Paper Claims 10,000 "Fairies" Have Invaded New York's Harlem, Minneapolis Spokesman (Article, February 1955)
Full Text
New York.--Armed with powder puffs, pancake make-up, and accounts at the fanciest Fifth Ave. shops, the third sex has invaded and captivated Harlem.
Call them "Queens", "Swishes", "Gays", or the outdated "Homosexuals," this perverted sex group which preys on the young and morally weak, has moved in TEN THOUSAND STRONG.
"Queens" (the term they prefer) no longer work exclusively as kitchen helpers, domestics and office clerks. They are currently holding down top executive positions, running our leading social agencies, supervising our school children, and wearing the blue uniform of New York's finest.
Local Hangout
"Queens" no longer are centered in one bar, one catery, one street corner. They are everywhere. On Harlem's mainstem (West 25th St.) at any hour of the day they can be seen perched on bar stools "camping" (Fooling around.)
The gay crowd is so large that its members do not have to look out of their group for suitable partners. "Queens" do occasionally pick up a stray young man (trade), but generally the really grand "Queens" stay with their own crowd.
It's because of this that the general public does not regard the "Queens" as an immediate problem. Harlem seems indifferent to them. To the average Harlemite a "Queen" is just another city curio.
There are, however, a great many Harlem parents and responsible people who are concerned with the effect these "Queens" will have on the young men in the area.
One leading sociologist estimated that in the Harlem area alone, 300 men each year cross the "normal" male line and openly join the group.
Many Arrests
It has been estimated that each month some 20 Harlem "Queens" are arrested. Most frequently they are arrested and charged with soliciting in public to "commit a crime against nature." They are also charged with loitering, sodomy, impairing the morals of a minor. On rare occasions is a "Queen" arrested for impersonating a female. Few of them (contrary to popular belief), will go to this extreme.
College Grad
A 27-year old Columbia University grad was arrested last week for soliciting on a Harlem street corner.
Police charged the handsome youngster, an executive of a Harlem jewelry firm, with approaching a strange man, placing his hand on the man's person and inviting him to his room. Moments later the accused was jailed--charged with soliciting in public. The man he approached was a policeman.
In court the next week the executive confessed his homosexual tendencies to the court and was released. He promised the judge that he would seek psychiatric care.
Have Their Little Ways
Many "Queens" have mannerisms which "seem to irritate" the normal males. A few make great efforts to develop smooth skin, walk in a certain manner (sharking their hips), and speak in high-pitched voice.
