DESPITE ADVERSITY, 39TH STREET DISTRICT CONTINUES TO PREVAIL

Photo Credit: Anya Magnuson, The Oklahoman

COVID-19 has affected businesses throughout Oklahoma City, such as The 39th Street District, home to popular LGBT nightclubs who have learned to adjust to the new social distancing norm.

The nightclubs open only for a short period until 11 p.m. with limited capacity enforcing sanitation mandates.

With some bars still open, drag entertainers and bar staff must follow social distancing guidelines, including masks wearing.

Drag entertainers have become creative by adding rhinestones to a clear face shield, allowing patrons to continue to see the fan-favorite lip sync.

Photo Credit: Facebook - Boom featuring Carmen Deveraux and Vera Ball

Many shows have converted to an online format or live social media posts allowing patrons to stay home and still enjoy their local entertainment.

Drag entertainers have started sharing money transfer apps like Venmo and Cash App during the live shows to allow for mobile tips.

Oklahoma City's LGBT community has faced many challenges before this pandemic and has always learned to adapt and shift with time.

According to a dissertation from Oklahoma State University, by a philosophy graduate student named Aaron Lee Bachhofer II, Oklahoma County District Court in the 1920s saw several sodomy prosecutions.

There was an acceleration of prosecutions in the 1930s, which are crucial in outlining the gay male world in Oklahoma City before World War II.

By the 1950s, Oklahoma City became a bit safer, allowing LGBT bars like the Mayflower to open publicly on the corner of NW 23rd St. and Classen Boulevard.

It was not until the 1980s when the 39th Street District first started to boom due to two businessmen, Don Hill and Scott Wilson.

Hill and Wilson loved traveling the country to various nightclubs such as Studio 54. They wanted to bring that inspiration back to Oklahoma City.

The 39th Street District first started with a nightclub Oklahoma City had never seen before, Angles, and a hotel called The Habana Inn.

Photo Credit: AnglesOKC.com

However, even throughout the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, the LGBT community was still being harassed.

Self-proclaimed "Oklahoma City's Gay Mayor," Floyd Martin, said, "In 1982 when Angles first opened, members of the Oklahoma City Police Department [liked] to grab Angles patrons and harass and beat them."

The bar owners fought back, Martin said.

"Don Hill and Scott Wilson, the owners, and some patrons sued the city and won for $1," said Martin. "With a provision that the OKCPD stay away from the bars unless notified."

In 2002, Cimarron Alliance purchased OKC's Pride banners. The city, at a cost, put them up on light poles along Classen Boulevard.

Due to the city council's ordinance, the banners were removed because they attempted to promote "religious, political or social advocacy organization."

The nonprofit organization received permission to hang the banners if it agreed to drop the litigation against Oklahoma City.

Hill and Wilson's legacy continued forward throughout the 1980s by creating two other clubs, The Park and an under 21-years-of-age youth establishment called Wreck Room.

Photo Credit: Oklahoma City Metropolitan Library System

Many LGBT adults found comfort and solace in their youth years at the Wreck Room.

There, they learned they were not alone and found a sense of identity. The establishment served as a hub well into the 2010s before its closing.

OKC's LGBT youth created a family at the underage establishment when many parents did not approve of their lifestyles or abandoned them.

Several current drag families and artists started their history at the Wreck Room, working their way to the older adult bars creating a following, clientele and memories.

The former show director of the Wreck Room, Jak'kay Monroe, said, "In my 12 years as host, I am so grateful and honored for the opportunity to mentor so many LGBT kids. I got to watch them grow up and learn self-acceptance."

With the Wreck Room currently closed, it has not stopped Monroe from continuing drag shows.

With new modern-day technology, Monroe has shifted their show "Wreck Room Idol," a mimic of “RuPaul's Drag Race,” to an online format taking advantage of social media platforms for its 10th season.

"This generation has the entire world at their fingertips instantly," said Monroe. "Social media and influencers consume their lives; why not use that as an advantage."

According to Bachhofer's dissertation, the Habana Inn – formerly a mid-size travel lodge that offered straight supper shows at the dank nightclub housed inside—quickly became a queer resort noted in gay travel guides all over the country and a haven for intoxicated revelers.

The District Hotel, formerly the Habana Inn, currently maintains sanitation and guests' safety amongst a remodel. The hotel is getting an interior and exterior facelift with updated rooms and amenities.

The nightclubs inside the hotel, the Copa and FinishLine, also receive the same luxury due to the property’s new owners.

The community is not without its internal conflicts as well.

Known for its Sunday Gospel Brunch, drag dinner shows and plays featuring local playhouses, another club called the Boom faced scrutiny during the summer.

Claims of racial mistreatment, sexual harassment and lack of diversity among employees led local drag artists to protest the Boom.

The Boom owner and president of the 39th Street District, John Gibbons, posted on the Boom's Facebook page a drawing depicting a Black hand and a rainbow hand joined together with a quote below.

Photo credit: Facebook - Boom

"The 39th Street District celebrates diversity in all its forms. It's time for Americans to understand that Black Lives Matter as much as all lives, and our society has not reflected that," the quote read.

During the election, Congresswoman-elect Stephanie Bice used transphobic television ads to persuade voters, and Bice won.

Despite the many challenges over the decades and even currently, the Oklahoma City LGBT community continues to persevere.

Every June, usually the last weekend of the month, Oklahoma City commences its Pride Parade. In recent years other cities such as Edmond and Norman have also created pride events.

High schools and colleges create student body organizations to provide safety and friendship amongst its LGBT students and their allies.

Many businesses post equality signs or rainbow flags in entryways to signify a safe space.

To be an LGBT ally, the community asks for a straightforward idea. Support.

Regardless of religious or personal views, show love and friendship to other humans.

Continue the fight against justice and equality for all people.

Looking towards the future, Martin has hope.

"I would love to see the strife that exists between some of the younger community members and the older community leaders come together," said Martin. "There has to be a balance, but that struggle is as old as time in any community. We have to come together as an LGBT community living in a politically republican state."

Photo Credit: Garrett Fishbeck, The Oklahoma Gazette