Queer Ancestor Spotlight: The Tavern Guild
The Tavern Guild was an association of gay bar owners and liquor distributers that formed in San Francisco in 1962 and lasted until 1995. It was the first gay business association in the United States and developed in response to police raids on gay establishments.
List of Tavern Guild members. Vector, Volume 5, Number 10, October 1969. Christopher Agee. “Gayola: Police Professionalization and the Politics of San Francisco’s Gay Bars, 1950-1968.” Journal of the History of Sexuality 15, no. 3 (2006): 462-89.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s police would regularly raid suspected gay bars in an effort to shut them down and have their liquor licenses revoked. The Tavern Guild started in 1961 as a phone tree between a group of gay bars that was developed as a way of countering and responding to these raids. Over time this network of bars expanded into a community organization aimed at securing safety for their businesses and patrons. In 1962 the Tavern Guild was officially founded at the Suzy-Q gay bar on Polk Street. Phil Doganiero, a bartender at Suzy-Q, was elected as the first president of the organization.
The Guild helped to provide more economic security to member bars and bartenders. It worked to fix drink prices to prevent competition among bars, helped protect owners from patrons who wrote bad checks, negotiated better treatment from alcohol distributers, and created a fund to support bartenders and members who became unemployed as a result of police raids. According to the 1966 Guild president, Bill Plath, the actions of the organization “our businesses have a greater chance for survival, and the hazards of operation are minimized.” Plath also claimed the Guild added a certain level of legitimacy to gay bars that elevated them from places associated with social rejects and “permits the bars and clubs the opportunity of being social centers for our people, with wholesome and safe atmosphere…[and ] a stronger front from a united ‘Gay Community.’”
As the Tavern Guild grew and became a more prominent player in the gay community they put on a number of fundraising events, Election Day Parties, and became more active in pushing an LGBTQ civil rights agenda. They raised money for a number of organizations including the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis. They also supported the Civil Rights Movement and sent delegates to Selma.
The event the Tavern Guild is best known for is their annual Halloween drag ball. Known as the Beaux Arts Ball it was San Francisco’s first large public drag ball. The first ball was organized by the third president of the Tavern Guild, Darryl Glied, the manager of Polk Street’s Jumpin’ Frog and was held in October 1963. In 1965 gay activist José Sarria - who is discussed in a previous Queer Ancestor Spotlight - was crowned queen of the ball. It was during this event that Sarria infamously declared himself “Empress”, beginning a tradition which would eventually form the Imperial Court. The Court would become the Guilds hub for social, fundraising, and benevolent activities.
Learn more about the Tavern Guild:
The Tavern Guild and Imperial Court - outhistory
Guide to the Tavern Guild of San Francisco Records, 1961-1993 - Online Archive of California
Tavern Guild Members - The Berkeley Revolution
LGBTQ History Month: Tavern Guild linked SF gay bars for first time - Bay Area Reporter
