The Tavern Guild was an association of

gay bar A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term '' gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities. Gay bars once serv ...

owners and liquor wholesalers that formed in 1962 in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and lasted until 1995. The Guild was the first gay business association in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, formed in response to rising tensions between the police and gay people. This coalition helped unify and protect gay bars and bartenders by fixing drink prices, developing a phone network to track police raids, and setting up funds for members who were unemployed. They also organized many fundraisers and charity events, including the annual Beaux Arts Ball.

Founding

The Tavern Guild was founded on a Tuesday night in 1962 at the Suzy-Q, a gay bar on

Polk Street Polk Street (also sometimes referred to by its German name, ''Polkstrasse'') is a street in San Francisco, California, that travels northward from Market Street to Beach Street and is one of the main thoroughfares of the Polk Gulch neighborhood ...

. Phil Doganiero, a popular bartender at Suzy Q, was elected the first president of the organization, succeeded by Bill Plath (owner of the D'Oak Room) and Darryl Glied (owner of the Jumpin' Frog) in the following years. .Guide to the Tavern Guild of San Francisco Records, 1961-1993: Organizational History (see above) The organization met weekly to discuss the various issues of the gay bar community, including the constant police raids and discrimination. In order to bring business to the bars and protect its members, the Guild fixed drink prices so that bars wouldn't compete with each other, as well as monitored and eradicated unsafe business practices and rumormongering (straight bar owners had a habit of marketing themselves as a gay bar if their business was struggling and then turn away homosexuals once their bar was doing better). Showing a unified front also helped keep the police and the

California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) is a government agency of the state of California that regulates the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages. Background Upon the repeal of prohibition in 1933 and ...

(ABC) off their backs, and helped relations between alcohol distributors and Guild bars.

Impact

One of the first things the Tavern Guild set up was a phone networking system that kept track of police and Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control movements, warning bars that were about to be raided. They also set up a loan fund for Guild members that were left unemployed due to police raids and shutdowns, making sure good bartenders stayed employed. As the organization developed from a small group of drinking buddies to a large non-profit charity, the Guild put on many fundraising events. Hosted at bars or featuring many drinking activities, these events helped the Guild become a huge financial and political force, one that could push a LGBTQ civil rights agenda and hold sway with politicians. They held Monday night auctions to increase patronage at various bars, hosted annual Election Day Parties as well as an annual picnic in Marin County known for its drinking games and cruising.Boyd, p. 202 One of the most important events the Tavern Guild sponsored was the annual Halloween drag ball, known as the Beaux Arts Ball. It was San Francisco's first large public drag ball, beginning in 1963 and continuing well into the 70's. During the 1965 Ball,

José Sarria José Julio Sarria (December 13, 1922 – August 19, 2013), also known as The Grand Mere, Absolute Empress I de San Francisco, and the Widow Norton, was an American political activist from San Francisco, California, who in 1961 became the fir ...

was named queen of the ball, then declared himself Empress, which became tradition. Every year at the ball an Empress would be elected to lead newly established

Imperial Court System The International Imperial Court System (IICS) also known as the International Court System is one of the oldest and largest LGBT organizations in the world. The Imperial Court System is a grassroots network of organizations that works to build ...

. By 1980 the Guild had at least 184 members and 86 businesses, and gay bar communities in other cities were forming their own versions. The Tavern Guild helped raise money for many organizations, including the Society for Individual Rights and homophile organizations such as the Mattachine Society and the

Daughters of Bilitis The Daughters of Bilitis , also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was conceived as a social alternative to le ...

. They also helped raise money for people not part of the LGBTQ community, including the

United Farm Workers The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the Agricultural Workers Organizing ...

and the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

, even raising funds to send delegates to Selma. Of the many service-oriented fundraising projects that were started by the Tavern Guild, the Community Thrift Store remains in operation in San Francisco's Mission District. While the Tavern Guild disbanded in 1995, Community Thrift Store continues to operate under The San Francisco Tavern Guild Foundation with all proceeds benefiting Bay Area charitable organizations.

References

{{Early U.S. gay rights movement Defunct LGBT organizations in the United States 1962 in LGBT history LGBT history in San Francisco History of LGBT civil rights in the United States LGBT professional associations 1962 establishments in California Organizations established in 1962

Founding

Impact

See also

References