Pansy Craze

Pansy Craze
late-1920s–mid-1930s
Painting of "pansy" performer Karyl Norman, titled The Creole Fashion Plate (1923)
Location	Mainly the United States Chicago Los Angeles New York City San Francisco
Leader(s)	Gene Malin Karyl Norman Ray Bourbon

Timeline and periods

Prehistoric and Pre-Columbian Era	until 1607
Colonial Era	1607–1765
1776–1789
American Revolution	1765–1783
Confederation period	1783–1788
1789–1815
Federalist Era	1788–1801
Jeffersonian Era	1801–1817
1815–1849
Era of Good Feelings	1817–1825
Jacksonian Era	1825–1849
1849–1865
Civil War Era	1849–1865
Greater Reconstruction	1846–1898
1865–1917
Reconstruction Era	1865–1877
Gilded Age	1877–1896
Progressive Era	1896–1917
1917–1945
World War I	1917–1918
Roaring Twenties	1918–1929
Great Depression	1929–1941
World War II	1941–1945
1945–1964
Post-World War II Era	1945–1964
Civil Rights Era	1954–1968
1964–1980
Civil Rights Era	1954–1968
Vietnam War	1964–1975
1980–1991
Reagan Era	1981–1991
1991–2016
Post-Cold War Era	1991–present
2016–present	2016–present

Places

Territorial evolution
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Regions
New England The South The West Coast
States
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Territories
DC AS GU MP PR VI
Cities
Urban history Cities

The Pansy Craze was a period of increased LGBTQ visibility in American popular culture from the late 1920s until the mid-1930s. During the "craze," drag queens — known as "pansy performers" — experienced a surge in underground popularity, especially in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The exact dates of the movement are debated, with a range from the late 1920s until 1935.

The term "pansy craze" was not used contemporaneously during the era, and was first coined decades later by the historian George Chauncey in his 1994 book Gay New York.