refuge on the stage

Okay, back to A Queer History of the United States. So, with the emerging ''concrete jungles'' all over the U.S., that people were flocking to for work, came the need for entertainments. Vaudeville shows, plays, burlesque, movie houses, etc. were popping up everywhere. These entertainments were often risque and involved gender bending and ''alternative'' sexuality. The social purity movement saw these public entertainments not only as immoral and even criminal but as breeding grounds for fantasy, imagination and possibility. Those were the real dangers!
    There is no doubt that LGBT's saw themselves in these public entertainments. They may not have been able to pinpoint themselves in the audience, on the street, in they're families or in the workplace, but in these shows they found refuge and representation.