The Satyrs Motorcycle Club was founded in 1954 with seven members, but little did anyone know it would become the oldest running LGBT organization (and oldest gay motorcycle club) in the world. The exhibit, "The Long Road to Equality", which chronicles 60 years of Satyrs history, is being donated to the world's largest repository of LGBT history at USC Libraries.
The exhibit features more than 300 original photos, buttons, posters, and videos from the various gay clubs that have populated LA over the years, the oldest, of course, being the Satyrs.
"This exhibit shows how these former military men came together post-World War II, arriving in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to form a lasting club at great risk during the peak of McCarthyism," curator Garry Bowie explained. "These men just lived life, not thinking about how they would affect the future, as they helped spawn the creation of 19 clubs in Southern California and mentored dozens of newly formed clubs across the nation."
The Satyrs trail-blazed the way for not just motorcycle clubs, but LGBT protections across the country during the pre-Stonewall era, and the organization was "more than just a club, it was a movement".
The exhibit is making the recent move from Long Beach to USC after a successful run at the Cultural Alliance of Long Beach. The exhibit will become part of the library's many important historical collections accessible to the public, and the Satyrs rich past will be preserved for future generations to come.
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