No it’s not about drugs. But rather the Molly Houses of England in the 16 and 1700’s. Some call them the original gay bars, others say they were merely an evolution of the Greek bathhouses. Either way the Molly bars were a “Molly” good time indeed. Though like everything with this era, one had to tread carefully or suffer the consequences. Join us as we explore gay culture at the turn of the 18th century and see how Today’s episode is light after a long month of horror. We have some fantastic people we want to cover for you in the very near future, but we needed to take a break from some of our harder hitting episodes. So today we are going to cover the Molly Bars of England during the 18th and 19th centuries. And this episode happened by chance as Evan was doing research for another topic and stumbled upon this article. So we want to credit the blog and website atlasobscura.com and writer Natasha Frost for this information. So lets talk about the original gay bar also known as Molly Houses. The term “Molly” was an old English slur used to reference the sodomites of early London. It is most comparable to the modern day use of the term “Mary”, though with harsher implications given the extreme homophobia of past time periods. We don’t know the specific origins of the word as it was also used as a slur against working class women in the 17th and 18th centuries. But in 1709 journalist Ned Ward published a series on the “Mollies Club”, a “gang of sodomitical wretches” who visited the pub he often frequented. Throughout the piece the writer speaks with disgust towards the gossiping horde of effeminate men. Wards writing signaled the shift in English acceptance of homosexuality. Prior to the 1700’s sodomy was treated as any other form of deviancy. While it was considered a sin or abnormality, queer people still enjoyed the same blind eye treatment that adulterors and prostitutes enjoyed. Even with the Buggery Act of 1533 – which made sodomy a crime punishable by death – only a rare few cases were charged over the following 150 years. But church authors put their pen to hateful use and wrote eloquently of the sins of sodomy. One writer dramatically stated “language [is] incapable of sufficiently expressing the horror of it.” While another homophobe tried his hand at poetry “’Tis strange that in a Country where Our Ladies are so Kind and Fair, So Gay, and Lovely, to the Sight, So full of Beauty and Delight; That Men should on each other doat, And quit the charming Petticoat.” By the late 1600’s a group of individuals had started the Reformation of Manners. Which was a movement devoted to ending sin in England. Efforts included everything from stopping sex work and secular holidays to outlawing drinking and rounding up homosexuals. And as a result of a need for safe gay spaces, Molly Houses sprang up across the country. The atmosphere ranged from house to house but overall held a very feminine appeal. Which was a relief considering the outward hatred beginning to be expressed towards effeminate men. In the Molly Houses gay men could find a place of refuge as well as full range to express themselves in all their glory. This is a feeling many queer people have felt the first time they’ve entered a gay bar. Among the dim lights, loud noises, hard liquor and swarming bodies one’s inhibitions are more easily let go. And then of course there was the entertainment. 300 years later the looks may have changed but the cornerstone of gay amusement has not; Drag was all the rage in Molly Houses. Of course that name had not been coined yet, but the concept of the art still thrived. The queen’s dressed in full petticoats, makeup and wigs and called one another “sister”, “Madam”, or “Ladyship”. One court report described the scene as such: “Some were completely rigged in gowns, petticoats, headcloths, fine laced shoes, befurbelowed scarves,