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Gaying the Pines
Today, Fire Island Pines is known as a Gay Mecca. LGBTQ+ people from around the world flock to enjoy its beaches, homes and entertainment in the full knowledge they can safely be their authentic selves here. But it wasn’t always that way. In a previous article Keeping The Gays Out: The Pines in the Late 1950s FIPPOA Board member and long time Pines resident Gary Clinton described the extensive efforts taken by some community members to keep gay people out of the Pines. As he noted, those efforts died down in 1959 after the largely gay population in Cherry Grove flocked to help the Pines fight the Memorial Day fire that destroyed the Botel. In this article, Gary describes when the shift occurred in the Pines and gays came to be in the majority.
Keeping Out the Gays: The Pines in the late 1950s
Gary Clinton has been on the Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association Board for twenty of the past twenty-five years. Since early 2023 he and his Board colleague, Russell Saray, have been organizing, digitizing, and researching FIPPOA’s records going back to 1953, which they have dubbed “The FIPPOA Papers.”
Based on that research, Gary has written “Keeping Out the Gays: The Pines in the late 1950s” for the Fire Island Pines Historical Society.
Fire Island Pines People- Doris Taussig
There have been many women who have been the pioneers of the Pines, however one of its earliest trailblazers was Doris Taussig. Daughter of the original landowners of the Pines Doris created her own path of history.
The Belvedere Cherry Grove Est. 1957
As you arrive by ferry to Cherry Grove to your left sits a castle like building that stands out with its white facade. Is it a palace of some long ago prince? I guess you could say it is. John Eberhardt created a fantasy here. His own. That he has left for all to experience…
Fire Island Pines People- Peggy Fears
Peggy Fears was a former Ziegfeld showgirl who found her way to Fire Island where she invested in the then growing community by building her Yacht Club and Botel bringing her Broadway and Hollywood friends creating an aura of sophistication that continues today…
Fire Island Pines People- Arden Catlin
Many would be surprised to know the several women that played a role in the history of the Pines. Arden Catlin was one. She was a Pines pioneer who was one of the first Realtors, business owners, and the first Postmistress of the Pines.