gayola

G2A1Y4O1L1A1

noun

The practice of American police departments extorting bribes from gay bars, especially in the 1950s and 60s, in return for not raiding them; such a bribe.

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Meanings

noungayola (uncountable)
  1. historicaluncountableThe practice of American police departments extorting bribes from gay bars, especially in the 1950s and 60s, in return for not raiding them; such a bribe.

    Every one of the bars that testified against the police department during the gayola inquiry was shut down.

    1998, The American Journey: Derived from retrieving the American past, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    Policing power over gay bars was thus shifted from the SFPD's beat officers to the mayor and the chief of police. In the wake of the gayola scandal Mayor Christopher launched an offensive against homosexual drinking establishments.

    2006, Journal of the History of Sexuality

    One reporter asked the attorneys involved in one of the gayola prosecutions whether “gay bars” were acceptable.

    2008, William N. Eskridge Jr., Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America, 1861-2003, Penguin, →ISBN

Origin

From gay + -ola.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with gayola

MotorolaAngolacolaPensacolaviolalolaOsceolacanolaholaRollagondolanolabolagranolaTortolakolaebolamineolaIolamolaApalachicolagorgonzolaareolapayola
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

gayola. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gayola

MLA

“gayola.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gayola. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gayola,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gayola.

Source: gayola on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.