LGBTQ history in Chinatown, San Francisco
[2] As a racialized immigration region, Chinatown was viewed as an immoral place with the characteristics of "vice", "sluttery" and "sexual deviance" for a long time.
The most famous nightclub in the early 20th century was Forbidden City, which combined Orientalism and Western pop-culture to attract numerous guests from all over America.
In addition, the major prostitution enterprises had been raised by criminal gang group "Tong", importing unmarried Chinese women to San Francisco.
In 1875, the U.S. Congress followed California's action and passed the Page Law, which was the first major legal restriction to prohibit the immigration of Chinese, Japanese, and Mongolian women into America.
After catering for three decades to white people as well as Chinese bachelors, Chinatown's prostitution sector developed into a powerful vested interest, favoring the vice industry.
In the 1938's, a new nightclub—The Forbidden City, located at 363 Sutter Street in Chinatown, and run by Charlie Low—had become one of the most famous entertainment places in San Francisco.
[13] These shows explored a new representation of Orientalism, which permitted a queer discourse that differed from the normal, "decent" and dominant white entertainment culture.
For example, he once played the role of harem master in the show "The Girl in the Gilded Cage", with his flexible body contorting in a series of peculiar postures.
[14]: 79 Another popular club for sex tourism and LGBT clients in Chinatown was Li Po, which, like Forbidden City, combined western entertainment with "Oriental" culture.
However, as the crowd of gay clients and queer sex workers began appearing frequently, the patrols started a second wave of raids.
According to the record of one inspector, Jim Kepner, the management of Li-Po refused to admit the large collection of "swishy girls" into the bar, and distanced itself from gay customers in order to prevent a raid.
[16] During the same week, the police raided the gay bar, Rickshaw, near Li-Po, and arrested 24 patrons and two dozen customers, including a couple of lesbians who tried to fight back and triggered a small riot.
[17]: 210–211 During the Cold War, the United States government strengthened social control over public spaces to go against queer visibility and solidify the stability of heterosexual families.
In this context, Chinatown revived its social normalization within the framework of heterosexual respectable domesticity, in order to emulate mainstream American culture.
GAPA created their own newsletter, the Lavender Godzilla, in which the members discussed social issues, such as sexuality, racism and identity politics.
The carriage was based on a model of a pagoda, decorated with lights, tropical plants, and bore a plaque that had the word "Family" written in Chinese calligraphy.
