Gay activist organizations were formed in new york
Written by: Jim Downs, Connecticut College
By the end of this section, you will:
- Explain how and why various groups responded to calls for the expansion of civil rights from 1960 to 1980
After World War II, the civil rights movement had a profound impact on other groups demanding their rights. The feminist movement, the Dark Power movement, the environmental movement, the Chicano movement, and the American Indian Movement sought equality, rights, and empowerment in American society. Gay people organized to resist oppression and demand just treatment, and they were especially galvanized after a New York City police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, sparked riots in 1969.
Around the similar time, biologist Alfred Kinsey began a massive research of human sexuality in the United States. Fond of Magnus Hirschfield and other scholars who studied sexuality, including Havelock Ellis, a prominent British scholar who published research on gender non-conforming psychology, Kinsey believed sexuality could be studied as a science. He interviewed more than 8,000 men and argued that sexuality existed on a spectrum, saying that it could not be confined to simple categories of gay and heterosex
Developing New Political Theories and Tactics
The Gay Liberation Front sought to avoid many of the pitfalls they saw in the political tactics of homophile groups like Mattachine. Where MSNY had attempted to integrate gays and lesbians into existing structures, GLFers would work to bring about the growth of an entirely fresh society; and where homophile activists had sought to project an image of respectability, the new queer liberationists would fight against mainstream attitudes and beliefs. They would “start demanding, not politely requesting, our rights."[2]
But GLF was interested in much more than rights, advocating direct action against the system to tear down restrictive sex roles and bring about the liberation of all oppressed people. As GLFers set about achieving their freedom, almost nothing seemed out of reach. They attacked not only the “rotten, dirty, vile, fucked-up capitalist conspiracy” responsible for their own and others' oppression, but also a range of social and political institutions, such as the educational system, organized religion, the nuclear family, psychiatry, business, the media, and the mafi
Timeline: Key moments in contest for gay rights
June marks Pride Month for the LGBTQIA+ community. Many people celebrate and show their pride with rainbow flags and parades.
But the quest for equal civil rights for the community has been fraught with strife and violence. From bricks thrown at Stonewall to "Don't Say Gay" legislation, the fight for equality continues. Here is a look at some of the key moments in LGBTQIA+ history and the fight for equal rights.
Though police raids on male lover bars were common in the '60s, on June 28, 1969, patrons of New York's Stonewall Inn said "enough." They fought back, riots broke out and supporters poured into the West Village, igniting the gay rights movement in the U.S. Within six months, two lgbtq+ activist organizations were formed in New York, and three newspapers were launched for gays and lesbians.
Harvey Milk became one of the first openly lgbtq+ men elected to common office in the Combined States when he won a seat on the board of supervisors in 1977. An outspoken advocate for gay rights, he urged others to enter out and fight for their rights. He was assassinated at City Hall just a year later.
History
After the Stonewall Rebellion in June 1969, the first LGBT activist organization formed was the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), in July. GLF was a leftist group that attempted to ally itself with other gradual activists of the time, such as anti-Vietnam War protestors and the Shadowy Panthers. Several GLF members, including Jim Owles, Marty Robinson, Arthur Evans, and Arthur Bell, became disaffected with GLF within a few months and decided to form a recent gay rights collective devoted exclusively to gay and womxn loving womxn issues. Among the reasons were their consensus that GLF was unfocused with too many issues and few accomplishments, that it had no consistent course of gay rights street activism, and had no democratically elected leaders.
Evans, Bell, and Owles met over Sunday brunch in early November 1969 to talk about forming a modern group, and were joined the accompanying evening by Robinson at Owles’ apartment (listed on a 1970 document as 328 East 61st Street). Three of the men (Evans was absent) were joined on November 24, 1969, by a larger community, which included, according to a 1971 flyer, Tom Doerr, Kay (Tobin) Lahusen, Fred Orlansky, Bernardo “Fr The Spirit of
Stonewall Lives On