Comg of Age Durg the 1970s — Chapter One: A Surge of Energy | Makg Gay History

Contents:

• MAKINGGAYHISTORY—THE PODCAST
• UNTEND NSEQUENC: THE LEGACY OF THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT
• HISTORY HAS OVERLOOKED THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT’S ROLE STONEWALL … UNTIL NOW
• GAY RIGHTS

MAKINGGAYHISTORY—THE PODCAST

Aligns self polilly and crilly wh the femist/women's/lbian movements occurrg ntemporaneoly, movg away om specifilly male- and female- oriented gay serials that preced (The Ladr for women, the newsletters of the var rnatns of the Mattache Society, among others). Article about the passage of New York State’s gay rights bill, 31 years later (New York Tim, December 17, 2002) Newton on gay liberatn:1970 manifto which Newton lls for an alliance between the Black Panthers and the women’s liberatn and gay liberatn movements (open letter the Black Panther Party newspaper, Augt 21, 1970, page 5). ———Prottors: Gay Activists Alliance, don’t [overlappg voic]…Jim Owl, print of the Gay Activists Alliance, seated at the cy clerk’s sk wh same-sex weddg ke, durg the GAA’s marriage bure zap at the New York Cy Municipal Buildg, June 4, 1971.

———EM Narratn: The Gay Activists Alliance was jt one of the hundreds of new anizatns takg root: Lbians Risg, the Queens Liberatn Front, Lbian Femist Liberatn, and…———Ernie Ray: Let’s hear now om the Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari.

———Huey Newton: The homosexual group, uh, have been, uh, opprsed so, uh, much and so badly until, uh, was hard to nvce them that, uh, the Black Panther Party, uh, uh, is relatg to, uh, we see, uh, that, uh, uh, homosexuals are human begs and, uh, they’re opprsed bee of the bourgeois mentaly and the bourgeois treachery, uh, that, uh, exists this untry, uh, that, uh, tri to legislate, uh, sexual activy. Glf newsletterFront and back of a 1970 Gay Liberatn Front newsletter announcg the gural Christopher Street Liberatn Day March and Gay-In and var GLF gathergs, cludg nscns-raisg workshops and a “mixed dance” at Alternate U.

UNTEND NSEQUENC: THE LEGACY OF THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT

———Cabaret Host: Now to start the show, I’d like to troduce a very good iend of me…———EM Narratn: The beloved Mama Jean Devante not only served as grand marshal at a number of early Pri March; she was a key member of the Gay Activists Alliance and Lbian Femist Liberatn. ———EM Narratn: Unr “Analysis, ” Kathy go on:———KB Voice-over: ”Who wants to go to a gay bar when you n get six hundred dancg partners, a light show, and ee at check, all for a ntributn of a dollar fifty, wh drks only a quarter!

Here was Jim Owl om Gay Activists Alliance, there was beat poet Allen Gsberg, and on the ma stage, Male, strint and clear:———MD: Our fears that people will know for who we are, that they will shun and revile , fire om our jobs, reject om our fai, evict om our hom, beat and jail . Of New York the summer of 1969 enuragg a quiet and rpectful “hang-out” of homosexuals Greenwich Village—an illtratn of the more “poky” homophile approach to prottg, which stood ntrast to the more disptive tactics of nascent gay liberatnist groups.

So wasn’t merely that we removed them om the tegory of illns; we stated that there was no reason why a gay man and woman uldn’t be jt as healthy, jt as effective, jt as law-abidg, and pable of functng as any heterosexual. Many thanks to our hard-workg crew at Makg Gay History, cludg puty director Inge De Taeye, stud engeer Michael Bognar, photo edor Michael Green, and our social media producers, Cristiana Peña and Nick Porter. Sound om the Gay Activists Alliance’s marriage bure zap om the imable Randy Wicker’s extraordary personal archive, some of which n be found on Newton’s Augt 1971 terview was wh San Francis Bay Area rad statn KPFA, thanks to the Pacifi archive.

HISTORY HAS OVERLOOKED THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT’S ROLE STONEWALL … UNTIL NOW

Carl Wtman’s “Gay Manifto” was voiced by the parable Devlyn Camp, producer, wrer, and host of Queer Serial, a three-season podst chroniclg LGBTQ+ liberatn Ameri om the begng to the Stonewall uprisg and s aftermath. This episo was unrwrten wh a very genero donatn om André’s Fund and Robert Dodd, honorg André nsir jog on Makg Gay History’s Patreon channel, where you n support our work and at the same time ga accs to exclive terviews, behd-the-scen nversatns, and addnal archival d excerpts that we thk you’ll enjoy hearg. On the 4th July Lbians and Gay Men om the Matache Society New York, rponse to the rts, staged a walk-out and moved to the Alternative Universy Greenwich Village where they found what beme the Gay Liberatn Front.

“Not only did liberatnists go to Philalphia to show solidary wh the black movement, but was there that Huey Newton as lear of the Panthers, first gave clear support of the Gay Cse, sayg that homosexuals were maybe the most opprsed people of Amerin society, and uld well be the most revolutnary.

On 13th November, GLF ma the first ever, public monstratn the UK by lbians and gay men at Highbury Fields, Islgton, to prott the e of “pretty policemen” agent provotrs ed by the police to entrap gay men to attemptg acts of gross cency, a standard police practice and an easy way for them to crease the figur for crime tectn and prosecutn. An Anti-Psychiatry Group foced on analysg and attackg the Psychiatric Establishments wholale acceptance of Juo Christian prejudice, Biblil thory, and the e of electric shock/emetic dg programm on gays and lbians who did not f , or who were found guilty of breakg the law.

GAY RIGHTS

But gay men don’t need to opprs women orr to fulfil their own psycho-sexual needs, and gay women don’t have to relate sexually to the male opprsor, so that at this moment time, the et and most equal relatnships are most likely to be between homosexuals. In all about a hundred gay men and lbians were active the var GLF Groups, while by mid-January, ’71 there were up to five hundred people a week attendg the General Meetg, which suggts that many thoands of gay men and lbians passed through the doors. David Rben’s book, “Everythg you wanted to know about sex – but were aaid to ask”, which claimed to tell ndid facts whilst avoidg moral judgement and the sectns on gays and lbians ntaed referenc to light bulbs, cucumbers, and the e of wire at hangers for abortns.

At the end of ’71 ser spls were occurrg between the men who saw ‘g out’ as only the first step the transformatn of gay men and the send the nontatn wh the social ials of masculy, and sexism, whilst followg the Manifto aim of movg toward munal livg. Opposg them were the men who ignored the Manifto, refed to acknowledge their heterosexist quali, were learng to mpaign on sgle issu, but need, as straight men do, an anised stcture which to operate, one that gay lib was liberately signed not to provi. In June me the first issue of ‘Gay News’ published by a group ntag many 'straight gays' om the GLF Actn Group, and immediately laid down a format for savg the natn om the screamg red queens and faggots of gay lib.