Gay Liberation Front Poster, New York 1970

Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Gay Liberation is the name used to describe the radical Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender movement of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s The City of New York The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28 1969 at the Stonewall Inn

GLF in the United States

The Gay Liberation Front

The Activist GLF was interested in the sexual liberation for all people, as they believed that heterosexuality was a remnant of cultural inhibition and felt that change would not come about unless the current social institutions were dismantled and rebuilt without defined sexual roles. To do this the GLF was intent on transforming the idea of the biological family and clan and making it more akin to a loose affiliation of members without biological subtexts. Prominent members of the GLF also opposed and addressed other social inequalities between the years of 1969 to 1972 such as militarism, racism, and sexism but because of internal rivalries the GLF officially ended its operations in 1972.

History of the GLF: the Stonewall riots

The Stonewall riots are considered by many as the catalyst in the organization of the GLF and other gay and lesbian movements. The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28 1969 at the Stonewall Inn These riots also considered to be the origin of the gay rights pacifism movement. Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender social movements share related goals of social acceptance of Homosexuality, Bisexuality and Transgenderism Lesbian On 27 June 1969 in Greenwich Village, New York, a gay bar was raided by New York police. Events 1358 - Republic of Dubrovnik is founded 1709 - Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Greenwich Village (ˌgrɛnɪtʃ ˈvɪlɪdʒ often simply called the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern Manhattan New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous gay bar (also known as a boy bar if the clientele is predominantly male or conversely a girl bar) is a drinking establishment that caters exclusively Gay bars were routinely raided because of ties to the mafia which were the only groups that would finance gay bars at the time. The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) is a Sicilian Criminal Secret society which is believed to have first developed in the mid-19th century The Stonewall Inn, was a well known LGBT establishment located on Christopher street in two former horse stables which were renovated into one building in 1930 and was subject to countless raids since LGBT activities and fraternization were generally illegal. The Stonewall Inn, and its surrounding area also known as Stonewall, was the site of the famous Stonewall riots of 1969, which have come to symbolize the Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan, and was at the center of New York's When the police arrived, the customers began pelting them with coins, and later, bottles and rocks. The crowd also freed staff members who were 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 reformed behind the riot police, throwing rocks and 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. In early July, due in large part to the riots in June, discussions in the gay community lead to the formation of the Gay Liberation Front. Soon the word “Stonewall” came to represent fighting for equality in the gay community.

One of the GLF's first acts was to organize a march in response to Stonewall, and to demand an end to the persecution of homosexuals. The GLF had a broad political platform, denouncing racism and declaring support for various Third World struggles and the Black Panther Party — some of whom would return the gesture of solidarity. The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxist / Maoist African-American organization established They took an anti-capitalist stance, and attacked the nuclear family and traditional gender roles. Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements ideas and attitudes which oppose Capitalism. The term nuclear family developed in the Western world to distinguish the Family group consisting of parents most commonly a Father and Mother A gender role is defined as a set of perceived behavioural norms associated particularly with Males or Females in a given social group or system ^[1] Several GLF women such as Martha Shelley went on to form the Lavender Menace. The Lavender Menace was an informal group of Lesbian radical feminists formed to protest the exclusion of lesbians and lesbian issues from the feminist movement

Goals and mandate of the GLF

The Gay Liberation Front was initially formed by thirty-seven men and women in light of the Stonewall Riots. The group’s first demonstration in response to the riots was the organization of a candlelight march, in which they demanded an end to homosexual persecution. The GLF was not only dedicated to gay rights, but also to the broader social ideals which dominated the 1960’s, including peace, equality and economic justice. Between 1969 and 1972, the GLF was an influential force, and ultimately consisted of more than 80 independent chapters across the United States and abroad.

The GLF’s primary mandate was to oppose and fight against those institutions in society which had historically oppressed and demeaned gay individuals. Ideally, the GLF wanted to ensure that gay individuals were treated with increased equality. In order to do this, the GLF participated in and organized marches, demonstrations, speeches, confrontations, sit-ins, street theatre, meetings, books, films and 'zaps' designed to disrupt events promoting anti-gay prejudice, all in order to raise awareness of their cause and their struggle. They also engaged in the technique of 'outing', which many GLF activists now regret, 'When I look back on some of the things we did, I shudder with horror. I remember a march where we walked past a gay pub shouting at people there to come out of the closet- trying to shame them into coming out'.

In 1970, the GLF represented itself as a movement “against conformity to arbitrary standards, for an open society in which each of us may choose his own way of life. ” The GLF, in addition to focusing on gay rights, essentially criticized American values and society in general, and became involved with other causes and social movements, including the anti-war and civil rights movements, and the fight to end racism and bigotry. Ideally, the GLF wanted to establish an open society, in which all individuals could express themselves freely, and it especially fought against machismo (the notion that masculinity is superior, and thus has a right to dominate), which the GLF felt oppressed all individuals in society – both straight and gay.

GLF ignored by New Left historians

No historian would argue that Stonewall was unimportant; its symbolic power brings out hundreds of thousands of people who gather yearly for marches commemorating the riot. However, many New Left historians of the period have downplayed its importance or have excluded it entirely^[2].

GLF in the UK

By 1971 the UK GLF was recognized as a political movement in the national press, holding weekly meetings of 200 to 300 people. ^[3]

Easter 1972 saw the Gay Lib annual conference held in the Guild of Undergraduates Union (students union) building at the University of Birmingham. The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a British red brick University located in the city of Birmingham

The best organised GLF action was to disrupt the opening of the 1971 Festival of Light organised by Mary Whitehouse at Methodist Central Hall. The Nationwide Festival of Light was a Grassroots movement formed by British Christians concerned about the development of the Permissive society Mary Whitehouse CBE ( 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British campaigner for values of Morality Groups of GLF members in drag invaded and spontaneously kissed each other; others released mice, sounded horns and unveiled banners, and a contingent dressed as workmen obtained access to the basement and shut off the lights. A mouse (plural mice) is a small Animal that belongs to one ^[4]

The papers of the GLF are among the Hall-Carpenter Archives at the London School of Economics. The Hall-Carpenter Archives are named after the authors Marguerite Radclyffe Hall (1880-1943 and Edward Carpenter (1844-1929

See also

• Gay Liberation
• Socialism and LGBT rights
• Gay Activists Alliance
• USA GLF: N. A. Diaman, Brenda Howard, Sylvia Rivera
• London GLF: Bob Mellors, Peter Tatchell
• Hall-Carpenter archives

Footnotes

References

• Canfield, William J. . We Raise our Voices. Gay & Lesbian Pride & Politics.
• Diaman, N. A. (1995). Gay Liberation Front.
• Kissack, Terence (1995). Freaking Fag Revolutionaries: New York’s Gay Liberation Front. Radical History Review 62.  
• Power, Lisa (1995). Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 No Bath But Plenty Of Bubbles: An Oral History Of The Gay Liberation Front 1970-7. Cassell, 340 pages. ISBN 0-304-33205-4.  
• Walter, Aubrey (1980). Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) Come together : the years of gay liberation (1970-73). Gay Liberation is the name used to describe the radical Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender movement of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s Gay Men's Press, 218 pages. Gay Men's Press was a Publisher of books based in London, United Kingdom. ISBN 0907040047.  
• Wright, Lionel (July 1999). The Stonewall Riots – 1969. Socialism Today #40.

External links

• Resources on the Politics of Homosexuality in the UK from a socialist perspective