The Gay Liberatn Front's social revolutn | Peter Tatchell | The Guardian

Contents:

• UNTEND NSEQUENC: THE LEGACY OF THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT
• PARTY AND PROTT: THE RADIL HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN, STONEWALL AND PRI
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• GAY LIBERATN FRONT
• THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
• THE HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN
• GAY RIGHTS
• THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT'S SOCIAL REVOLUTN
• INSI THE FIRST PRI PARA—A R PROTT FOR GAY LIBERATN
• STONEWALL AND ITS IMPACT ON THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
• OUT AND PROUD - THE LEGACY OF THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT

UNTEND NSEQUENC: THE LEGACY OF THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT

Soon they were advotg nothg ls than “gay liberatn” nscns-raisg groups to fundraisg danc, protts outsi hostile newspapers to refug for homels trans and queer people, this surge LGBTQ+ anisg took many forms, and as the first anniversary of the rts me to view, some the muny began discsg how bt to mark what was beg regard as the “Bastille day” of gay rights. The roots of that bate go back to s earlit days, and suggt that Pri and the Stonewall rts have always been part of a ntent battle for inty and ownership – a battle that has helped produce the very ia of what beg a lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or queer person might Stonewall rts were not the birth of the gay rights movement.

PARTY AND PROTT: THE RADIL HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN, STONEWALL AND PRI

Seven years before that, when police had raid Coopers, a donut shop the cy ntled between two gay bars, LGBTQ+ patrons had attacked officers after the arrt of a number of drag queens, sex workers and gay had been a gay rights movement the US among people scribg themselv as “homophil” sce the late 40s.

Hirschfeld’s scientific approach, bed wh his sympathetic treatment of LGBTQ+ people – he was himself homosexual – had been key velopg the ia that their shared experienc uld be unrstood not jt as discrete sexual (and crimal) acts, nor as psychiatric illns, but as a legible sexual and genr inty, which uld be afford civil rights. ) The Mattache Society had radil roots activism, takg on the anisatnal stcture of cells and central anisatn favoured by the Communist well as publishg magaz for gay men, and supportg victims of police entrapment, the society had wir polil aims, cludg to “unify homosexuals isolated om their own kd” and to “te homosexuals and heterosexuals toward an ethil homosexual culture parallelg the cultur of the Negro, Mexin and Jewish peopl”. Such aims would bee key to the ncept of “gay pri” some two s two s, however, would be among the harst for LGBTQ+ people US history, as the greater visibily of the homosexual inty led to a nservative backlash, and a moral panic the media that was palised upon by policians.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

After he was forced to appear before the Hoe Un-Amerin Activi Commtee, Hay was expelled om the Mattache Society, now a growg anisatn of a few thoand men, and he wasn’t the last radil to be thrown homophile movement began to tackle “subversive elements” and orient self around rpectabily.

GAY LIBERATN FRONT

In 1966, the Mattache Society challenged this policy wh a “sip-” at Juli’, a Greenwich Village bar that was popular wh gay men, but was attemptg to shake off s homosexual bars equently flouted this law, explog legal loophol and payg off the NYPD while chargg their LGBTQ+ ctomers high pric for watered-down drks. When, ncerned by the ongog unrt, members of the society pated on the board-up wdows of the Stonewall “WE HOMOSEXUALS PLEAD WITH OUR PEOPLE TO PLEASE HELP MAINTAIN PEACEFUL AND QUIET CONDUCT ON THE STREETS OF THE VILLAGE – MATTACHINE”, their ll went unheed.

THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT

As the Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns me together for a meetg November 1969 to discs the followg year’s Annual Remr, Rodwell wonred whether a memoratn of the rts – one whout a drs or other rtrictns, and that uld be mirrored across the natn – might not be more suable.

At the same time, there were tensns around the excln of trans people, many of whom scribed themselv as queens and transvt, the language of the LGBTQ+ scene at the time, even while still intifyg themselv as “gay” umbrella, which brought people together for the e of liberatn, failed to acknowledge the different experienc of those who sheltered unr , or addrs the power imbalanc wh . It wasn’t until the 00s, though, that rporate sponsorship began to overwhelm Pri, as more fundg led to larger and larger events, which LGBTQ+ people are now often charged to the late 90s, some US activists created Gay Shame rponse to Pri’s mercialisatn, an event that foced on anisg around wir issu that affected the whole LGBTQ+ muny. Dpe the radil LGBTQ+ anisg that took place rponse to the Aids crisis – where Pri paras beme a loc for awarens-raisg protts – many more-radil activists felt that, wh creasg rporate volvement, the event was beg taken over by liberal activists wantg to assiate queer liv to beg a “mol mory”, wh marriage and ary service beg a symbol that gay people particular had “ma ”.

Gay assiatnists want to make sure they’re on the wng si the cizenship wars, and see no need to nont the legaci of systemic and systematic US opprsn that prevent most people livg this untry (and everywhere else) om exercisg their supposed ‘rights.

THE HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN

This is te, of urse – but then the same uld be said for the US’s close regnal ally, Sdi Rsia, both fascists and relig fundamentalists have found attempts to anise Pri march a potent rallyg ll, mobilisg wispread homophobic feelg by claimg that homosexualy is, sence, a rptg import om the wt. In Poland, natnalist and nservative policians have found electoral benef siar statements; only last year Jarosław Kaczyński, lear of the lg Law and Jtice party, scribed LGBTQ+ activism as a “foreign imported threat to the natn” e of such rhetoric across the world, and the history of European exportatn of homophobic laws, means that attempts by liberal, pro-LGBTQ+ mentators the wt to pict other untri as somehow naturally backwards is often dangeroly unterproductive for LGBTQ+ people those untri. In the Uned Stat this greater visibily brought some backlash, particularly om the ernment and the police: the ernment often fired gay civil servants, the ary attempted to purge s ranks of gay soldiers (a policy enacted durg World War II), and police vice squads equently raid gay bars and arrted their patrons.

In the Uned Stat the first major male anizatn, found 1950–51 by Harry Hay Los Angel, was the Mattache Society (s name reputedly rived om a medieval French society of masked players, the Société Mattache, to reprent the public “maskg” of homosexualy), while the Dghters of Bilis (named after the Sapphic love poems of Pierre Louÿs, Chansons Bilis), found 1955 by Phyllis Lyon and Del Mart San Francis, was a leadg group for women. In Bra 1957 a missn chaired by Sir John Wolfenn issued a groundbreakg report (see Wolfenn Report) remendg that private homosexual liaisons between nsentg adults be removed om the doma of crimal law; a later the remendatn was implemented by Parliament the Sexual Offenc Act. This support, along wh mpaigns by gay activists urgg gay men and women to “e out of the closet” (ed, the late 1980s, Natnal Comg Out Day was tablished, and is now celebrated on October 11 most untri), enuraged gay men and women to enter the polil arena as ndidat.

Other issu of primary importance for the gay rights movement sce the 1970s clud batg the HIV/AIDS epimic and promotg disease preventn and fundg for rearch; lobbyg ernment for nondiscrimatory polici employment, hog, and other aspects of civil society; endg the ban on ary service for gay and lbian dividuals; expandg hate crim legislatn to clu protectns for gays, cludg transgenr dividuals; and securg marriage rights for same-sex upl (see same-sex marriage). Ary’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (1993–2011), which had permted gay and lbian dividuals to serve the ary if they did not disclose their sexual orientatn or engage homosexual activy; the repeal effectively end the ban on homosexuals the ary.

GAY RIGHTS

Image source, NY Daily News Archive / GettyImage ptn, Tensns rose on the street after the raidWhen half a dozen police officers raid a Mafia-n gay bar on a hot New York night 50 years ago, ltle did they know their actns would spark a movement that rhaped the liv of generatns to didn't throw a brick that night. An hour earlier, the police had raid the bar Greenwich Village for the send time that week, but this time on a Friday night at 1am when was 200 ctomers - lbians, gay men, transgenr people, naway teenagers and drag queens - were thrown out on to Christopher Street. Two years later, about 100, 000 people took part a natnal march on Washgton - probably at that pot the biggt gatherg of gay people of the anti-sodomy laws were stck down the 1980s, makg homosexualy effectively legal, although was s before gay marriage beme a ferally-regnised right 2015.

"Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, The Natnal March On Washgton filled the famo mallIt wasn't the first gay uprisg agast the police - as the LA Tim recently relled, the police were pelted wh donuts 10 years earlier - but was the most nsequential. McDarrah/Getty ImagAfter pourg their drks, a bartenr Juli's Bar ref to serve John Timms, Dick Lesch, Craig Rodwell, and Randy Wicker, members of the Mattache Society who were prottg New York liquor laws that prevented servg gay ctomers, 1966, three members of the Mattache Society, an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay rights, staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s.

But between New York’s LGBTQ muny the 1960s beg forced to live on the outskirts of society and the Mafia’s disregard for the law, the two beme a profable, if uneasy, State Liquor Authory and the New York Police Department regularly raid bars that tered to gay patrons.

THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT'S SOCIAL REVOLUTN

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.

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.

INSI THE FIRST PRI PARA—A R PROTT FOR GAY LIBERATN

Groups hosted the 17th ternatnal nference of ILGA (The Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn), and the energy of the ternatnal legat who attend and the excement of hostg the gatherg only add to the drama of the untry’s first actual succsful para.

“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. 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.

STONEWALL AND ITS IMPACT ON THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT

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. Army service World War I, Gerber was spired to create his anizatn by the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee, a “homosexual emancipatn” group ’s small group published a few issu of s newsletter “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter. Ernment signated Gerber’s Chigo hoe a Natnal Historic Pk TriangleCorbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, gay rights movement stagnated for the next few s, though LGBT dividuals around the world did e to the spotlight a few example, English poet and thor Radclyffe Hall stirred up ntroversy 1928 when she published her lbian-themed novel, The Well of Lonels.

Addnally, 1948, his book Sexual Behavr the Human Male, Aled Ksey proposed that male sexual orientatn li on a ntuum between exclively homosexual to exclively Homophile Years In 1950, Harry Hay found the Mattache Foundatn, one of the natn’s first gay rights group.

OUT AND PROUD - THE LEGACY OF THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT

”Though started off small, the foundatn, which sought to improve the liv of gay men through discsn groups and related activi, expand after foundg member Dale Jenngs was arrted 1952 for solicatn and then later set ee due to a adlocked the end of the year, Jenngs formed another anizatn lled One, Inc., which weled women and published ONE, the untry’s first pro-gay magaze.

Post Office, which 1954 clared the magaze “obscene” and refed to liver Mattache Society Mattache Foundatn members rtctured the anizatn to form the Mattache Society, which had lol chapters other parts of the untry and 1955 began publishg the untry’s send gay publitn, The Mattache Review. That same year, four lbian upl San Francis found an anizatn lled the Dghters of Bilis, which soon began publishg a newsletter lled The Ladr, the first lbian publitn of any early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr followg year, Print Dwight D. ”In fear of beg shut down by thori, bartenrs would ny drks to patrons spected of beg gay or kick them out altogether; others would serve them drks but force them to s facg away om other ctomers to prevent them om 1966, members of the Mattache Society New York Cy staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue.