No, there are no 'secret right wingers' fearing that Abe Lincoln would lead to freeing gays. The act of entering a darkened space, dancing to amplified music and becoming part of an undulating crowd - often for hours on end, often under the influence of perception-enhancing substances - disturbed the everyday consciousness of participants, including those who identified as straight. I wanna take you to a gay bar, gay bar, gay bar. participants played a pivotal role, shaping a culture with a queer potential open to anyone who ventured into its vortex. The age-old convention that social dance should revolve exclusively around straight couples imploded. Two key party spaces - the Loft and the Sanctuary - positioned New York City at the epicenter of the new phenomenon as countercultural revelers flung themselves into a dynamic, participatory and expressive ritual that made Woodstock seem conservative.
Constrained and faddish during the 1960s, D.J.-led dance culture discovered its kinetic, kaleidoscopic potential in the space of a few transformational months in early 1970.
