ed Gallucci is published.
- 1977
Publication of the second part of RFM's autobiography, Life of a Masochist.
- 1977
Angreas Spengler publishes a short English version of his sociological study on gay sadomasochists in "Manifest Sadomasochism of Males: Results of an Emperical Study". This article is the foundation of modern empirical research on SM. Spengler is the first to describe sadomasochists not as sick individuals but as members of a sexual minority that forms complex subcultures, therby contradicting psychiatric theory since Krafft-Ebing. The gay selection bias in the study leads him to conclude that there are no female sadomasochists, a view that will be held by psychoanalysts and sociologists alike until 1985. [wd]
- 1977, Jan.
Jeannie Barney leaves as Editor of Drummer. John Embry's name first appears as Publisher in issue #12.
- 1977, Jan.
Ellen Marie Barrell is ordained as an Episcopal Priest - The first out lesbian ordained by a major Christian denomination. [TOL]
- 1977, Jan.
Eons Gallery in Los Angeles holds Tom of Finland show and publishes the Tom of Finland 1978 calendar. Tom attends the opening and meets Durk Dehner who would become his partner in establishing the Tom of Finland Foundation.
- 1977, Jan. 2
Folsom Prison, one of San Francisco's best known leather bars, closes.
- 1977, Feb. 7
US State Dept. announces it will no longer automatically bar gays and lesbians from employment. [JR]
- 1977, Feb 14
Anita Bryant forms "Save Our Children" to fight Miami's gay rights ordinance, and ignites a counter movement that brought together gay men and women in unprecedented numbers to stand up for their rights.
- 1977, May 25
The Everard Baths, one of New York City's best known Gay bath houses, and one of it's most leather friendly, burns, killing several patrons and staff.
- 1977, June 7
Newly won gay rights legislation in Miami is rescinded following Anita Bryant's anti-gay campaign.
- 1977, Sept.
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 6.
- 1977, Dec. 16
The province of Quebec passes a statute banning discrimination against gay individuals in employment, housing and public accommodations
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