LGBTQ history in Atlantic City, New Jersey

[1] "From its earliest days" in the late 19th century, "Atlantic City's climate of relative sexual freedom attracted gay white tourists to town.

Young servicemen and women, newly freed from the constraints of narrow-minded small towns and seeking same-sex companionship, were eager to explore places like the Entertainers Club.

[5] Numerous Atlantic City nightlife venues were fined or otherwise persecuted for hosting guests who "appeared" to be homosexual and "female impersonators" by the state alcohol enforcement authority at mid-century.

[20] Land speculation in the hopes of casino buy-outs of parcels led to disinvestment in independent and small-scale rooming houses, restaurants and gay nightlife venues walkable to the beach.

[21] The AIDS epidemic additionally decimated the community in the 1980s and early 1990s, and independent bars, clubs and rooming houses could not compete with the comped freebies at the casinos.