Hells angels gay
The Hell’s Angels, the world’s most legendary biker gang, are known for their hyper-masculine image. Legendary for drug busts, biker chicks, and taking out a hit on Mick Jagger, the gang has become an icon for outlaw behavior. They also have a surprising history of fluid sexuality and homoerotic behavior. The Angels differentiated themselves from society by kissing each other on the mouth as a greeting and an opportunity to shock passers-by.
Hell’s Angels and other outlaw biker gangs rebelled against the rigid social norms of the 1950s and 1960s. They loved Harley Davidson bikes, hard-drinking, and fighting. “Being in an outlaw motorcycle club, the biker lifestyle back then, was definitely counterculture,” says Ed Winterhalder, a former Bandido, storyteller, and producer of several television shows about biking. “It was 100 percent the opposite advice that mainstream culture was going in.” Hell’s Angels and other outlaw gangs proudly called themselves “one percenters,” a riff on the head of the American Motorcycle Association’s statement that 99 percent of bikers were law-abiding citizens and one percent caused trouble
Hunter S. Thompson, Hell’s Angels, Kissing Guys, 1960s
Hunter S. Thompson, Hell’s Angels, Orange Hat and Girl, 1960s
Hunter S. Thompson, Hell’s Angels, Group, 1960s
Hunter S. Thompson, Self Portrait, After Beating by Hell’s Angels, 1960s
“The Angels are great favourites on the sado-masochism circuit, and although motorcycle hoods as a group are consistently accused of deviate leanings, I suspect the issue was stripped to the bony authenticity one afternoon by a Frisco Angel who said: ‘Hell yes, I’ll receive a blow-job any day for ten bucks. Just the other night in some bar downtown I had a queer come up to me with a big tenner … he laid it on me and said what did I crave to drink? I said, “A double of Jack Daniels, baby,” so he told the bartender, “Two of those for me and my friend,” and then he sat down there on the bar rail and gave me a hell of a blow-job, human, and all I had to act was smile at the bartender and keep cool.’ He laughed. ‘Hell, and me with four kids and a broad up front dancing the wig or the wag or something love that with some spade. Shit, dude, the day they can
What links the hells angels and the village people?
How The All-American Biker Birthed A Gay Subculture.
The stereotypes of bikers are so ingrained in the culture that it’s rare to stop and think about how odd it is—on the one hand, you have the Sons Of Anarchy style outlaw biker, and on the other, the leather-capped big-mustached Village People one. How did that happen?
After World War II, a lot of men returned to civilian life changed. Having witnessed and experienced unspeakable horrors, many found it difficult to get back to the relative mundanity of the nine-to-five and pleasant weekends in America’s newly sprawling suburbs. Whether it was the adrenaline, the hardware, or the camaraderie, many found themselves drawn to the open route in the form of motorcycle clubs. As much of a casual hobby or fully-fledged lifestyle as one wished, being part of such an organization resonated with a great many men.
Hollister, CA, had always hosted an annual event for bikers, but they weren’t prepared in 1947—their first event after a hiatus during the war—for just how enormous the biker world had got. Thousands more descended on the town than anyone was ready for, leading to a few hi
According to journalist Liz Highleyman (“Past Out”), gay “motorcycle clubs, a mainstay of gay culture since the 1950s, ushered in a new brand of homosexual masculinity and gave increase to today’s leather/SM community.” The first gay motorcycle club, the Los Angeles Satyrs, began in 1954 and is still in existence.
In South Florida, the Thebans Motorcycle Club, Inc. of Miami began its history as a domestic, nonprofit corporation on Aug. 6, 1975. By 1976 the Thebans were important enough to be one of the cofounders of the Dade County Coalition for Human Rights. Theban Marty Rubin, “the Old Bike Daddy,” was active in the DCCHR and went on to chair Pride South Florida and write a famous column for twn (The Weekly News) and David.
By the 1990s, gay bike and leather clubs fond the South Florida Eagles, Sunrays MC, the Brotherhood of Man MC, Stingrays, Saber MC, Key West Wreckers, and the South Florida chapter of Trident International were a major part of the local gay leather scene. These “patch” clubs, named after the patch or colors that members wore on their leather vests, were patterned after “outlaw” motorcycle clubs like the Hell’s Angels. They incorporated most of the exclusive