Do You Know One When You See It?

In 1967, two years before the Stonewall uprising in NYC, several bars in New Jersey joined together to protest the harassment they were receiving from the NJ Alcoholic Beverage Control commission. Undercover agents from the commission had spent years “investigating” the establishments and their patrons. The apparently incriminating text in these drawings is taken from those investigators' reports. The case went to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the bars, stating it did not intend to impair the rights of "well behaved apparent homosexuals to patronize and meet in licensed premises”.

Say Gay | 1978 Arts Center, Maplewood, New Jersey, 2022