Mandate (August 1977), Part Two

On May 25, 1977, the Everard Baths in New York City caught on fire. A former church, the building was purchased by beer magnate James Everard in 1888 and transformed into a Turkish bath. Over the proceeding decades, the establishment became a popular cruising spot for gay men. By the 1970s, it had developed a reputation for its dilapidated facilities which paled in comparison to its counterparts like the Continental Baths. In fact, journalist Aaron Bates described the building as having “all the charm of a Transylvanian crypt” in a 1972 review for the magazine Gay. In addition to its shabby state, the managers had illegally converted the upper floors into a cramped collection of cubicles separated by plywood partitions. It was here that the fire began, possibly from a mattress ignited by a cigarette. As panic set in amongst the roughly one hundred patrons, several on the upper floors found their escape blocked by the privacy paneling covering the windows. Loss of power and a lack of sprinklers intensified the situation, resulting in nine deaths and twelve injuries. The incident became a sensational story as news outlets like The New York Times spent more space discussing the building’s nefarious business rather than the tragedy itself. In the gay community, it highlighted the social prejudices still faced by the minority, with the June issue of GaysWeek lamenting how businesses will callously put homosexuals in danger by ignoring health and safety codes for profit. This August 1977 issue of Mandate (which has been broken into two parts) features a poem by Charles Herschberg honoring those lost during the Everard fire. Contained in this second half (see the first half here) is an interview with writer Christopher Isherwood, a parody of Anita Bryant, and a discussion of T. E. Lawrence’s purported sexuality.