The Block is an area in Richmond, Virginia, United States that from the 1940s to the late 1970s hosted an underground gay culture and community, with several bars and venues. It was the focus of ongoing harassment from the ABC Department because homosexual activity, including serving alcohol to gay people, was illegal and would result in arrest.

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From the 1940s until the late 1970s, Richmond had an underground culture that thrived beneath vigilant eyes. The gay community had to build its own society in order to catch up on news, socialize, and hook up. The Block was known as a particular area in downtown Richmond where the gay community thrived at night. The establishments in this area had to deal with constant harassment from the ABC Department because serving and participating in any sort of gay activity would result in arrest.

In the 1940s the Block started off being bounded by First, Franklin, Main, and Foushee streets. As the community grew, the Block expanded to Grace Street.^[1] The community had to move frequently to avoid pressure from local authorities. This area was also known for its hustlers and prostitution, but the police were more concerned with finding people participating in homosexual acts.^[2]

In the late 1960s a couple of well-known bars, Renee's and Rathskeller, were shut down by the ABC department for serving any homosexuals. The regulations used to persecute the gays are as follows:

- Section 4-37 states in part "… a bar's license may be suspended or revoked if the bar has become a meeting place and rendezvous for users of narcotics, drunks, homosexuals, prostitutes, pimps, panderers, gamblers or habitual law violators…" - Section 4 – 98 "…forbids a licensee from employing any person who has the general reputation as a prostitute, homosexual, panderer, gambler, habitual law violator, person of ill repute, user of or peddler of narcotics, or person who drinks to excess or a "B-girl."^[3]

When ABC closed down Renee's, the ABC board heard a testimony from one of their agents that they witnessed "men wearing makeup, embracing and kissing in the café."^[4] Such a statement resulted in the bar having their beer and wine license revoked on March 13, 1969.^[4] These regulations were maintained until 1993 when the anti-gay provisions were removed when the Virginia General Assembly revised the state ABC code.^[4]

Broad Street Station and the USO were one of the first and biggest settings for gay cruising in the 1940s and 1950s. Broad Street Station was located on West Broad and the USO on the northeast corner of Eighth and East Broad Street.^[5] Both of these locations were teeming with service men on leave or heading to another assignment. Bob Swisher, a notable gay writer in Richmond, wrote an article for Our Community Press talking to a serviceman under a pseudonym. His article explains the type of things that went on at these stations from a first-hand experience:

"Mark Kerkorian (a pseudonym) recalled the military personnel were "ready for anything" if they hadn't picked up a girl by 11 or 12 at night and that there were lots of places to take them like the basement of the hotel across Broad Street from the USO, or the men's room in the hotel or an alley behind the Colonial Theater."^[3]

The activity at these establishments laid the foundation for what was later known as the "Block."

Leo Joseph Koury (July 14, 1934 – June 17, 1991) was a notorious figure in the Block community due to his monopoly on exploiting the gay community. He realized that he could drastically over charge the gay patrons to be in a place they could socialize comfortably, considering that in a straight bar they could legally be denied service because of their sexuality, or presumed sexuality.^[3] However, Koury's monopoly ended in October 1978 when a grand jury charged him with murder, racketeering, and other offenses that occurred at several gay bars.^[10] Before he was properly arrested Koury left Richmond to go on the run from the police. In 1979 the FBI added him to their Ten Most Wanted List and he was profiled again in 1991 by America's Most Wanted. He was also profiled on Unsolved Mysteries. Koury was never properly arrested because he died while a fugitive in California.^[10]

Life in Richmond, Virginia is substantially different from how it was before the 1980s. As more activism and support grew for the gay community, more establishments to serve them popped up. The gay community is no longer suppressed and limited to a one-block radius. Any adult of any orientation can go to a bar and order a beverage without being exploited, turned away, or arrested. Beth Marschak, Guy Kinman, and Bob Jones, who are major LGBT activists in Richmond, were interviewed by a local gay news source^[which?] to talk about how much things have changed. Marschak and Jones commented on how there are only four outright gay bars currently, but that this was progress because strictly gay-only bars are not necessary for the community to socialize anymore.^[11] Jones was quoted by saying, "all these young people, lots of single women. I didn't notice any gay people. But now you just wouldn't know."