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Gary commented that they burnt the furniture in the fireplace for warmth when there was no money for the bills the drag closet was stuffed with clothes from the Valley Women’s Center Free Store and he’s not saying what happened in the attic. Michael Obligado and John Mazolla have died. He has kept touch with some of the house members. He describes living there with “borderline developmentally appropriate Woodstock era behaviors.” In the Facebook commentary that followed Michael’s Butler Place portrait post, he estimates that the Collective was in residence around 1970-72. This mix of costumes reflected the newly emerging differences in identity (and politics) present from the beginning of the Gay Revolution in Northampton as well as New York. Many conventionally dressed young men in long or short sleeved shirts ( button downed collars?) can be seen in the march, interspersed by those in tight shorts or teeshirts, some in drag, some barechested or swaggering in bell bottoms, and some small groups with long hair and mustaches. Michael is unsure who took the pictures and no one has given permission to release them to the public, but a similar radical gay fashion may be seen in two historic homemovies recently posted to the internet of the very first 1970 Christopher Street Liberation March in New York City. The bearded dresswearer is now a more usual fashion statement. Very tasteful and inventive if a bit strange for the time. Nine of the young men pose in a variety of dress(es). That they were also part of the radical gay movement is emphasized by a fifth photo titled “Halloween 1971 at the House of the Radicals”. The flannel shirts, stoned expressions, as well as facial hair characterize them as part of the 70s hippie counterculture. Michael identified Sue, Jacque, John Mozolla, Michael Obligado, Gary, Barry, the dog Blue, as well as himself in these interiors. Young men, long haired, with beards, mustaches or mutton chop sideburns, are shown draped around each other at the kitchen table or one of the livingrooms, with one woman or with a dog. The accomplished photographer shared not only this Victorian portrait, but also a small album of contemporary black and white photographs of friends and members of the Gay Men’s Collective when they lived there.
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Imagine my surprise when a picture of the graceful old lady of a Victorian mansion where the Collective briefly lived showed up recently on my personal Facebook feed! Through a mutual friend, I discovered that Michael Prendergast had been visiting Northampton and took the photo below when he cruised by his former residence at 22 Butler Street.Ģ2 Butler Place, Northampton in 2017, Photo by Michael J. The one exception to this in the 70s may have been the Gay Men’s Collective, briefly mentioned in this blog in the post about the Gay Movement in the Valley in 1971. Everyone was deeply closeted (like Northampton’s gay priest, Father Robert Arpin, for fear of exposure, loss of position, or worse. McCarthyism and would have still been deeply imprinted memories for older gay residents. Feeling frightened, isolated and confused, he joined other teens in snickering at the newly-out and obvious lesbians who patronized Forbes Library, where he worked part-time.Īdult gay men in Northampton didn’t fare much better, although they may have known where to cruise for casual sex and, if particularly blessed, had a few friends in town for private dinners or house parties. He was a teenager with no one to turn to for support. Northampton High School student Jim Bridgman knew he was gay in the 1970s.