Untend nsequenc: The legacy of the Gay Liberatn Front

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
• DIFFERENT FIGHT, 'SAME GOAL': HOW THE BLACK EEDOM MOVEMENT SPIRED EARLY GAY ACTIVISTS
• HISTORY HAS OVERLOOKED THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT’S ROLE STONEWALL … UNTIL NOW
• GAY LIBERATN FRONT
• UNTEND NSEQUENC: THE LEGACY OF THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT
• GAY LIBERATN FRONT AT ALTERNATE U.
• LAWRENCE GAY LIBERATN FRONT
• THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT'S SOCIAL REVOLUTN
• GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
• THE HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN
• LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: EARLY PNEERS OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• FIGHTG FOR LIBERATN FOR 50 YEARS: MAHER AHMAD REMEMBERS HIS TIME WH THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT

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.

THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT

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. 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).

DIFFERENT FIGHT, 'SAME GOAL': HOW THE BLACK EEDOM MOVEMENT SPIRED EARLY GAY ACTIVISTS

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. On April 25, 1965, three teenagers refed to leave Dewey’s Rtrant Philalphia after employe repeatedly nied service to “homosexuals and persons wearg nonnformist clothg, ” acrdg to Dm magaze, which was created by the Jan Society, an early gay rights teens were arrted and charged wh disorrly nduct, and Jan Society members protted outsi of the rtrant for the next five days, acrdg to Marc Ste, a history profsor at San Francis State Universy.

"Eric Cervi, LGBTQ Historian“Unlike so many other episos, kd of bed issu of homosexualy and trans issu, ” Ste, thor of “Rethkg the Gay and Lbian Movement, ” told NBC May 2, three more people staged a send s- at Dewey’s. Specifilly, s-s anized by gay activists the ‘60s appear to be directly spired by protts held 1960 by Black llege stunts at Woolworth’s lunch unter Greensboro, North Carola, agast racial stunts wa va for food service at this F.

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

C., one of the first homophile groups ("homophile" beg the adjective of choice at the time), and he drew strategi directly om the Black civil rights movement, acrdg to Eric Cervi, a historian and thor of “The Deviant’s War, ” which foc on Kameny and the early gay rights movement. (In fact, 1979, activists would anize a Natnal March on Washgton for Gay and Lbian Rights, which drew an timated 200, 000 protters, acrdg to the Natnal LGBT Chamber of Commerce) hold signs as they participate the Natnal March on Washgton for Lbian & Gay Rights Washgton, DC, on Oct.

GAY LIBERATN FRONT

A aln of gay and lbian anizatns held a yearly peaceful prott at Inpennce Hall lled the Annual Remr om 1965 to 1969, which Ste said were fluenced by the early civil rights monstratns which monstrators were stcted to drs rpectably, wh women drs and men sus. ”Crowd attempts to impe police arrts outsi the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street New York's Greenwich Village York Daily News via Getty ImagCervi said FBI reports explicly nnect the Black Freedom Movement and the early homophile movement. ”“This ia of a aln between the two anizatns — that the Black Freedom Movement might be spirg this other group of Amerin cizens who are also margalized, and the fact that they may both be takg to the streets, perhaps ordatn — that is what sred them the most, ” Cervi said of the FBI and Southern racist Kameny and Mattache Society of Washgton members marchg New York, June Tob Lahen / NYPLHowever, the homophile movement, at least New York and Washgton, never ma that aln a realy, Cervi said he the word “plagiarism” to scribe how Kameny ed civil rights tactics whout workg wh or credg the activists whose tactics he ed.

Kuromiya -found the Gay Liberatn Front’s Philalphia chapter and beme a spokperson for a homosexual workshop at the Black Panther’s Revolutnary People's Constutnal Conventn September 1970, acrdg to gave a prentatn “to the huge dience of the nventn to applse, ” Ste said of Kuromiya, cg this as one of many exampl showg that the movements weren’t agmented or divid at the time some ci. Marshall’s legal strategy, which volved g the due procs and equal protectn cls of the 14th Amendment, served as a mol that the LGBTQ movement ed to challenge the crimalizatn of homosexualy and the nial of marriage rights. Outlg the group’s posn on the two emergg movements, Newton wrote: “Whatever your personal opns and your securi about homosexualy and the var liberatn movements among homosexuals and women (and I speak of the homosexuals and women as opprsed groups), we should try to une wh them a revolutnary fashn.

UNTEND NSEQUENC: THE LEGACY OF THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT

While the old learship wanted to portray the muny as women drs and men sus and ti, those at Stonewall and the founrs of Gay Liberatn Front drsed jeans and t-shirts and drag or what soon would be nsired “genrf*ck. The first Gay Youth anizatn, GYNY; the first trans anizatn, STAR (Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari); the first LGBT Communy Center on Wt 3rd Street; the first monstratns agast media and police; and a ntual public prence as we took back our streets.

There were people at Stonewall who passed by, people who crang their necks om around the rner watchg, people who tossed a stone and ran sce the police chased people up and down the street, but the spir of ristance that gave birth to the new movement was all the Gay Liberatn ont. They created a staable anizatn where there had been none before, the worlds first trans anizatn, Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari, which was a mtee of the Gay Liberatn Front, formed durg the GLF occupatn of NYU’s Weste Hall.

GAY LIBERATN FRONT AT ALTERNATE U.

Infightg the anizatn ed a spl and created the Gay Activists Alliance, which beme popular wh historians sce went back to those rpectable lookg homosexuals that they preferred reprent our muny and which were overwhelmgly whe men. 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.

LAWRENCE GAY LIBERATN FRONT

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. “Fat Tony, ” purchased the Stonewall Inn 1966 and transformed to a gay bar and operate the Stonewall and s other gay bars, the Mafia bribed the NYPD to turn a bld eye to the “cent nduct” occurrg behd closed doors. " This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay reportg the events, The New York Daily News rorted to homophobic slurs s tailed verage, nng the headle: “Homo Nt Raid, Queen Be Are Stgg Mad.

Gay rights, send-wave femism, technologil velopments, and cultural transformatns nvced many that society was on the verge of a paradigm shift, where the old ways would be swept asi and fundamental change was genuely possible. If you scribe yourself as gay, if you joed an LGBTQ society at universy, if you lled the London Lbian and Gay Swchboard, if you have been to a Pri para, or if you ever read Gay News or the magaz that followed , then you have the GLF to thank for. The year 2020 brgs the 50th anniversary of the start of Gay Liberatn London, the moment when everythg changed Bra by settg off the first Gay Pri March 1972, makg 2022 the 50th anniversary of that polil monstratn and celebratn.

THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT'S SOCIAL REVOLUTN

GLF’s aim is ‘Absolute Freedom for All’ and they empower the queer muny to achieve this through artistic and activist procs to nont a variety of forms of stutnalised homophobia cludg workshops, events, exhibns, street actns and muny anisg.

‘Out of the Closet and to the Streets’ is a polil tn and activism programme, that bats the rise homophobia and is part of velopg wir stggl for jtice agast domator culture and the rise of the far right and this is the programme that GLF will be nng wh Guerrilla backg. 2020 – 2022 – GLF tergeneratnal mentorg programme – Wh foundg members of ‘Pri’ om the ‘Gay Liberatn Front’ they have been meetg regularly aga sce the begng of 2019 to reclaim Pri back om the rporatns and are preparg to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the GLF 2020. S clu Harley Street private medil practice, who prevly promoted beg gay as a disease, the Ho of Parliament where the legendary abseilg lbians protted agast the troductn of ‘Sectn 28’, a heavily-policed cisg spot the early 20th Century on the Strand known hilarly as the ‘Notor Ural’, the 1980’s ‘dyk and faggots rints scheme’ to hoe sgle people hard-to-let flats led by a muny of punk femist lbians, the Deptford Dyk and Picdilly Circ to tip our hats to the ‘Dilly Boys’ and sex workers who have kept the wheels of sexual London greased for centuri.

GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT

June 2020 – ‘Queer Freedom’ showse at Rich Mix – weekend of films, trags, workshops and events wh tersectnal grassroots LGBTQI+ movements buildg ntug the tersectnal legacy of ‘Gay Liberatn Fronts’ goal of ‘Absolute Freedom for All’.

Although members of the gay muny were divid their opns about the rt, hundreds of people returned to the scene for the next several nights, some to ntue vlent opposn to the police and others to exprs their sexualy public for the first time.

After Stonewall, however, a more radil polil nscns veloped that rulted om the formatn of many new groups, cludg the Gay Liberatn Front and Radilbians, whose members rejected the strategi and lled for a more ant rponse to homophobia. The papers clud sectns voted to muny updat, cultural events, and personal ads, but they also highlighted new polil ncerns, namely efforts to raise awarens about the problems of gay people prisons and ncerns about gay health.

THE HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN

Public health thori, journalists, doctors, and even many the gay muny blamed gay liberatn and the looseng of sexual rtrictns for the epimic, but no one the medil or scientific muny actually unrstood the behavr of the vis. In June at the ALA Annual Conference Dallas, TX, the Task Force announc the first wner of the Gay Book Award: A Place for Us by Isabel Miller (published by McGraw Hill as Patience and Sarah, ISBN: 9780070420359) and holds s first program “Sex and the Sgle Cataloger: New Thoughts on Some Unthkable Subjects” wh panelists Joan Marshall and Steve Wolf. Although cril of the "straight left" and often nmned by them, most of saw ourselv as part of the broad anti-palist, anti-imperialist movement, strivg for the emancipatn of all ialistic visn volved creatg a new sexual mocracy, whout homophobia, misogyny, racism and class privilege.

It was a nsc, if sometim exaggerated, attempt to renounce the opprsivens and privilege of orthodox masculy and to unrme the way functned to buttrs the subordatn of women and gay dissolutn of straight male machismo was, we argued, the key to endg LGBT and female opprsn.

This transformatn was necsary to allow genr-variant people – both gay and straight – to live their liv eely, whout stigma or ntrast to the gay law reform movement, GLF's strategy for queer emancipatn was to change society's valu and norms, rather than adapt to them.

LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: EARLY PNEERS OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

The seri begs wh the headle “There are probably 2, 700 homosexuals at Cal”, and go to tail about how police officers have been crackg down on the "homosexual activy" on mp, cludg removg every other door the men’s rtroom, so that would stop people om drillg glory hol the stalls. The Gay Liberatn Front was a polil anizatn, and they foced their attentn on the radil unter-culture to help fight discrimatn agast gays “dtry, the mass media, ernment, schools, and church” (Gay Liberatn Movement).

Durg this s- the stunts veloped a list of mands for the Universy which clud: the Universy support the repeal of sodomy laws, the Universy provi facili for the CGE, the Universy give permissn to hold the gay dance as planned, and the Universy enforce the rignatn of John Cox. In addn to the great event that was the dance, the CGE hosted many nscns raisg events the form of symposiums hop of exposg gays to their own opprsn and to te and raise awarens the straight muny about gays, their liftyle, and the acpanyg challeng. ” The CGE hoped that this would give closeted gays a chance to blend to the expected crowd of heterosexuals and expose them to the problems people who are gay face a heteronormative society while also exposg them to a supportive gay muny.

Addnally, the CGE sponsored the Southeast Regnal Gay Coaln over the weekend of November 14, 1972 which legat om over 16 gay activist anizatns the Southeast and members of the general gay populatn and gay supporter populatn attend. Those who feel themselv to be homosexual or bisexual or who are uncerta about their sexual orientatn n expect sympathetic and nfintial nsiratn om most of the relig unselors and the staff of the Columbia Counsellg Service, as well as om the SHL [Stunt Homophile League] self. The Gay Activists Alliance was found at the end of the 1960s New York and was a natnal group rather than tied exclively to Columbia, but many members of Gay People at Columbia were also members of the Gay Activists Alliance.

FIGHTG FOR LIBERATN FOR 50 YEARS: MAHER AHMAD REMEMBERS HIS TIME WH THE GAY LIBERATN FRONT

Meanwhile, the World Health Organizatn Geneva only removed homosexualy om s Internatnal Classifitn of Diseas (ICD) wh the publitn of ICD-10 1992, although ICD-10 still rried the nstct of "ego-dystonic sexual orientatn.

Today, the standard of psychotherapy the US and Europe is gay affirmative psychotherapy, which enurag gay people to accept their sexual orientatn—although some licensed profsnals still nduct so-lled "nversn therapy. She and Frank Kameny worked together to list homosexualy as a mental disorr, which the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn approved Shelley sells the Gay Liberatn Front paper durg a Weste Hall monstratn New York Davi / New York Public LibraryMartha Shelley — One of the first members of the Gay Liberatn Front, Shelley is one of the bt-known lbian activists Ameri.

The name "Shelley" was an alias taken to avoid beg intified FBI surveillance of the Dghters of Mae Brown, Lavenr Menace T-shirt, at the Lavenr Menace Actn, May Davi/NYPLRa Mae Brown — A lbian activist and femist active startg the 1970s, Brown was a member of the Gay Liberatn Front, Lavenr Menace, and joed a lbian mune Washgton, D. Faculty support wasn’t unanimo — one partment returned the envelope of undistributed letters, addrsed to “Miss William Dry” — but the Gay Liberatn Front’s requt was approved, and they were officially regnized on mp. “I would hate to get stuck on a eeway Los Angel bee a whole bunch of gay rights activists or (Black Liv Matter) activists sat down and closed up, but if the people are willg to s the eeway, be arrted, go to jail, fight the arrt, pay the fe, get released and do aga, more power to them.