‎Gay and Proud (1970) directed by Lilli Vcenz • Reviews, film + st • Letterboxd

Contents:

• INSI THE FIRST PRI PARA—A R PROTT FOR GAY LIBERATN
• JUNE 28, 1970: GAY AND PROUD
• ‘GAY AND PROUD’ HISTORIL FILM PROVIS LOOK BACK AT EARLY PRI MARCH
• HOW ACTIVISTS ORGANIZED THE FIRST GAY PRI PARAS
• WATCH FOOTAGE OM NEW YORK CY’S FIRST GAY PRI MARCH (1970)
• LILLI VCENZ, "GAY AND PROUD", CHRISTOPHER STREET LIBERATN DAY PARA, 1970
• GAY AND PROUD
• CODA: BEG A YOUNG GAY PERSON THE 1970S—REFLECTNS ON READG YOUNG, GAY AND PROUD

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

”When John D’E heard a group of LGBTQ activists would be marchg the streets of New York June 1970, he told his boyiend and several of his gay iends. For centuri, homosexualy had been stigmatized, crimalized, and persecuted.

“Comg out” me wh threats of vlence and social that changed the aftermath of the 1969 Stonewall uprisg—when a group of LGBTQ people rted rponse to a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar New York Cy. Now known as the first Pri paras, the gay liberatn march that took place New York and other U. )Stonewall sparks a movementDpe the rampant homophobia of the early 20th century, the LGBTQ muny had ma self visible before.

JUNE 28, 1970: GAY AND PROUD

In 1965, for example, members of the Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns (ERCHO) began picketg each year on July 4 outsi Philalphia’s Inpennce Hall. Sudnly, the gay liberatn movement that had been perlatg boiled over. “The homosexual who wants to live a life of self-fulfillment our current society has all the rds stacked agast them, ” read one 1970 article about the upg march the Gay Liberatn Front News.

“Gay Liberatn is for the homosexual who ref to accept such a ndn. Gay Liberatn is for the homosexual who stands up, and fights back.

‘GAY AND PROUD’ HISTORIL FILM PROVIS LOOK BACK AT EARLY PRI MARCH

”The first gay liberatn marchAround the untry, groups began to plan their own memorative march. Around 150 marchers marched om Civic Center Plaza to Washgton Square shoutg slogans like “Gay power to gay people.

” The same day, a small group of San Francisns marched down Polk Street, then had a “gay-” piic that was broken up by equtrian and other New York groups had spent months planng the Manhattan event wh the help of anizers like Brenda Howard, a bisexual activist who had cut her anizg teeth durg the anti-Vietnam movement of the late 1960s. And monstrators shouted slogans like “Gay power, ” “Gay is okay, ” and “Gay, gay, all the way!

HOW ACTIVISTS ORGANIZED THE FIRST GAY PRI PARAS

I always say that gay liberatn was nceived at Stonewall 1969 and born at that first march. ” The marchers parad om Greenwich Village to Central Park, where they held a gay- gatherg wh speech and every muny weled s para.

WATCH FOOTAGE OM NEW YORK CY’S FIRST GAY PRI MARCH (1970)

LAPD chief Edward Davis had a history of bashg LA’s gay muny, pared activists to bank robbers, and said the group would have to pay $1, 500 and post a $1. 5 ln surance bond, noted journalists Dudley Clenn and Adam Nagourney Out for Good, their history of the gay rights movement. “It changed forever my ncept of what meant to be part of the gay muny, ” Rev.

And if we hadn't done that, nobody would remember the Stonewall today, " said Karla Jay, the first woman chair of the Gay Liberatn Front and a retired women's and genr studi profsor at Pace Universy. In 1969, the NYPD ed billy clubs agast protters outsi The Stonewall In, a gay bar.

' " The followg year, June 28, 1970, people gathered jt outsi the Stonewall Inn for the Christopher Street Gay Liberatn Day March. And they had signs on long woon sticks that said "Gay Pri" and "I am a lbian and I am betiful. Gay activists Lilli Vcenz and Cliff Wt produced a documentary of that day, terviewg people anonymoly.

LILLI VCENZ, "GAY AND PROUD", CHRISTOPHER STREET LIBERATN DAY PARA, 1970

The documentary Gay and Proud tells the story of the 1970 Gay Pri Para New York Cy. They chanted thgs like, "Say loud, gay is proud" and "Out of the closets and to the streets.

They had a "gay-" stead, siar to the "be-s" of the time.

Now hoed the Library of Congrs’ film llectn, the 12-mute documentary “Gay and Proud” is a good start.

GAY AND PROUD

The film ntas footage of one of the earlit Gay Pri monstratn march, the first Christopher Street Liberatn Day Para, which was held New York Cy a year after the Stonewall rts on June 28, 1970. State Liquor Authory did not give out licens to tablishments that served gay patrons. Five months after the rts, activists Craig Rodwell, his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Brody and Lda Rhos proposed a rolutn at the Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns (ERCHO) Philalphia that a march be held New York Cy to memorate the one-year anniversary of the raid.

” The ia of “Gay Power” was thrown around, but Schoonmaker said gay dividuals lacked real power to make change, but one thg they did have was pri. ’” The official chant for the march beme, “Say loud, gay is proud.

CODA: BEG A YOUNG GAY PERSON THE 1970S—REFLECTNS ON READG YOUNG, GAY AND PROUD

”The Stonewall Inn is a bar loted New York Cy’s Greenwich Village that served as a haven the 1960s for the cy’s gay, lbian and transgenr muny.

At the time, homosexual acts remaed illegal every state except Illois, and bars and rtrants uld get shut down for havg gay employe or servg gay patrons. Most gay bars and clubs New York at the time were operated by the Mafia, who paid rptible police officers to look the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threateng to “out” them. Here, protters monstrate outsi the New York gay bar, Christopher's the early hours of June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn was raid by police wh no warng.

They are pictured at a 1973 rally for gay rights New York P. Sylvia Rivera was a Lata-Amerin drag queen who beme one of the most radil gay and transgenr activists of the 1960s and '70s. As -founr of the Gay Liberatn Front, Rivera was known for participatg the Stonewall Rts and tablishg the polil anizatn STAR (Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari).