Because of financial uncertainty related to the on-going health crisis, the bar is fighting for its life and asking patrons for their support. That black-and-white photograph may soon be the most consequential record to keep the memory of Julius’ alive for future generations. The picture taken in 1966 hangs proudly near the bar’s entrance. Julius’, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016, is one of NYC’s oldest continually operating gay establishments. It made a splash: After receiving coverage in The New York Times and The Village Voice, the Commission on Human Rights stepped in to say that homosexuals had the right to receive service in bars.Īlthough often overshadowed by the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, the Mattachine Society’s Sip-In was a watershed moment in the LGBTQ rights movement. Modeled after the Civil Rights Movement’s successful sit-ins, the Mattachine Society’s Sip-In was a staged event protesting New York State’s discriminatory laws against serving homosexuals. The bartender then places his hand over the glass and says, “I can’t serve you.” At that very moment, a photographer alerted by the activists snaps a picture.
A bespectacled bartender places an empty glass in front of them, and the men announce a once-unspeakable truth - they’re homosexuals. The men, members of an early gay-rights advocacy group called the Mattachine Society, take a seat facing bottles filled with booze.
