Sex, drink, and state anxieties: governance through the gay bar

Abstract

Gay bars have been central to the social and cultural geography of queer folk throughout the twentieth century. In North America, Liquor Control Boards have been important in governing homosexuality. In order to explore the spatial governance of homosexuals, this paper uses a Foucauldian governmentality perspective to analyze data from Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) enforcement and hearing files between 1934 and 1971. While the WSLCB governed heteronormatively, it did so with a relatively light touch through the deployment and selective enforcement of often vague administrative rules. Adherence to the rules, meanwhile, relied upon an ability and willingness to understand authorities’ intentions and imaginations and to self-govern accordingly. Gay bars were somewhat privileged vis-à-vis neighboring straight bars, due to the unintended consequences of certain state practices, a desire by state authorities to closet homosexuality generally, and a propensity for self-governance on the parts of gay bar owners, managers, and patrons. Our findings add nuance to work on Foucauldian studies in geography, work on licensing and regulation, and urban gay histories.

Résumé

Les bars gays ont été au centre de la géographie sociale et culturelle des homosexuels pendant le 20^ème siècle : En Amérique du Nord, les Conseils de Contrôle des Boissons Alcoolisées ont joué un rôle important dans la gouvernance de l’homosexualité. Afin d’explorer la gouvernance spatiale des homosexuels, cet article utilise la perspective de gouvernementalité foucaldienne pour analyser les données de dossiers d’audiences et d’application des peines du Conseil des Contrôles des Boissons Alcoolisées de l’Etat de Washington (Washington State Liquor Board (WSLCB)) entre 1934 et 1971. Tout en gouvernant de manière hétéronormative, le Conseil des Contrôles des Boissons Alcoolisées de l’Etat de Washington déployait et faisait respecter des règles administratives souvent vagues avec une certaine modération et sélectivité. L’application des règles, cependant, dépendait de la capacité et de la volonté de comprendre les intentions et imaginations des autorités et de s’autogouverner en conséquence. Les bars gays étaient en quelque sorte privilégiés face aux bars hétérosexuels voisins, de par les conséquences non intentionnelles de certaines pratiques de l’Etat, un désir des autorités de l’Etat de ne pas sortir l’homosexualité du placard en général, et une propension à l’auto gouvernance de la part des propriétaires, gérants et clients des bars gays. Nos recherches ajoutent une nuance au travail sur les études foucaldiennes en géographie, le travail sur les permis et règlementations de vente d’alcool et les histoires urbaines gays.

Resumen

Los bares gay han sido centrales en la geografía social y cultural de la gente gay en todo el siglo XX. En América del Norte, las Juntas de Control de Licor han sido importantes en el gobierno de la homosexualidad. Con el fin de explorar la gobernanza espacial de los homosexuales, este trabajo utiliza una perspectiva Focoultiana de la mentalidad gubernamental para analizar información sobre los archivos de ejecución y audiencia de la Junta de Licor del Estado de Washington (WSLCB) entre 1934 y 1971. Mientras que el WSLCB rige de forma hetera-normativa, lo hizo con un toque relativamente ligero a través de la implementación y la aplicación selectiva de normas administrativas a menudo imprecisas. El cumplimiento de las normas, por su parte, se basó en la capacidad y la voluntad de comprender las intenciones y la imaginación de las autoridades y para autogobernarse en conformidad. Los bares gay eran de alguna manera privilegiados vis-à-vis bares vecinos heterosexuales, debido a las consecuencias no deseadas de ciertas prácticas estatales, el deseo de las autoridades estatales de aislar la homosexualidad en general, y una tendencia a la auto-gobernación por parte de los propietarios de bares gay, gerentes y patrocinadores. Los resultados suman matices al trabajo sobre estudios de Foucault en la geografía, al trabajo sobre la concesión de licencias y la regulación, y las historias de los homosexuales urbanos.

Keywords:

• Licensing
• gay
• bars
• urban politics

Mots clés:

• Permis de vente d’alcool
• gay
• bars
• politique urbaine

Palabras clave:

• Licenciar
• gay
• bares
• política urbana

Acknowledgements

Sincere thanks to Mary Gilmartin, the anonymous referees, and several colleagues for their very helpful critiques and suggestions for revision. Thanks to the SCG editorial team for inviting this plenary. Thanks also to Stefano Bettani, Andrew Childs, Will McKeithen, and Kevin McKenna for their assistance. We also acknowledge Phillipa Stairs and Midori Okazaki at the Puget Sound Regional Archives for their assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [grant number 1059732].

Notes

1. By ‘variegated state,’ we mean a non-monolothic and sometimes fragmented local state, as opposed to the variegated state processes referred to by Weiss (1998) and her fellow theorists of global scale capitalist political economy.

2. We are aware that there is an emerging, rich literature on geographies of alcohol and drugs (e.g. DeVerteuil & Wilton, 2009; Wilton & Moreno, 2012). We do not draw on that literature here, however, because our focus is on the governance of homosexuals and homosexuality through the regulation of gay bars. Thus, issues of the geography of alcohol and drugs, while related, are beyond the purview of this paper.

3. Scott (2008) notes that in San Francisco, these crackdowns were frequently also motivated by political and other pressures for land use change. A similar point is made in Hubbard et al. (2009) in their discussion of licensing. Our focus here, however, is on the governance of homosexuals through LCBs, not the broader urban politics in which these state authorities were insinuated. Still, there are implications of our analysis for an understanding of these broader urban politics.

4. Over time, beer and wine came to be regulated more liberally than ‘spirits,’ and in 2012 the voters of the State ended the WSLCB’s monopoly on liquor sales altogether.

5. Typically in the files, a brief description of the bar is given. Usually inspectors noted if a bar catered to homosexuals (or other demographics such as class or race), in a single sentence, never with any elaboration.

6. Given that these events took place at the height of the police payoff system, and since Belotti claims to have relied on vetting by a local police officer (rather than his own independent verification of Hixson’s age), we strongly suspect that the two were participating in the payoff system.

7. ‘Bottle clubs’ were after-hours venues where patrons could bring liquor while the establishment provided mixers. They existed thanks to a loophole in State law, but were a continuing source of consternation for the WSLCB as well as other local authorities.

8. One challenge to this ‘respectability’ came in a 1961 case concerning the Golden Horseshoe (Enforcement file 5833), in the form of scrutiny of a Native American woman present on the evening in question. The file includes reference to alleged difficulties establishing this woman’s age, difficulties that are attributed specifically to her ‘race.’