Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyAugust 27th, 2016
From Northwest Fountain (Portland, OR), May 1979, page 17
Shuckey’s Tavern opened in 1975 in the old Mitchell Hotel at the corner of Tenth and Front Streets as Boise’s the first ever gay bar. It apparently became Shuckey’s Discovery Disco, according to this ad, by 1979, everyone just called it Shuckey’s. An intrepid reporter from the University of Idaho’s student paper in 1982 gave a brief overview of Shuckey’s history before describing the time he screwed up the courage to check it out:
The Mitchell Hotel as it appeared in 1979. Shuckey’s was located next door to the Emerald Club at the far right of the photo.
When it opened for business on July 24, 1976 [sic], Shuckey’s Bar became the first tangible evidence to the straight population that a gay community existed in Boise. Standing as an insult to the sensibilities of Boiseans who thought that gay culture existed only in places like liberal New York or flaky San Francisco, upon opening Shuckey’s came under attack from the Boise establishment through the city police force. Persons walking across the street to Shuckey’s on weekends were issued jay-walking tickets with the word “Homosexual” written across them, by an officer stationed near Shuckey’s just for that purpose. The Boise police also carried out clandestine surveillance on Shuckey’s, taking photographs of Shuckey’s customers from the back of an unmarked police van.
Eventually Boise either grew tired of harassing Shuckey’s or the novelty of the game wore off when people realized that the existence of Shuckey’s wasn’t going to bring about the collapse of civilization as Boise knew it. Shuckey’s continues to prosper today, and its customers — not all of whom are gay — point out that Shuckey’s has to call the police to handle problems much less frequently than, most straight bars in town. Except when it is the butt of a joke — as when some Idaho legislators swiped conservative Sen. Jim Risch’s legislative name tag and left it at Shuckey’s — the city’s only gay bar is essentially ignored by the majority of the straight population.
…Just before opening the door I grabbed my friend’s hand, holding her as a badge of warning to any of the perverts lurking inside that I, had not come to Shuckey’s to dance, to be kissed, or to be tied up in leather and beaten with live chickens. Inside the bar they were having New Wave Night, and it was the (at that time) novel New Wave costumes that struck me as the most unusual aspect of the place — it looked like a convention of the B-52’s fan club. Only after the weirdness of the cheap sunglasses and the houndstooth coats was absorbed, did I realize that the men were dancing with the men and the women with women. Other than the very few men in drag and the fact that people of the same gender were doing things together that people of different genders usually do together, there was nothing really unusual about Shuckey’s…
After I had time to assimilate what was going on, I released the death grip on my woman friend and began, like a nosey reporter, to talk to a few people and ask some questions. One young man said that he didn’t particularly like the idea of making contacts in a gay bar, but there was no other way for gays to recognize and meet each other. All the stuff that kids hear in school about how queers contact one another through signals (at my school it was green socks on Thursdays that signaled homosexuality) was just myth according to the young man. The bouncer at Shuckey’s said that gays and straights were all welcomed at Shuckey’s and that straights didn’t need to fear going there; like most people, gays just want to lead their lives as they wish without trying to force people into their lifestyle, the bouncer said.
We’ve all seen straight guys with that death grip, haven’t we? Shuckey’s was later renamed the Stoplight, which closed in 1988. The old hotel, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, appears to have suffered a fire in October, 1989. The location is now a parking lot.
Latest Posts
Featured Reports
In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.
When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.
In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.
On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word "Change" Changes
Part 5: A Candid Explanation For "Change"
At last, the truth can now be told.
Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!
And don‘t miss our companion report, How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In Fifteen Easy Steps.
Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.
Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.
Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.
“Google” is a trademark of Google Inc.
© Box Turtle Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
Randall Murray
August 28th, 2016
My name is Randy Murray. My Great-Aunt and Uncle Managed the Mitchell hotel and I was later managed Shuckey’s turned Stoplight at the time when the original story was written. The bar acted as a community center and welcomed anyone that was respectful. We considered it a “human” bar. Gay/Lesbian/Tran/Straight were all welcomed as long as they respected each other. I was, and am so proud of the customers and employees. They cared for each other and carried themselves with dignity. There was a lot of courage needed in those days as police harassment, and straight harassment was not uncommon. I am proud to have been a part of that history. Boise is a beautiful place with beautiful people. I visit whenever I can and recommend that you check it out.
Leave A Comment