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

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• MAKINGGAYHISTORY—THE PODCAST
• GAY LIBERATN
• GAYS AGAST IMPERIALISM
• (1970) HUEY P. NEWTON, “THE WOMEN’S LIBERATN AND GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENTS”
• ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY
• GAY LIBERATN NEED THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• GAY LIBERATN

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

E., for lbians, gays [homosexual mal], bisexuals, transgenr persons, and queer persons); seeks to elimate sodomy laws; and lls for an end to discrimatn agast LGBTQ persons employment, cred, hog, public acmodatns, and other areas of life. ) Gay rights prr to the 20th century Relig admonns agast sexual relatns between dividuals of the same sex (particularly men) long stigmatized such behavur, but most legal s Europe were silent on the subject of homosexualy and bisexualy. Dpe Paragraph 175 and the failure of the WhK to w s repeal, homosexual and bisexual men and women experienced a certa amount of eedom Germany, particularly durg the Weimar perd, between the end of World War I and the Nazi seizure of power.

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. In the 1970s and ’80s, gay polil anizatns proliferated, particularly the Uned Stat and Europe, and spread to other parts of the globe, though their relative size, strength, and succs—and toleratn by thori—varied signifintly. Now headquartered Geneva and renamed the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA World), plays a signifint role ordatg ternatnal efforts to promote human rights and fight discrimatn agast LGBTQ and tersex persons.

MAKINGGAYHISTORY—THE PODCAST

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.

At the lol and natnal levels, the number of openly gay policians creased dramatilly durg the 1990s and 2000s, and 2009 Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir beme prime mister of Iceland, which ma her the world’s first openly gay head of ernment. In Ai, Asia, and Lat Ameri, openly gay policians have had only limed succs wng office; notable electns to natnal legislatur clud Patria Jiménez Flor Mexi (1997), Mike Waters South Ai (1999), and Clodovil Hernans Brazil (2006). 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 LIBERATN

The ncept behd the ial Pri march me om members of the Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns (ERCHO), who had been anizg an annual July 4th monstratn (1965-1969) known as the "Remr Day Pickets, " at Inpennce Hall Philalphia. As members of the Mattache Society of Washgton, Frank Kameny and Lilli Vcenz participated the discsn, planng, and promotn of the first Pri along wh activists New York Cy and other homophile groups belongg to ERCHO. The Law Library of Congrs has piled guis to memorative observatns, cludg a prehensive ventory of the Public Laws, Printial Proclamatns and ngrsnal rolutns related to Lbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgenr and Queer Pri Month.

GAYS AGAST IMPERIALISM

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.

(1970) HUEY P. NEWTON, “THE WOMEN’S LIBERATN AND GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENTS”

The Gay Liberatn Front, the very first of the radil anizatns found the immediate aftermath of the Stonewall uprisg, was spawng Marxist offshoots, cludg Third World Gay Revolutn and the Red Butterfly cell. 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. ———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.

‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY

———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 .

GAY LIBERATN NEED THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

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.

GAY LIBERATN

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.