Sea queen

Sea queens is a term referring to gay men who worked aboard mainly merchant vessels before the 1960s. They were predominantly effeminate gay men who worked either in entertainment or as waiters on cruise ships, often becoming off-shore 'wives' for heterosexual sailors for the duration of voyages. They could also be found within the Navy as the nonfiction historical monograph Hello Sailor! The Hidden History of Gay Life at Sea by Paul Baker and Jo Stanley describes through the stories and experiences of sea queens from the Navy. In addition to this, the use of the Polari language can be drawn back to sea queens along with the attempted expulsion of gay, male sailors in Newport, Rhode Island after WWI.