Retro gay pics

Karlheinz Weinberger Swiss, had a lifelong obsession with photography, more specifically photographing men. The young man's look was distinctive -- slicked back hair, denim jeans and jacket, cowboy boots -- and, through him, Weinberger was introduced to a loosely organized band of working-class teens who rebelled against any type of Swiss, post-war, bland, middle-class conformity.

Past centuries "were perhaps more sexually fluid than one may think, and it was not till later that certain stigmas came to be realized," the curator concludes. Take a step back in time to the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s with a queer throwback of decades past.

To get your own copy directly, support queer media and subscribe. In other words, as long as there has been photography there have been gays who have wanted snap pics. However, these "Halbstarken" modified the styling of their movie idols and created wholly new looks.

We've always been here — 13 gay photos from the dawn of photography As long as there have been cameras, there have been gay folks recording our queer lives!.

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Several of the early candid shots are from the time of westward expansion, when most of the migrants were men; in the absence of women, they turned to each other for companionship, a scenario that played out during wartime as well. The young men formed gangs and adopted the demeanor of s Hollywood depictions of rebelliousness: Marlon Brando' s leather-jacketed ne'er-do-well in The Wild OneElvis Presley's pompadour, James Dean 's smoldering, tentative sexuality in Rebel Without A Cause.

In the s, it was dangerous for queer people to document themselves. Weinberger shot these rebels both in his home and at carnivals and festivals around Zurich. By day, he worked in the warehouse department of a manufacturer, but in his free time, he roamed the streets of Zurich in search of subjects.

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Karlheinz Weinberger - Sports Vol. The sports images were shot starting in the s. Regular society derogatorily referred to these ragtag bands of "rebels" as the "halbstraken" the 'half-strong'-- a reference to their immaturity. Check out a gallery of retro gaylenes after the jump!.

By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Being gay is nothing new. We have a lot of lost history that was thrown away, so these photos from the archives add so much to our knowledge of what gay life was like.

It's really wonderful. While we could certainly have more examples, we are fortunate still have plenty photos of gay couples and lesbian couplesas well as the drag queens and even gay motorcycle clubs who prove that we have not only existed by thrived in our queerness throughout history.

InWeinberger met a young man with whom he was immediately fascinated. Working for various sports newspapers and magazines, he covered athletes and contests in Switzerland and places such as East Germany. They ratted and slicked back their hair, wore exaggerated belt buckles and chain necklaces emblazoned with images of their idols taken from fan magazines, and most remarkably, adorned their denim.

This body of work remains the best known of his extensive year creative output. These images from Walter Reuben Inc. Many are from the earliest days of photography, and the bulk of the collection consists of images from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

As many are from a period in which photography was not common, that these people choose to be photographed together for formal photos and for real-life postcards indicates that they are couples wishing to celebrate their union.

To see more images from Walter Ruben Inc. This story originally ran as part of The Advocate's History issue. Simply having photos developed that reflected homosexuality could get you arrested.