CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
Scroll To Top
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Vintage Polaroids Capture Fire Island's Historic Queer Haven
Vintage Polaroids Capture Fire Island's Historic Queer Haven
New York's Fire Island today has become a superficial summer escape from city life, but for generations of queers before us, the 36 mile-long paradise off the coast of Long Island was a more serious refuge from everyday homophobia. This forgotten history has been chronicled in Fire Island Pines, Throckmorton Fine Art's new exhibit featuring photography by Tom Bianchi, who documented the free-spirited community in its "golden" age.
"The world we were living in disregarded us and called us perverts," Bianchi told VICE. "So the brilliance of Fire Island was that it was built by those people who imagined a different world and set out to create it. We carved out the tiniest little place just for ourselves, where we could be safe and laugh and play with one another on the beach, and not have any negative judgement surrounding us."
In the heat of the AIDS epidemic, as many as 10,000 queers would flee 60 miles east of Manhattan to openly celebrate their sexuality at afternoon "Tea Dances" and bacchanals. For many visitors, Fire Island was the only place they could be emotionally and physically intimate with same-sex lovers--something as simple as holding hands was socially taboo back in the city, and could result in blackmail, lost jobs or fully destroyed reputations.
Bianchi's lens highlights not only a warm liberation of gay romance, but a widespread rise in traditional male sex appeal, which the photographer argues was a response to years of queers being socially ostracized and called "pansies" by the straight community. "Suddenly this really beautiful community of men emerged, and they all boarded planes, trains, or buses to Fire Island every weekend," he said, pointing his polaroid camera at sculpted men in speedos.
Keep clicking to see a preview of Throckmorton's exhibit--on display through September 16--and click here to purchase Bianchi's official book, Fire Island Pines: Polaroids 1975-1983.
Vintage Polaroids Capture Fire Island's Historic Queer Haven
Photography: Tom Bianchi
Vintage Polaroids Capture Fire Island's Historic Queer Haven
Photography: Tom Bianchi
Vintage Polaroids Capture Fire Island's Historic Queer Haven
Photography: Tom Bianchi
Vintage Polaroids Capture Fire Island's Historic Queer Haven
Photography: Tom Bianchi
Vintage Polaroids Capture Fire Island's Historic Queer Haven
Photography: Tom Bianchi
Vintage Polaroids Capture Fire Island's Historic Queer Haven
Photography: Tom Bianchi
Vintage Polaroids Capture Fire Island's Historic Queer Haven
Photography: Tom Bianchi
Vintage Polaroids Capture Fire Island's Historic Queer Haven
Photography: Tom Bianchi
Vintage Polaroids Capture Fire Island's Historic Queer Haven
Photography: Tom Bianchi
Latest Stories
29 LGBTQ+ celebs you can follow on OnlyFans
April 18 2024 1:00 PM
16 times male celebrities had to say they weren't gay
April 17 2024 11:57 AM
Family forever! 10 queer celebs who have LGBTQ+ siblings
April 11 2024 11:35 AM
14 queens who quit or retired from drag after 'RuPaul's Drag Race'
April 04 2024 12:56 PM
21 LGBTQ+ reality dating shows & where to watch them
April 03 2024 4:01 PM
30 pics of 'Foundation' star Lee Pace that exude Big Daddy Energy
March 25 2024 10:35 AM
21 LGBTQ+ TV shows we loved that only lasted one season
March 22 2024 11:53 AM
21 of our favorite—but problematic AF—fictional queer women
March 08 2024 6:10 PM
15 'Drag Race' queens who were shockingly eliminated after 1 lip sync
March 07 2024 9:47 AM
20 hotties who perfected the art of the mirror selfie
March 05 2024 3:20 PM
26 actors who showed bare ass in movies & TV shows
February 28 2024 1:50 PM
21 Pokémon who are totally, absolutely, definitely queer
February 27 2024 11:28 AM
15 Unforgettable Gay Kissing Scenes From TV & Movies
February 14 2024 10:20 AM
10 Unforgettable Lesbian & Sapphic Kisses From TV & Movies
February 14 2024 10:10 AM
Here's how long each Pit Crew hunk has been on 'RuPaul's Drag Race'
February 09 2024 2:16 PM
Yes, Ricky Martin is showing you his feet pics for free
February 08 2024 2:56 PM
25 LGBTQ+ movies we can't wait to watch in 2024
January 26 2024 4:16 PM
'Looking' cast: where are they now?
January 22 2024 11:56 AM