A History Of Gay Freedom Day, Dyke March, And Trans March: SFist

Contents:

• HARVEY MILK’S GAY FREEDOM DAY SPEECH: ANNOTATED
• 1977 AND 1978 GAY FREEDOM DAY PARA VIO
• 1978 GAY FREEDOM DAY PARA VIO
• A HISTORY OF GAY FREEDOM DAY, DYKE MARCH, AND TRANS MARCH
• GAY FREEDOM PARA (SAN FRANCIS, 1978)
• SPEECH OF SAN FRANCIS SUPERVISOR HARVEY MILK AT GAY FREEDOM DAY, JUNE 25, 1978.
• HARVEY MILK'S SPEECH AT SAN FRANCIS'S GAY FREEDOM DAY CELEBRATN
• EVERY SF PRI THEME SCE THE FIRST-EVER GAY FREEDOM DAY 1970
• 1978 GAY FREEDOM DAY

HARVEY MILK’S GAY FREEDOM DAY SPEECH: ANNOTATED

The two most visible figur behd the legislative manvers were John Briggs, a state Senator California, who sought to remove openly lbian and gay teachers wh Proposn 6 (the phrase “public homosexual” repeats throughout the proposn); and Ana Bryant, whose “Save Our Children” anizatn succsfully helped overturn equal rights ordanc Miami, Florida; Eugene, Oregon; Wicha, Kansas; and St.

And here, so-lled liberal San Francis, we have a lumnist for the San Francis Examer, a lumnist named Kev Starr, who has prted a number of lumns ntag distortns and li about gays. And fally, I want to tell the John Briggs and the Ana Bryants that they talk about the myths of gays, but today I’m talkg about the facts of heterosexual vlence and what the hell are you gog to do about that? If you do not speak out, if you rema silence, if you do not lift up your voice agast Briggs, then I ll upon lbians and gay men om all over the natn, your natn, to gather Washgton one year om now on that natnal day of eedom, the fourth of July…the fourth of July, 1979…to gather Washgton on that very same spot where over a ago Dr.

I ll upon all mori and pecially the lns of lbians and gay men to wake up om their dreams…to gather Washgton and tell Jimmy Carter and their natn: “Wake up…wake up, Ameri…no more racism, no more sexism, no more ageism, no more hatred…no more!

1977 AND 1978 GAY FREEDOM DAY PARA VIO

He was missned to create a flag by another gay in, polician Harvey Milk, for San Francis’s annual pri cisn to enlist Baker proved serendipo, as the ia of a flag to reprent the gay and lbian muny had occurred to him two years earlier. As Baker told the Mm of Morn Art durg a 2015 terview, he had been spired by the celebratns markg Ameri’s bicentennial 1976, notg that the nstant display of stars and strip ma him realize the cultural need for a siar rallyg sign for the gay muny.

And as a stgglg drag performer who was acctomed to creatg his own garments, he was well-equipped to sew the soon-to-be inic the time, the most monly ed image for the burgeong gay rights movement was the pk triangle, a symbol ed by the Nazis to intify homosexuals. At the top was hot pk, which reprented sex, red for life, orange for healg, yellow signifyg sunlight, green for nature, turquoise to reprent art, digo for harmony, and fally vlet at the bottom for the help of close to 30 volunteers workg the attic of the Gay Communy Center San Francis, Baker was able to nstct the first draft of the now world-renowned rabow flag. In April 2021, the GLBT Historil Society received an archival donatn of an extraordary, unique piece of history that we are unveilg durg the Pri season: a agment of one of the two monumental rabow flags first raised on June 25, 1978 San Francis’s Uned Natns Plaza at the San Francis Gay Freedom Day Para.

In 1978, while preparg for that year’s Gay Freedom Day celebratn, Cy Supervisor Harvey Milk (1930–1978) and other lol activists appealed to Baker, the -chair of the Deratns Commtee, to create a new symbol for the LGBTQ muny to be unveiled at the event June.

1978 GAY FREEDOM DAY PARA VIO

Banner photo: This segment om one of the two origal rabow flags created for San Francis Gay Freedom Day 1978 was donated to the GLBT Historil Society April 2021; photograph by Matthew Leifhe, urty of the Gilbert Baker Foundatn.

Para officials believed the turnout was a rult of the attentn that Ana Bryant was gettg for her anti-gay csa Florida and the murr of a gay cy garner by four youths the prr week. Willie Brown urged everyone to register to vote, so they uld oppose a statewi iative sponsored by Fullerton Republin Assemblyman John Briggs that would perm public school districts to fire homosexuals. A lot of progrs has been ma toward this goal the last 50 years, cludg a Supreme Court lg jt two weeks ago that gay employe were protected om job discrimatn unr the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but the fight is far om over.

A HISTORY OF GAY FREEDOM DAY, DYKE MARCH, AND TRANS MARCH

Groups and figur clu: Lbian rights, unns, Gay Disabili Rights, Stonewall Coaln, Gay Teachers, Misters for Human Rights, floats, Jane Doe Emprs, Ana Bryant, San Francis State Universy, Gay Health Workers and Universy of California San Francis (UCSF), Briggs Iniative, Stud, NOW, San Francis Gay Freedom Day Marchg Band and Twirlg Corps, and others. CONTINGENTS/PARTICIPANTSPart 1 (1977)Lbians [illegible] HoeworkLbian Mothers' Rights/Support Jean JuillnWomen Agast Vlence and PornographyUnn Women's Alliance to Ga Equaly (WAGE)Internatnal Lbian SolidaryUned Santa Cz [illegible] Gay People[ntgent of gay and lbian people wh disabili]"Death Ameri"Stonewall CoalnGay People's Unn UC BerkeleyGay Lato Alliance (GALA)[People's food System/Third World Women/Stggle Agast Imperialism]"Sissi Arise as Faggot Effemists Emergg"Gay Liberatn through Socialist RevolutnTeachers ntgentMisters for Human RightsMen Agast Sexist VlenceGay ActnButterfly BrigaGay People's Unn [Stanford][murr of Robert Hillsborough]RenoPacific Telephone EmployeRamrodSacramento ntgents (KDAS, Communy Church)Council on Relign and the HomosexualJane Doe Emprs XII (Imperial Court)Yacht Clubanti-Ana Bryant ntgentSan Francis State Gay Amic UnnGay Amerin IndiansGay Health Workersanti-Briggs, pro-teachers ntgent"the Joy of Recyclg"untry and wtern bandSylvtermore anti-Bryant prottorsanother band Part 2 (1978)BACABI (Bay Area Coaln Agast the Briggs Amendment)Gay Teachers and School Workers[Berkeley Cizens' Actn]"Gays-Workers-Opprsed Peopl-- Une/Defeat all Attacks"C-3POPacific Telephone EmployeRadil WomenSan Francis State Gay Camp Communy"Word Is Out" (Film)the StudBay Area DignyBACABI and more anti-Briggs ntgents, cludg Californians Agast the Briggs Iniative, Northern California AllianceGay Vets[Alice B.

)PT&T (Pacific Telegraph and Telephone) EmployeGay Health WorkersGays-Workers-Opprsed People -- Une: Fight All AttacksBerkeley Socialist Workers 1978 Campaignthe Gay Rights LobbySan Francis Gay Freedom Day marchg Band and Twirlg CorpsState of OregonFilmmakers Advotg Hont Gay Imag FilmGay People's Unn, UC BerkeleyCal Poly GSUEMCPLilhthe Stud.

GAY FREEDOM PARA (SAN FRANCIS, 1978)

CONTINGENTS/PARTICIPANTSGay VetsGay Amerin IndiansBay Area Coaln Agast the Briggs AmendmentSupervisor Harvey Milkgay teachersanti-Ana Bryant ntgent ("Ana Bryant: Emprs of the Bigots")tersectnal ntgents -- agast racism, for workers'/workg class rights"Separatn of Church om State"Women Uned to Defeat BriggsOlivia RerdsDeaf Gays of San FrancisSEIU/Department Store Employe Unn Lol 1100Gays for LSDL. The thg we ll the Gay Pri Para was, once upon a time, lled the Gay Freedom Day Para — a better name, if you ask , bee at this pot gay folks are pretty proud enough, but not always pletely ee.

The gural event San Francis was a small 20- to 30-person march of "hair faeri" followed by a "gay-" Goln Gate Park the summer of 1970, memoratg the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts. This all of urse began wh an uprisg of homos, drag queens, and trans people who fought back agast a police raid at the Stonewall Inn New York's Greenwich Village on June 28, 1969. It was ially dubbed the Christopher Street Wt para, featured a poster wh a upraised fist and the words "Gay Pri, " and keepg wh San Francis's place hippie history, was way more nu and kooky than the equivalent event New York.

The Civic Center celebratn that we all know began 1982, and the annual event was known as the Gay Freedom Day celebratn, followed by Internatnal Lbian and Gay Freedom Day, and only beme officially known as Pri, or the San Francis Lbian Gay Bisexual Transgenr Pri Celebratn, 1995. Dyke March began 1993 and still bears some more of the prott nature and grassroots-y-ns of the origal Gay Freedom Day events, wh handma signs, light nudy, no real floats, and most people on foot.

SPEECH OF SAN FRANCIS SUPERVISOR HARVEY MILK AT GAY FREEDOM DAY, JUNE 25, 1978.

Also featur terviews wh State Senator Milton Marks who reflects on the Briggs iative and creasg opposn to Gay rights and lawyer Carol Ruth Silver, who stat that: "People here are celebratg.

Part of the crowd at the Civic Center celebratn at the end of the 1977 San Francis Gay Freedom Day Para; photograph by Crawford Barton, Crawford Barton Papers (1993-11), GLBT Historil Society.

—Leo Lrence scribg the arrival of equtrian officers om the San Francis Police Department at the June 28 Gay-In that attracted some 200 people to Speedway Meadows Goln Gate Park. Inially referred to as the Gay Liberatn March, then as Christopher Street Wt, then as Gay Freedom Day, the celebratn ployed both ivoly and prott hop of iatg a cultural shift how society viewed LGBTQ people. No formal statement was issued that first year, but one activist ma clear the purpose of the “betiful and peaceful” event: In the face of opprsn, “homophil gathered pri their inty.

HARVEY MILK'S SPEECH AT SAN FRANCIS'S GAY FREEDOM DAY CELEBRATN

“A Statement by the Para Commtee: Brothers and Sisters, ” published the program booklet distributed at the 1978 Gay Freedom Day Para; Ephemera Collectn, GLBT Historil Society. Del Mart servg as emcee at the 1978 Gay Freedom Day Para wh Harvey Milk seated at left; photograph by Crawford Barton, Crawford Barton Papers (1993-11), GLBT Historil Society.

EVERY SF PRI THEME SCE THE FIRST-EVER GAY FREEDOM DAY 1970

The para is the Gay muny for all the world to see, and if don’t like what se, n damn well look the other way, bee we are betiful, we are real, and we are not gog away!

Organizers distributed photopi of the typed, llaged and hand-drawn documents seen here to gui marchers and sponsors of a 1975 lumn the Bay Area Reporter, muny lear and mera-store owner Harvey Milk (1930–1978) poted to two challeng for Gay Freedom Day anizers: promotg the para through the media and obtag municipal fundg.

1978 GAY FREEDOM DAY

By the time Milk beme California’s first openly gay elected official as a member of the San Francis Board of Supervisors 1978, mastream media were creasgly providg advance verage of the event—and that same year, the Para Commtee obtaed s first grant om the cy.

One of the origal eight-lor flags flyg at Uned Natns Plaza San Francis durg Gay Freedom Day, 1978; photograph by Crawford Barton, Crawford Barton Papers (1993-11), GLBT Historil Society. Now an ternatnal symbol of LGBTQ muny, the flag buted wh two exampl flown on the monumental flagpol at Uned Natns Plaza on Gay Freedom Day, June 25, Para 1978; footage by Crawford Barton, Crawford Barton Papers, GLBT Historil Society. Behd the ftivi, another aspect of the Gay Freedom Day Para returned year after year throughout the 1970s: arguments about goals, disagreements on tactics and fights over cln and reprentatn.