Sex Work, Bars, and Picnics before Stonewall, 1930s-1970s Detroit with Roey Thorpe
Sex Work, Bars, and Picnics before Stonewall, 1930s-1970s Detroit with Roey Thorpe  
Podcast: Our Dyke Histories
Published On: Mon Feb 09 2026
Description: In this season one finale, Jack talks with historian Roey Thorpe about lesbian and queer life in Detroit from the 1930s through the early 1970s, before and beyond Stonewall. Centering working-class bars, sex work economies, and informal gathering spaces like softball and picnics, the episode traces how Black and white queer women—especially those who were poor, working-class, and gender nonconforming—built lives under conditions of criminalization, surveillance, and police violence. Thorpe highlights the central role of sex work as labor, survival, and community infrastructure, and shows how bars functioned not only as sites of leisure but as workplaces, political hubs, and mutual aid networks. The conversation foregrounds Detroit as a major site of lesbian and queer history, shaped by industrial labor, racial segregation, and the Great Migration. Together, Jack and Thorpe show that resistance, world-building, and dyke life were already flourishing for decades.The season closes with a powerful reminder: dyke history has always been rooted in labor, risk, pleasure, and the ongoing creation of livable worlds.**Join Our CommunityWant to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on!Newsletter to your inbox: Jack's Queer Geographies newsletter with detailed takes on each episode, & more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across timeInstagram for more dyke visuals and stories @ourdykehistoriesRead and follow our co-producer and collaborator, Sinister WisdomEmail us questions and comments at ourdykehistories@gmail.com**CreditsProducer, Editor, Host, & Creative Director: Jack GiesekingCo-Producer: Julie Enszer & Sinister WisdomCo-Producer & Co-Editor: Cade WaldoCo-Editor: Becca MosesAssistant Editor: Mel WhitesellSocial Media: Audrey WilkinsonInterns: Michaela Hayes and Sophie McClainConsulting Producer: Rachel FagenMusic: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion https://www.kitorion.com/CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at ourdykehistories@gmail.com for permission to use any of our content.