ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the rapid change in the culture of the jazz scene between the 1920s and the onset of the Lavender Scare in the 1950s. While queermisia exerted its influence on the jazz community from its inception, the three decades separating the 1920s from the 1950s saw movement away from cultural integration with the LGBT+ community towards a pervasive heteronormative environment. During the 1920s, the jazz and LGBT+ communities were inseparable; the Savoy held drag balls, and both rent parties and buffet flats were frequented by jazz musicians of all identities. However, starting in 1927, queermisic attitudes and discriminatory legislation made it impossible to perform if one had an arrest for homosexuality on one’s record. By the end of World War II, medicalization had cemented the connection between queerness and mental health, and Senator Joseph McCarthy’s efforts to equate homosexuality with Communism provided the nail in the coffin for the relative openness that once existed. The subsequent queermisic environment of the jazz community and the separation of art and entertainment meant many musicians were left behind. Without critically examining this period and the artistic repercussions the move towards heternormativity caused, scholarship and interpretation of the common narrative remains limited.
Clarifying Statement: During the time period discussed, gender identity and sexuality were considered inextricable; this means it is functionally impossible to retroactively apply modern labels to queer people of the era. As such, I have opted to use queermisia in place of homophobia or transphobia unless one of those terms is specifically applicable. I have also avoided modern labels whenever possible, attempting to use only the terms that the people specifically featured used for themselves. When discussing the development of terminology during the first two decades of the twentieth century, I have used homosexuality and heterosexuality in order to faithfully represent the discussions of the period, although those concepts do not map perfectly onto how the modern terms work.
