LGBTQ History Month: The road to Ameri's first gay pri march

Contents:

• CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY LIBERATION DAY 1971
• REMEMBERG THE 1970 CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY LIBERATN DAY MARCH
• LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: THE ROAD TO AMERI'S FIRST GAY PRI MARCH

CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY LIBERATION DAY 1971

Filmed by women, this on-the-street documentatn of one of New York’s early Gay Liberatn march is notable for s foregroundg of lbians the stggle for sexual eedom.

The Stonewall Uprisg wasn’t the only prott durg that time (nor was the most tense, that signatn go to the Snake P rt), though 's remembered today as a turng pot the LGBT civil rights weekend brgs another 50th anniversary, this time of the para—the first gay rights march, held on June 28th, 1970, and now a centerpiece of Pri weekend New York Cy. And if we hadn't done that, nobody would remember the Stonewall today, ” said Karla Jay, a former women’s and genr studi profsor at Pace Universy, and the first woman chair of the Gay Liberatn says that wh a few days of Stonewall, flyers were already circulatg llg for a new kd of movement that wasn’t pole, and wouldn’t stay the shadows.

)The Christopher Street Gay Liberatn Day March started Greenwich Village at about 2 p. And they had signs on tall wood sticks that said thgs like, "Gay Pri. “There were people on my left, people on my right, gays were jog every three blocks.

REMEMBERG THE 1970 CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY LIBERATN DAY MARCH

”Gay activists Lilli Vcenz and Cliff Wt produced a documentary of that day, terviewg people anonymoly. They chanted thgs like, "Say loud, Gay is Proud" and “Out of the Closets and Into the Streets. They had a "gay-" stead, siar to the “be-s” of the time.

Leonard Fk Photographs, The LGBT Communy Center Natnal History ArchiveMark SegalEarly member of the Gay Liberatn Front and marshal of the first Pri marchThe Christopher Street Gay Liberatn Day March was as revolutnary and chaotic as everythg we did that first year after the Stonewall rts. ” Today, my origal marshal’s badge is on display the JayEarly member of the Gay Liberatn Front and Radilbians and -anizer of the first march New York and Los AngelIt was a near miracle that the first Christopher Street Wt Para Los Angel kicked off at all on June 28, 1970.

LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: THE ROAD TO AMERI'S FIRST GAY PRI MARCH

Chantg gay liberatn slogans, we wore Halloween stum, our bt drag, tie-dye T-shirts, or almost nothg. For one day, we were victor agast the Ed Davis of the world, and no one seemed “dismod” the FkelsteJohn KyperEarly member of Boston’s Gay Liberatn Front and an anizer of Boston’s first Pri ParaWe held our first march Boston 1971 — a year after New York.

The march began at a baret bar lled Jacqu — which is still there and still gay — and ma three addnal stops along the route where we read a seri of mands. ActivistI grew up Jersey Cy close to the PATH tra and was lucky to fd my first boyiend my high school sophomore homeroom class.

I helped anize , wh other members of the Gay Liberatn Front. Our chant of “gay is good” challenged the orthodoxy that gay was bad, mad and sad.