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Gay Liberation Front

March 03, 2023

For the organization in Argentina, see Frente de Liberación Homosexual.

Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots.[1] Similar organizations also formed in the UK and Canada. The GLF provided a voice for the newly-out and newly-radicalized gay community, and a meeting place for a number of activists who would go on to form other groups, such as the Gay Activists Alliance and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in the US. [2] In the UK and Canada, activists also developed a platform for gay liberation and demonstrated for gay rights. Activists from both the US and UK groups would later go on to found or be active in groups including ACT UP, the Lesbian Avengers, Queer Nation, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and Stonewall.[3]

Members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) UK, at England's first Gay Pride, 1972 in London

United States

 
1970s poster used by the US GLF

The United States Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was formed in the aftermath of the Stonewall Riots. The riots are considered by many to be the prime catalyst for the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.[4][5]

On June 28, 1969 in Greenwich Village, New York, the New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a well known gay bar, located on Christopher Street. Police raids of the Stonewall, and other lesbian and gay bars, were a routine practice at the time, with regular payoffs to dirty cops and organized crime figures an expected part of staying in business.[6] The Stonewall Inn was made up of two former horse stables which had been renovated into one building in 1930. Like all gay bars of the era, it was subject to countless police raids, as LGBT activities and fraternization were still largely illegal. But this time, when the police began arresting patrons, the customers began pelting them with coins, and later, bottles and rocks. The lesbian and gay crowd also freed staff members who had been put into police vans, and the outnumbered officers retreated inside the bar. Soon, the Tactical Patrol Force (TPF), originally trained to deal with war protests, were called in to control the mob, which was now using a parking meter as a battering ram. As the patrol force advanced, the crowd did not disperse, but instead doubled back and re-formed behind the riot police, throwing rocks, shouting "Gay Power!", dancing, and taunting their opposition. For the next several nights, the crowd would return in ever increasing numbers, handing out leaflets and rallying themselves. Soon the word "Stonewall" came to represent fighting for equality in the gay community.[citation needed] And in commemoration, Gay Pride marches are held every year on the anniversary of the riots.

In early July 1969, due in large part to the Stonewall riots in June of that year, discussions in the gay community led to the formation of the Gay Liberation Front. According to scholar Henry Abelove, it was named GLF "in a provocative allusion to the Algerian National Liberation Front and the Vietnamese National Liberation Front."[7][8] On August 2, 1969, the group held a protest at the Women's House of Detention in Greenwich Village and would go on to hold weekly protests there.[9]

One of GLF's early acts included organizing a march protesting coverage of gay people by The Village Voice, which took place on September 12, 1969.[10] The GLF had a broad political platform, denouncing racism and declaring support for various Third World struggles and the Black Panther Party. They took an anti-capitalist stance and attacked the nuclear family and traditional gender roles.

On October 31, 1969, sixty members of the GLF, the Committee for Homosexual Freedom (CHF), and the Gay Guerilla Theatre group staged a protest outside the offices of the San Francisco Examiner in response to a series of news articles disparaging people in San Francisco's gay bars and clubs.[11][12][13][14] The peaceful protest against the Examiner turned tumultuous and was later called "Friday of the Purple Hand" and "Bloody Friday of the Purple Hand".[14][15][16][17][18][19] Examiner employees "dumped a barrel of printers' ink on the crowd from the roof of the newspaper building", according to glbtq.com.[20] Some reports state that it was a barrel of ink poured from the roof of the building.[21] The protesters "used the ink to scrawl slogans on the building walls" and slap purple hand prints "throughout downtown [San Francisco]" resulting in "one of the most visible demonstrations of gay power" according to the Bay Area Reporter.[14][16][19] According to Larry LittleJohn, then president of Society for Individual Rights, "At that point, the tactical squad arrived – not to get the employees who dumped the ink, but to arrest the demonstrators. Somebody could have been hurt if that ink had gotten into their eyes, but the police were knocking people to the ground."[14] The accounts of police brutality include women being thrown to the ground and protesters' teeth being knocked out.[14][22] Inspired by Black Hand extortion methods of Camorra gangsters and the Mafia,[23] some gay and lesbian activists attempted to institute "purple hand" as a warning to stop anti-gay attacks, but with little success.[citation needed] In Turkey, the LGBT rights organization MorEl Eskişehir LGBTT Oluşumu (Purple Hand Eskişehir LGBT Formation), also bears the name of this symbol.[24]

Come Out!, the first periodical published by the GLF, came out it November 1969.[25]

In 1970, several GLF women, such as Martha Shelley, Lois Hart, Karla Jay,[26] and Michela Griffo went on to form the Lavender Menace, a lesbian activist organization.

In 1970, the drag queen caucus of the GLF, including Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, formed the group Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), which focused on providing support for gay prisoners, housing for homeless gay youth and street people, especially other young "street queens" [27].[6][28]

In 1970, the GLF, led by Gary Alinder, protested the American Psychiatric Association’s classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder.

In 1970 "The U.S. Mission" had a permit to use a campground in the Sequoia National Forest. Once it was learned that the group was sponsored by the GLF, the Sequoia National Forest supervisor cancelled the permit, and the campground was closed for the period.[29]

United Kingdom

 
1971 GLF cover version of Ink magazine, UK

... if we are to succeed in transforming our society we must persuade others of the merits of our ideas, and there is no way we can achieve this if we cannot even persuade those most affected by our oppression to join us in fighting for justice.

We do not intend to ask for anything. We intend to stand firm and assert our basic rights. If this involves violence, it will not be we who initiate this, but those who attempt to stand in our way to freedom.

—GLF Manifesto, 1971[30]

The UK Gay Liberation Front existed between 1970–1973.[31]

Its first meeting was held in the basement of the London School of Economics on 13 October 1970. Bob Mellors and Aubrey Walter had seen the effect of the GLF in the United States and created a parallel movement based on revolutionary politics.[32] Come Together, the organisation's newspaper, came out of its Media Workshop the same year.[33]

By 1971, the UK GLF was recognized as a political movement in the national press, holding weekly meetings of 200 to 300 people.[34] The GLF Manifesto was published, and a series of high-profile direct actions, were carried out, such as the disruption of the launch of the Church-based morality campaign, Festival of Light.[35]

The disruption of the opening of the 1971 Festival of Light was one of the most well-organised GLF actions. The first meeting of the Festival of Light was organised by Mary Whitehouse at Methodist Central Hall. Amongst GLF members taking part in this protest were the "Radical Feminists", a group of gender non-conforming males in drag, who invaded and spontaneously kissed each other;[36] others released mice, sounded horns, and unveiled banners, and a contingent dressed as workmen obtained access to the basement and shut off the lights.[37]

Easter 1972 saw the Gay Lib annual conference held in the Guild of Students building at the University of Birmingham.[38]

 
Birmingham GLF marching in Kings Heath / Moseley, Birmingham 1975

By 1974, internal disagreements had led to the movement's splintering. Organizations that spun off from the movement included the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, Gay News, and Icebreakers. The GLF Information Service continued for a few further years providing gay related resources.[32] GLF branches had been set up in some provincial British towns (e.g., Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Leeds, and Leicester) and some survived for a few years longer. The Leicester Gay Liberation Front founded by Jeff Martin was noted for its involvement in the setting up of the local "Gayline", which is still active today and has received funding from the National Lottery. They also carried out a high-profile campaign against the local paper, the Leicester Mercury, which refused to advertise Gayline's services at the time.[39][40]

The papers of the GLF are among the Hall-Carpenter Archives at the London School of Economics.[41]

Several members of the GLF, including Peter Tatchell, continued campaigning beyond the 1970s under the organisation of OutRage!, which was founded in 1990 and dissolved in 2011, using similar tactics to the GLF (such as "zaps"[42] and performance protest[43]) to attract a significant level of media interest and controversy.[citation needed] It was at this point that a divide emerged within the gay activist movement, mainly due to a difference in ideologies,[3] after which a number of groups including Organization for Lesbian and Gay Alliance (OLGA), the Lesbian Avengers, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Dykes And Faggots Together (DAFT), Queer Nation, Stonewall (which focused on lobbying tactics) and OutRage! co-existed.[3]

These groups were very influential following the HIV/AIDS pandemic of the 1980s and 1990s and the violence against lesbians and gay men that followed.[3]

Canada

The first gay liberation groups identifying with the Gay Liberation Front movement in Canada were in Montreal, Quebec. The Front de Libération Homosexual (FLH) was formed in November 1970, in response to a call for organised activist groups in the city by the publication Mainmise.[44] Another factor in the group's formation was the response from police against gay establishments in the city after the suspension of civil liberties by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the fall of 1970.[44] This group was short-lived; they were disbanded after over forty members were charged for failure to procure a liquor license at one of the group's events in 1972.[44]

A Vancouver, British Columbia group calling itself the Vancouver Gay Liberation Front emerged in 1971, mostly out of meetings from a local commune, called Pink Cheeks. The group gained support from The Georgia Straight, a left-leaning newspaper, and opened a drop-in centre and published a newsletter.[44] The group struggled to maintain a core group of members, and competition from other local groups, such as the Canadian Gay Activists Alliance (CGAA) and the Gay Alliance Toward Equality (GATE), soon led to its demise.[45]

Denmark

Bøssernes Befrielsesfront [da] (BBF; lit. The Gays' Liberation Front) was founded in Copenhagen in 1971, the name inspired by the American Gay Liberation Front. BBF was opposed to the already-established gay rights group "Forbundet af 1948" for being too formal. BBF's activities included going to schools to educate about how it was like being gay, and civil disobedience against the law that prohibited men from publicly dancing together, which was eventually repealed in 1973. The group regularly met at "Bøssehuset" (lit. The gay house) in Christiania.[46][47]

New Zealand

Further information: LGBT in New Zealand

Women's Liberation and Māori activist Ngahuia Te Awekotuku initiated the foundation of the Auckland Gay Liberation Front in March 1972, alongside fellow University of Auckland students Nigel Baumber, Ray Waru, and others. In the following months Gay Liberation Fronts established in Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton, with further groups founded in Rotorua, Nelson, Taranaki, and other places between 1973 and 1977. Gay Liberation groups carried out numerous direct action protests, including guerilla theatre performances, zaps, disrupting meetings of anti-gay groups like the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards, and pickets.[48] Supporting the wellbeing of gays and helping them to come out was an early concern of the movement, leading to the formation of counselling services such as Gay-Aid in Wellington and Gays-An in Christchurch. A "Gay Week" was held from 29 May to 3 June 1972, featuring guerrilla theatre, a forum, dance, and teach-in.[49]

Gay Liberation organizations were not always successful in these aims; sexism and transphobia in the movement also led to the establishment of separate lesbian-feminist and trans organizations, such as SHE - Sisters for Homophile Equality - founded in Christchurch in September 1973. Gay Liberation chapters also worked alongside groups such as Hedesthia, a social and political organization for transvestites and transsexuals.[50]

See also

 
Members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) during one of its street theatre performances in London

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Gay Liberation Front at Alternate U. - NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project". Nyclgbtsites.org.
  2. ^ Bernadicou, August. "Come Out". The LGBTQ History Project. The LGBTQ History Project.
  3. ^ a b c d Robinson, Lucy (2007). Gay men and the left in post-war Britain: How the personal got political. Manchester University Press. pp. 174–176. ISBN 9781847792334. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  4. ^ National Park Service (2008). "Workforce Diversity: The Stonewall Inn, National Historic Landmark National Register Number: 99000562". US Department of Interior. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  5. ^ . North Jersey Media Group Inc. January 21, 2013. Archived from the original on May 30, 2013. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  6. ^ a b Shepard, Benjamin Heim and Ronald Hayduk (2002) From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization. Verso. pp.156-160 ISBN 978-1859-8435-67
  7. ^ Bernadicou, August. "Martha Shelley". August Nation. The LGBTQ History Project. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  8. ^ Abelove, Henry (June 26, 2015). "How Stonewall Obscures the Real History of Gay Liberation". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  9. ^ Ryan, Hugh (2022). The Women's House of Dentention. Bold Type Books. pp. 275–276. ISBN 9781645036661.
  10. ^ Brockell, Gillian (June 8, 2019). "How the homophobic media covered the 1969 Stonewall uprising". The Washington Post.
  11. ^ Teal, Donn (1971). The Gay Militants: How Gay Liberation Began in America, 1969-1971. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 52–58. ISBN 0312112793.
  12. ^ Gould, Robert E. (February 24, 1974). "What We Don't Know About Homosexuality". New York Times Magazine. ISBN 9780231084376. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
  13. ^ Laurence, Leo E. (October 31 – November 6, 1969). "Gays Penetrate Examiner". Berkeley Tribe. Vol. 1, no. 17. p. 4. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  14. ^ a b c d e Alwood, Edward (1996). Straight News: Gays, Lesbians, and the News Media. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08436-6. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
  15. ^ Bell, Arthur (March 28, 1974). "Has The Gay Movement Gone Establishment?". The Village Voice. ISBN 9780231084376. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
  16. ^ a b Van Buskirk, Jim (2004). . Bay Area Reporter. Archived from the original on July 5, 2015. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
  17. ^ Stryker, Susan; Buskirk, Jim Van (November 15–30, 1969). "Friday of the Purple Hand". San Francisco Free Press. ISBN 9780811811873. Retrieved January 1, 2008. (courtesy: the Gay Lesbian Historical Society.
  18. ^ Martin, Del (December 1969). "The Police Beat: Crime in the Streets" (PDF). Vector (San Francisco). 5 (12): 9. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  19. ^ a b ""Gay Power" Politics". GLBTQ, Inc. March 30, 2006. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
  20. ^ . Archived from the original on July 5, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  21. ^ Montanarelli, Lisa; Harrison, Ann (2005). Strange But True San Francisco: Tales of the City by the Bay. Globe Pequot. ISBN 0-7627-3681-X. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
  22. ^ Alwood, Edward (April 24, 1974). "Newspaper Series Surprises Activists". The Advocate. ISBN 9780231084376. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
  23. ^ Nash, Jay Robert (1993). World Encyclopedia of Organized Crime. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80535-9.
  24. ^ "MorEl Eskişehir LGBTT Oluşumu". Moreleskisehir.blogspot.com. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  25. ^ "Come Out!". Libcom.org. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  26. ^ Bernadicou, August. "Martha Shelley". August Nation. The LGBTQ History Project. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  27. ^ Bernadicou, August. "Come Out!". The LGBTQ History Project. The LGBTQ History Project.
  28. ^ Feinberg, Leslie (September 24, 2006). "Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries". Workers World Party. Retrieved August 21, 2018. Stonewall combatants Sylvia Rivera and Marsha "Pay It No Mind" Johnson ... Both were self-identified drag queens.
  29. ^ "Gay Group Loses Campground Use", Lodi News Sentinel, June 26, 1970.
  30. ^ "Gay Liberation Front: Manifesto. London". 1978 [1971].
  31. ^ Stuart Weather. "A brief history of the Gay Liberation Front, 1970-73". libcom.org. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
  32. ^ a b Lucas 1998, pp. 2–3
  33. ^ "Come Together: Gay Liberation Front". Bishopsgate Institute. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  34. ^ Brittain, Victoria (August 28, 1971). "An Alternative to Sexual Shame: Impact of the new militancy among homosexual groups". The Times. p. 12.
  35. ^ . Database of Archives of Non-Government Organisations. January 4, 2009. Archived from the original on March 16, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  36. ^ Power, Lisa (1995). No Bath But Plenty Of Bubbles: An Oral History Of The Gay Liberation Front 1970-7. Cassell.
  37. ^ Gingell, Basil (September 10, 1971). "Uproar at Central Hall as demonstrators threaten to halt Festival of Light". The Times. p. 14.
  38. ^ "Gay Birmingham Remembered - The Gay Birmingham History Project". Birmingham LGBT Community Trust. Retrieved October 3, 2012. Birmingham hosted the Gay Liberation Front annual conference in 1972, at the chaplaincy at Birmingham University Guild of Students.
  39. ^ Peace News John Birdsall page 2 (13 January 1978)
  40. ^ Gay News (1978) Demonstrators protest at ad ban on help-line edition number 135
  41. ^ "Calmview: Collection Browser". archives.lse.ac.uk. LSE Library Services. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  42. ^ Willett, p. 86
  43. ^ Tatchell, Peter. . petertatchell.net. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  44. ^ a b c d Warner, Tom (2002). Never going back : a history of queer activism in Canada. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press. pp. 66–67. ISBN 9780802084606.
  45. ^ Rothon, Robert (October 23, 2008). "Vancouver's Gay Liberation Front". Daily Xtra.
  46. ^ "Bøssernes Befrielsesfront, 1971-ca. 1984". danmarkshistorien.dk (in Danish). Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  47. ^ "Bøssernes Befrielsesfront og kampen mod Danseforbuddet, 1973". danmarkshistorien.dk (in Danish). Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  48. ^ Brickell, Chris (2008). Mates & Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand. Auckland: Random House. pp. 290–304. ISBN 9781869621346.
  49. ^ Laurie, Alison J.; Evans, Linda, eds. (2005). Outlines: Lesbian & Gay Histories of Aotearoa. Wellington: Lesbian & Gay Archives of New Zealand. ISBN 978-0-473-10555-6.
  50. ^ Hansen, Will (March 27, 2022). "A trans history of gay liberation in New Zealand". The Spinoff. Retrieved November 1, 2022.

References

  • Canfield, William J. "We Raise our Voices". Gay & Lesbian Pride & Politics.
  • Diaman, N. A. (1995). . Archived from the original on June 11, 2007.
  • Kissack, Terence (1995). Freaking Fag Revolutionaries: New York's Gay Liberation Front. Radical History Review 62.
  • Lucas, Ian (1998), OutRage!: an oral history, Cassell, ISBN 978-0-304-33358-5
  • Power, Lisa (1995). No Bath But Plenty Of Bubbles: An Oral History Of The Gay Liberation Front 1970-7. Cassell. p. 340 pages. ISBN 0-304-33205-4.
  • Walter, Aubrey (1980). Come together : the years of gay liberation (1970-73). Gay Men's Press. p. 218 pages. ISBN 0-907040-04-7.
  • Wright, Lionel (July 1999). "The Stonewall Riots – 1969". Socialism Today #40.
  • Kafka, Tina (2006). Gay Rights. Thomson Gale Farmington Hills, MI.

External links

  • Gay Liberation Front - first newspaper, photos
  • Gay Liberation Front - DC, 1970-1972 July 30, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
  • Come Together: British GLF's newspaper, archived at the Bishopsgate Institute
  • Leicester Gay Liberation Front
  • Photographs of New York GLF meetings, actions and members by Diana Davies at the New York Public Library Digital Collections
  • Resources on the Politics of Homosexuality in the UK from a socialist perspective
  • Then and now

March 03, 2023
liberation, front, organization, argentina, frente, liberación, homosexual, name, several, liberation, groups, first, which, formed, york, city, 1969, immediately, after, stonewall, riots, similar, organizations, also, formed, canada, provided, voice, newly, n. For the organization in Argentina see Frente de Liberacion Homosexual Gay Liberation Front GLF was the name of several gay liberation groups the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969 immediately after the Stonewall riots 1 Similar organizations also formed in the UK and Canada The GLF provided a voice for the newly out and newly radicalized gay community and a meeting place for a number of activists who would go on to form other groups such as the Gay Activists Alliance and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries STAR in the US 2 In the UK and Canada activists also developed a platform for gay liberation and demonstrated for gay rights Activists from both the US and UK groups would later go on to found or be active in groups including ACT UP the Lesbian Avengers Queer Nation Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and Stonewall 3 Members of the Gay Liberation Front GLF UK at England s first Gay Pride 1972 in London Contents 1 United States 2 United Kingdom 3 Canada 4 Denmark 5 New Zealand 6 See also 7 Footnotes 8 References 9 External linksUnited States Edit 1970s poster used by the US GLF The United States Gay Liberation Front GLF was formed in the aftermath of the Stonewall Riots The riots are considered by many to be the prime catalyst for the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States 4 5 On June 28 1969 in Greenwich Village New York the New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn a well known gay bar located on Christopher Street Police raids of the Stonewall and other lesbian and gay bars were a routine practice at the time with regular payoffs to dirty cops and organized crime figures an expected part of staying in business 6 The Stonewall Inn was made up of two former horse stables which had been renovated into one building in 1930 Like all gay bars of the era it was subject to countless police raids as LGBT activities and fraternization were still largely illegal But this time when the police began arresting patrons the customers began pelting them with coins and later bottles and rocks The lesbian and gay crowd also freed staff members who had been put into police vans and the outnumbered officers retreated inside the bar Soon the Tactical Patrol Force TPF originally trained to deal with war protests were called in to control the mob which was now using a parking meter as a battering ram As the patrol force advanced the crowd did not disperse but instead doubled back and re formed behind the riot police throwing rocks shouting Gay Power dancing and taunting their opposition For the next several nights the crowd would return in ever increasing numbers handing out leaflets and rallying themselves Soon the word Stonewall came to represent fighting for equality in the gay community citation needed And in commemoration Gay Pride marches are held every year on the anniversary of the riots In early July 1969 due in large part to the Stonewall riots in June of that year discussions in the gay community led to the formation of the Gay Liberation Front According to scholar Henry Abelove it was named GLF in a provocative allusion to the Algerian National Liberation Front and the Vietnamese National Liberation Front 7 8 On August 2 1969 the group held a protest at the Women s House of Detention in Greenwich Village and would go on to hold weekly protests there 9 One of GLF s early acts included organizing a march protesting coverage of gay people by The Village Voice which took place on September 12 1969 10 The GLF had a broad political platform denouncing racism and declaring support for various Third World struggles and the Black Panther Party They took an anti capitalist stance and attacked the nuclear family and traditional gender roles On October 31 1969 sixty members of the GLF the Committee for Homosexual Freedom CHF and the Gay Guerilla Theatre group staged a protest outside the offices of the San Francisco Examiner in response to a series of news articles disparaging people in San Francisco s gay bars and clubs 11 12 13 14 The peaceful protest against the Examiner turned tumultuous and was later called Friday of the Purple Hand and Bloody Friday of the Purple Hand 14 15 16 17 18 19 Examiner employees dumped a barrel of printers ink on the crowd from the roof of the newspaper building according to glbtq com 20 Some reports state that it was a barrel of ink poured from the roof of the building 21 The protesters used the ink to scrawl slogans on the building walls and slap purple hand prints throughout downtown San Francisco resulting in one of the most visible demonstrations of gay power according to the Bay Area Reporter 14 16 19 According to Larry LittleJohn then president of Society for Individual Rights At that point the tactical squad arrived not to get the employees who dumped the ink but to arrest the demonstrators Somebody could have been hurt if that ink had gotten into their eyes but the police were knocking people to the ground 14 The accounts of police brutality include women being thrown to the ground and protesters teeth being knocked out 14 22 Inspired by Black Hand extortion methods of Camorra gangsters and the Mafia 23 some gay and lesbian activists attempted to institute purple hand as a warning to stop anti gay attacks but with little success citation needed In Turkey the LGBT rights organization MorEl Eskisehir LGBTT Olusumu Purple Hand Eskisehir LGBT Formation also bears the name of this symbol 24 Come Out the first periodical published by the GLF came out it November 1969 25 In 1970 several GLF women such as Martha Shelley Lois Hart Karla Jay 26 and Michela Griffo went on to form the Lavender Menace a lesbian activist organization In 1970 the drag queen caucus of the GLF including Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera formed the group Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries STAR which focused on providing support for gay prisoners housing for homeless gay youth and street people especially other young street queens 27 6 28 In 1970 the GLF led by Gary Alinder protested the American Psychiatric Association s classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder In 1970 The U S Mission had a permit to use a campground in the Sequoia National Forest Once it was learned that the group was sponsored by the GLF the Sequoia National Forest supervisor cancelled the permit and the campground was closed for the period 29 United Kingdom Edit 1971 GLF cover version of Ink magazine UK if we are to succeed in transforming our society we must persuade others of the merits of our ideas and there is no way we can achieve this if we cannot even persuade those most affected by our oppression to join us in fighting for justice We do not intend to ask for anything We intend to stand firm and assert our basic rights If this involves violence it will not be we who initiate this but those who attempt to stand in our way to freedom GLF Manifesto 1971 30 The UK Gay Liberation Front existed between 1970 1973 31 Its first meeting was held in the basement of the London School of Economics on 13 October 1970 Bob Mellors and Aubrey Walter had seen the effect of the GLF in the United States and created a parallel movement based on revolutionary politics 32 Come Together the organisation s newspaper came out of its Media Workshop the same year 33 By 1971 the UK GLF was recognized as a political movement in the national press holding weekly meetings of 200 to 300 people 34 The GLF Manifesto was published and a series of high profile direct actions were carried out such as the disruption of the launch of the Church based morality campaign Festival of Light 35 The disruption of the opening of the 1971 Festival of Light was one of the most well organised GLF actions The first meeting of the Festival of Light was organised by Mary Whitehouse at Methodist Central Hall Amongst GLF members taking part in this protest were the Radical Feminists a group of gender non conforming males in drag who invaded and spontaneously kissed each other 36 others released mice sounded horns and unveiled banners and a contingent dressed as workmen obtained access to the basement and shut off the lights 37 Easter 1972 saw the Gay Lib annual conference held in the Guild of Students building at the University of Birmingham 38 Birmingham GLF marching in Kings Heath Moseley Birmingham 1975 By 1974 internal disagreements had led to the movement s splintering Organizations that spun off from the movement included the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard Gay News and Icebreakers The GLF Information Service continued for a few further years providing gay related resources 32 GLF branches had been set up in some provincial British towns e g Birmingham Bradford Bristol Leeds and Leicester and some survived for a few years longer The Leicester Gay Liberation Front founded by Jeff Martin was noted for its involvement in the setting up of the local Gayline which is still active today and has received funding from the National Lottery They also carried out a high profile campaign against the local paper the Leicester Mercury which refused to advertise Gayline s services at the time 39 40 The papers of the GLF are among the Hall Carpenter Archives at the London School of Economics 41 Several members of the GLF including Peter Tatchell continued campaigning beyond the 1970s under the organisation of OutRage which was founded in 1990 and dissolved in 2011 using similar tactics to the GLF such as zaps 42 and performance protest 43 to attract a significant level of media interest and controversy citation needed It was at this point that a divide emerged within the gay activist movement mainly due to a difference in ideologies 3 after which a number of groups including Organization for Lesbian and Gay Alliance OLGA the Lesbian Avengers Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Dykes And Faggots Together DAFT Queer Nation Stonewall which focused on lobbying tactics and OutRage co existed 3 These groups were very influential following the HIV AIDS pandemic of the 1980s and 1990s and the violence against lesbians and gay men that followed 3 Canada EditThe first gay liberation groups identifying with the Gay Liberation Front movement in Canada were in Montreal Quebec The Front de Liberation Homosexual FLH was formed in November 1970 in response to a call for organised activist groups in the city by the publication Mainmise 44 Another factor in the group s formation was the response from police against gay establishments in the city after the suspension of civil liberties by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the fall of 1970 44 This group was short lived they were disbanded after over forty members were charged for failure to procure a liquor license at one of the group s events in 1972 44 A Vancouver British Columbia group calling itself the Vancouver Gay Liberation Front emerged in 1971 mostly out of meetings from a local commune called Pink Cheeks The group gained support from The Georgia Straight a left leaning newspaper and opened a drop in centre and published a newsletter 44 The group struggled to maintain a core group of members and competition from other local groups such as the Canadian Gay Activists Alliance CGAA and the Gay Alliance Toward Equality GATE soon led to its demise 45 Denmark EditBossernes Befrielsesfront da BBF lit The Gays Liberation Front was founded in Copenhagen in 1971 the name inspired by the American Gay Liberation Front BBF was opposed to the already established gay rights group Forbundet af 1948 for being too formal BBF s activities included going to schools to educate about how it was like being gay and civil disobedience against the law that prohibited men from publicly dancing together which was eventually repealed in 1973 The group regularly met at Bossehuset lit The gay house in Christiania 46 47 New Zealand EditFurther information LGBT in New Zealand Women s Liberation and Maori activist Ngahuia Te Awekotuku initiated the foundation of the Auckland Gay Liberation Front in March 1972 alongside fellow University of Auckland students Nigel Baumber Ray Waru and others In the following months Gay Liberation Fronts established in Wellington Christchurch and Hamilton with further groups founded in Rotorua Nelson Taranaki and other places between 1973 and 1977 Gay Liberation groups carried out numerous direct action protests including guerilla theatre performances zaps disrupting meetings of anti gay groups like the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards and pickets 48 Supporting the wellbeing of gays and helping them to come out was an early concern of the movement leading to the formation of counselling services such as Gay Aid in Wellington and Gays An in Christchurch A Gay Week was held from 29 May to 3 June 1972 featuring guerrilla theatre a forum dance and teach in 49 Gay Liberation organizations were not always successful in these aims sexism and transphobia in the movement also led to the establishment of separate lesbian feminist and trans organizations such as SHE Sisters for Homophile Equality founded in Christchurch in September 1973 Gay Liberation chapters also worked alongside groups such as Hedesthia a social and political organization for transvestites and transsexuals 50 See also Edit LGBT portal Members of the Gay Liberation Front GLF during one of its street theatre performances in London Gay Activists Alliance Gay Left UK gay collective and journal Hall Carpenter archives List of LGBT rights organizations Notable members of the GLF in London Sam Green Angela Mason Mary Susan McIntosh Bob Mellors Peter Tatchell Alan Wakeman Notable members of the GLF in the USA Arthur Bell Arthur Evans Tom Brougham N A Diaman Jim Fouratt Harry Hay Brenda Howard Karla Jay Marsha P Johnson Charles Pitts Sylvia Rivera Martha Shelley Jim Toy Dan C Tsang Allen Young Notable members of the GLF in New Zealand Ngahuia Te Awekotuku Robin Duff Peter Wells Bruce Burnett Roger Blackley OutRage Socialism and LGBT rights Stonewall riots Stonewall UKFootnotes Edit Gay Liberation Front at Alternate U NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project Nyclgbtsites org Bernadicou August Come Out The LGBTQ History Project The LGBTQ History Project a b c d Robinson Lucy 2007 Gay men and the left in post war Britain How the personal got political Manchester University Press pp 174 176 ISBN 9781847792334 Retrieved February 19 2015 National Park Service 2008 Workforce Diversity The Stonewall Inn National Historic Landmark National Register Number 99000562 US Department of Interior Retrieved February 20 2015 Obama inaugural speech references Stonewall gay rights riots North Jersey Media Group Inc January 21 2013 Archived from the original on May 30 2013 Retrieved February 20 2015 a b Shepard Benjamin Heim and Ronald Hayduk 2002 From ACT UP to the WTO Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization Verso pp 156 160 ISBN 978 1859 8435 67 Bernadicou August Martha Shelley August Nation The LGBTQ History Project Retrieved March 29 2020 Abelove Henry June 26 2015 How Stonewall Obscures the Real History of Gay Liberation The Chronicle of Higher Education Retrieved April 21 2018 Ryan Hugh 2022 The Women s House of Dentention Bold Type Books pp 275 276 ISBN 9781645036661 Brockell Gillian June 8 2019 How the homophobic media covered the 1969 Stonewall uprising The Washington Post Teal Donn 1971 The Gay Militants How Gay Liberation Began in America 1969 1971 New York St Martin s Press pp 52 58 ISBN 0312112793 Gould Robert E February 24 1974 What We Don t Know About Homosexuality New York Times Magazine ISBN 9780231084376 Retrieved January 1 2008 Laurence Leo E October 31 November 6 1969 Gays Penetrate Examiner Berkeley Tribe Vol 1 no 17 p 4 Retrieved August 7 2019 a b c d e Alwood Edward 1996 Straight News Gays Lesbians and the News Media Columbia University Press ISBN 0 231 08436 6 Retrieved January 1 2008 Bell Arthur March 28 1974 Has The Gay Movement Gone Establishment The Village Voice ISBN 9780231084376 Retrieved January 1 2008 a b Van Buskirk Jim 2004 Gay Media Comes of Age Bay Area Reporter Archived from the original on July 5 2015 Retrieved January 1 2008 Stryker Susan Buskirk Jim Van November 15 30 1969 Friday of the Purple Hand San Francisco Free Press ISBN 9780811811873 Retrieved January 1 2008 courtesy the Gay Lesbian Historical Society Martin Del December 1969 The Police Beat Crime in the Streets PDF Vector San Francisco 5 12 9 Retrieved June 1 2019 a b Gay Power Politics GLBTQ Inc March 30 2006 Retrieved January 1 2008 glbtq gt gt social sciences gt gt San Francisco Archived from the original on July 5 2015 Retrieved December 11 2019 Montanarelli Lisa Harrison Ann 2005 Strange But True San Francisco Tales of the City by the Bay Globe Pequot ISBN 0 7627 3681 X Retrieved January 1 2008 Alwood Edward April 24 1974 Newspaper Series Surprises Activists The Advocate ISBN 9780231084376 Retrieved January 1 2008 Nash Jay Robert 1993 World Encyclopedia of Organized Crime Da Capo Press ISBN 0 306 80535 9 MorEl Eskisehir LGBTT Olusumu Moreleskisehir blogspot com Retrieved January 23 2012 Come Out Libcom org Retrieved June 19 2022 Bernadicou August Martha Shelley August Nation The LGBTQ History Project Retrieved March 29 2020 Bernadicou August Come Out The LGBTQ History Project The LGBTQ History Project Feinberg Leslie September 24 2006 Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries Workers World Party Retrieved August 21 2018 Stonewall combatants Sylvia Rivera and Marsha Pay It No Mind Johnson Both were self identified drag queens Gay Group Loses Campground Use Lodi News Sentinel June 26 1970 Gay Liberation Front Manifesto London 1978 1971 Stuart Weather A brief history of the Gay Liberation Front 1970 73 libcom org Retrieved December 2 2018 a b Lucas 1998 pp 2 3 Come Together Gay Liberation Front Bishopsgate Institute Retrieved June 19 2022 Brittain Victoria August 28 1971 An Alternative to Sexual Shame Impact of the new militancy among homosexual groups The Times p 12 Gay Liberation Front GLF Database of Archives of Non Government Organisations January 4 2009 Archived from the original on March 16 2009 Retrieved November 20 2009 Power Lisa 1995 No Bath But Plenty Of Bubbles An Oral History Of The Gay Liberation Front 1970 7 Cassell Gingell Basil September 10 1971 Uproar at Central Hall as demonstrators threaten to halt Festival of Light The Times p 14 Gay Birmingham Remembered The Gay Birmingham History Project Birmingham LGBT Community Trust Retrieved October 3 2012 Birmingham hosted the Gay Liberation Front annual conference in 1972 at the chaplaincy at Birmingham University Guild of Students Peace News John Birdsall page 2 13 January 1978 Gay News 1978 Demonstrators protest at ad ban on help line edition number 135 Calmview Collection Browser archives lse ac uk LSE Library Services Retrieved February 19 2015 Willett p 86 Tatchell Peter Peter Tatchell The Art of Activism petertatchell net Archived from the original on October 19 2017 Retrieved February 19 2015 a b c d Warner Tom 2002 Never going back a history of queer activism in Canada Toronto Ontario University of Toronto Press pp 66 67 ISBN 9780802084606 Rothon Robert October 23 2008 Vancouver s Gay Liberation Front Daily Xtra Bossernes Befrielsesfront 1971 ca 1984 danmarkshistorien dk in Danish Retrieved September 15 2022 Bossernes Befrielsesfront og kampen mod Danseforbuddet 1973 danmarkshistorien dk in Danish Retrieved September 15 2022 Brickell Chris 2008 Mates amp Lovers A History of Gay New Zealand Auckland Random House pp 290 304 ISBN 9781869621346 Laurie Alison J Evans Linda eds 2005 Outlines Lesbian amp Gay Histories of Aotearoa Wellington Lesbian amp Gay Archives of New Zealand ISBN 978 0 473 10555 6 Hansen Will March 27 2022 A trans history of gay liberation in New Zealand The Spinoff Retrieved November 1 2022 References EditCanfield William J We Raise our Voices Gay amp Lesbian Pride amp Politics Diaman N A 1995 Gay Liberation Front Archived from the original on June 11 2007 Kissack Terence 1995 Freaking Fag Revolutionaries New York s Gay Liberation Front Radical History Review 62 Lucas Ian 1998 OutRage an oral history Cassell ISBN 978 0 304 33358 5 Power Lisa 1995 No Bath But Plenty Of Bubbles An Oral History Of The Gay Liberation Front 1970 7 Cassell p 340 pages ISBN 0 304 33205 4 Walter Aubrey 1980 Come together the years of gay liberation 1970 73 Gay Men s Press p 218 pages ISBN 0 907040 04 7 Wright Lionel July 1999 The Stonewall Riots 1969 Socialism Today 40 Kafka Tina 2006 Gay Rights Thomson Gale Farmington Hills MI External links EditGay Liberation Front first newspaper photos Gay Liberation Front DC 1970 1972 Archived July 30 2019 at the Wayback Machine Come Together British GLF s newspaper archived at the Bishopsgate Institute Leicester Gay Liberation Front Photographs of New York GLF meetings actions and members by Diana Davies at the New York Public Library Digital Collections Resources on the Politics of Homosexuality in the UK from a socialist perspective Then and now Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Gay Liberation Front amp oldid 1137427126, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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