John McWhorter: What the Harlem Renaissance Teaches About Gay Rights

John McWhorter is a regular contributor to The Root.

One more thought on the idea of homosexuality as wrong, in light of New York state's legalization of gay marriage last week. The historical perspective is useful in two ways. One is to show how things used to be. The other is to get a sense of how today is going to look when it has become history. We need both ways of looking at things in evaluating how we look at gay tolerance, gay marriage and anti-gay language today.

Let's start with the past: New York in 1929. Harlem, to be specific. It was actually a pretty gay place. Like the rest of the city, Harlem was home to countless gay bars. At the annual Hamilton Lodge drag ball, hundreds of drag queens competed for the top prize while thousands of straight Harlemites and other New Yorkers crowded in to get a look.

The "fairy," as he was termed at the time -- even by gays themselves -- was often sought as an emcee even at mainstream nightclub shows. Gay people were part of the scenery at the rent parties so famous now in Harlem folklore.

You catch hints from Fats Waller, who was not gay but sprinkled a camp sensibility into his routines. That "I want some seafood, mama" line of his? "Seafood" was gay slang for a sailor pickup. And what do you think he was really talking about in his song "All That Meat and No Potatoes"?

Of course homophobia was rampant as well, and it would become worse from the '30s on, when the police started clamping down on the old-time free and easy atmosphere. But even before that, it was expected that one went only so far in public....