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Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Nudist Royalty


I've commented in the past on the pioneering use of male nudes in nudist magazines.  Not only did they show male frontal nudity, but they also had beauty contests that included male contestants.  So today I will feature some crowned kings of nudism, starting with a middle aged division winner.

5 comments:

  1. I seem to recall a Royal Court thing happening in San Francisco many years ago that raised money for charity. Each year a new person was crowned as King. Could that be the case here with these guys?

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    Replies
    1. Could be. They had these things in more than one location, though, based on the background clues in my photos of this type.

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    2. I think the idea spread through the gay communities and was picked up in other cities. Though, I have to admit, I never read anything about nude photos of the guys who had been crowned.

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    3. The Imperial Court thing is very much alive in 70 cities across the US and Canada, founded in 1965 by Jose Sarria in San Francisco, a Black Cat entertainer there. He proclaimed himself Empress of San Francisco, because, he said, there were too many queens there already. He was the first gay candidate to run for election in San Francisco, even before Harvey Milk. He passed some years back and his funeral was attended by hundreds of Empresses and Emperors from across the country and Canada, held in the Cathedral there. He is buried next to San Francisco 19th century eccentric Emperor Joshua Norton. The organization likens itself to "gay Shriners" and annually raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities in their cities. Is this picture a picture of an Emperor in that system? Probably not. I looks to me more like a nudist camp contest winner - I think those contests were pretty common. You can read about the International Imperial Court System here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Court_System and here: https://internationalcourtsystem.org/

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    4. Thanks for an interesting bit of gay history!

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