(This is by no means a comprehensive list. I omitted gay and lesbian writers/artists to focus specifically on activists and ignored smaller scale outreach, like Ruth Ellis or Shirley Willer who individually took in gay & lesbian youth with nowhere to go, or career support like Jewish lawyer Pearl Heart “the Guardian Angel of Chicago’s Gay Community”, or historical firsts like NAACP’s national youth secretary being a gay man named Laplois Ashford, or victims who mobilized others to action like Howard Efland, or historical figures like George Washington’s chief of staff General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. If you think something was too important to miss, let me know.)
1915:Emma Goldman’s anarchist platform includes homosexual rights (and she is rumored to be bisexual after love letters to Amelda Sperry appeared after her death). “She was the first and only woman, indeed the first and only American,” according to Magnus Hirschfeld, “to take up the defense of homosexual love before the general public.“ Her first speech on this subject, The Intermediate Sex: A Discussion of Homosexuality inspired many gay people of their time to get involved with labor rights, participation, like the Civil Rights Movement, that later helped them organize for themselves.
1924: German immigrant Henry Gerber, inspired by Hirschfeld’s advocacy to overturn Germany’s anti-gay laws, founds the first gay rights organization, Society for Human Rights in Chicago and publishes the first known gay newsletter, Friendship and Freedom, for a year. He serves as the secretary, the President of the Society being a black preacher named John T. Graves. Gerber, known as the Grandfather of the American Gay Movement, later wrote for the Mattachine Society and contributed to a 1930s freethinker publication, viewing religion as the source of antihomosexual bias and atheism necessary to gay emancipation.
1930s: Prescott Townsend advocated the repeal of anti-sodomy laws before the Massachusetts legislature, “believed to have been the first individual to organize a public conversation about homosexuality in the United States”.
1945: Veterans Benevolent Association forms to support gays and lesbians given “blue discharges” from the armed forces, which denied their benefits for any length of service and negatively affected their civilian hireability, also advising on legal defense matters for housing discrimination.
1949: Interracial couple Merton Bird and W. Dorr Legg found the Los Angeles homophile social club Knights of the Clock, which also addresses “social problems that affected interracial couples, including employment counseling, and locating integrated housing for same-sex couples.”
1951: Under the pen name Daniel Webster Cory, Edward Sagarin writes The Homosexual in America: A Subjective Approach in the wake of Kinsey Report revelations. His book is the first sympathetic publication in the United States to discuss homosexual political rights and inspires many gay men to seek out the new homophile movement to advance their political standing.
1951: The Mattachine Society, the first national gay rights organization, is formed by Communist Party member Harry Hay (considered by many to be the founder of the gay rights movement) along with Rudi Gernreich, Chuck Rowland, Bob Hull, and Dale Jennings, meeting in the church basement of Unitarian minister Wallace de Ortega Maxey. The primary goals of the society were to Unify homosexuals isolated from their own kind; Educate homosexuals and heterosexuals toward an ethical homosexual culture paralleling the cultures of the Negro, Mexican and Jewish peoples; Lead the more socially conscious homosexual to provide leadership to the whole mass of social variants; and Assist gays who are victimized daily as a result of oppression.
1951: Philanthropist Robert Allerton starts encouraging adult adoption legislation in the Illinois state legislature. In 1960 he uses this legal loophole to legally protect the inheritance rights of his partner of 40 years, inspiring other gay men to do the same, including civil rights pioneer Bayard Rustin and Jim Naegle.
1952: Air Force Reservists Cpls. Fannie Mae Clackum and Grace Garnerrefuse their dishonorable discharges and win their reinstatement with back pay. “While the ruling turned on the fact that there wasn’t enough evidence to show the women were lesbians—rather than that there was nothing wrong with it if they were—it was the first time the military was brought to task for its arbitrary and clandestine attacks on gay service members.”
1952: Harry Hay assists Dale Jennings with the backing of the Mattachine-formed Citizens Committee to Outlaw Entrapment after being arrested in a sex sting in a legal first: pleading guilty to homosexuality, not guilty to criminal lasciviousness. 11/12 jurors found Jennings not guilty, and the publicity of the decision generated new Mattachine chapters across the country.
1953: The Mattachine Society sends letters to Los Angeles city council and school board candidates to introduce the organization and ask about their views on civil rights for homophiles.
1955: The first lesbian political organization in the United States, the Daughters of Bilitis, was established by Filipina American Rose Bamberger, Rosemary Sliepen, Del Martin, Phyllis Lyon, Noni Frey (who later founded the working class lesbian club Quatrefoil) and her Chicana girlfriend Mary, and Marcia Foster and her girlfriend June. “DOB’s activities included hosting public forums on homosexuality, offering support to isolated, married, and mothering lesbians, and participating in research activities.”
1956: Editors of ONE: The Homosexual Magazine (the Mattachine’s periodical named by their black gay proofreader Bailey Whitaker) fight their obscenity charges all the way to the Supreme Court; One, Inc. v. Olesenbecomes their first ruling to extend the First Amendment to gay-related speech. For the first time, “gay newspapers, magazines, and other publications could be lawfully distributed through the public mail service” without running the risk of confiscation, fines, and arrest. The same year, “ONE established the ONE Institute of Homophile Studies which, in addition to organizing classes and annual conferences, also published the ONE Institute Quarterly, a journal dedicated to the academic exploration of homosexuality.”
1958: Cuban-born Tony Segura is the first openly homosexual speaker on a news panel in television history. He’s nicknamed the “architect of the homophile movement” for his role in developing the New York Area Council of the Mattachine Society, organizing the Eastern regional chapters and reaching out to the south and as far west as Colorado to offer direction in their activist outreach.
1959: The Mattachine Society holds their yearly convention in Denver “mark[ing] a major turning point in the national reach and visibility of Mattachine organizing”. Elver Barkerholds a press conference hoping bravery in media transparency will attract new members and positive attention, and the local leaders consent to have their names & photographs taken for The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News. (Although this backfires for them personally as one was imprisoned and several lost their jobs, Mattachine relies more often on TV/radio and magazines/newsprint afterward.)
1959: Cooper’s Donuts Riots predate Stonewall by a decade. Mexican gay author John Rechy described the targets as “two hustlers, two queens and a young man just cruising” who threw “donuts, coffee, and paper plates” at arresting officers, until police reinforcements returned to shut down Main Street where protestors allegedly danced on cars and set fires.
1960s: Homophile organizations host “gay-ins” around Griffith Park, Los Angeles; in addition to promoting visibility, they also hosted tours of gay bars and political forums with candidates for local office. Chinese-American lesbian activist Crystal Jang and friends reform the dress code at the City College of San Francisco so women can wear masculine attire.
1961: José Sarria becomes the first openly gay candidate for public office, running for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
1961: Astronomer Frank Kameny files the first gay rights appeal to the Supreme Court, contesting his firing from Army Map Services for homosexuality as “an affront to human dignity”.
1962: Illinois becomes the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults in private. (Sodomy laws aren’t struck down by the Supreme Court until 2003.)
1963: Father of Florida Gay Rights, Richard Inman, started Athenaeum, “the first state-chartered, explicitly homosexual organization in the South” (Miami). He challenged the sexual profiling of gay men against Dade County State Attorney Richard Gerstein and the gay witch hunts targeting elementary school teachers up to state college professors by State Senator Charley John’s Florida Legislative Investigation Committee.
1964: Activists led by Randy Wicker (seeking more visibility after the positive reception of his radio panel on homosexuals’ right to be heard two years earlier) participate in the first gay rights public demonstration. They picket the Whitehall Street Induction Center over confidentiality violations of gay men’s draft records which followed them as permanently unemployable. Among them is Annie on My Mind author Nancy Garden.
1964: Black Pastor Cecil Williams and Rev. Ted McIlvenna, along Del Martin on the Board of Trustees, formed the along Del Martin on the Board of Trustees, formed the Council on Religion and the Homosexual to “educate religious communities about gay and lesbian issues as well as enlist religious leaders to advocate for homosexual concerns.” They’re believed to havethe first use of homosexual in their name. They get Episopal bishop James Pike to appoint a church committee on homosexuality that would support the repeal of sodomy laws and an end to the harassment of homosexuals by police & other local authorities. A brief riot ensues after several members are arrested by the San Francisco PD during a costume party fundraiser for meeting space. There’s a movie about the evening: trailer here.
1964: Protests are held at both the White House and United Nations building to raise awareness of Cuba’s incarceration of gay men in forced labor camps.
1965: 150 people organized by three teenagers working with the Janus Society participate in a sit-in after the manager of Dewey’s lunch counter in Philadelphiarefused service to several people he thought looked gay. Over the next five days, the Janus Society distributed leaflets outside the hamburger chain and staged a smaller sit-in, finally prompting management to change policy.
1965: In the first known example of politicians courting the “gay vote,” the Council on Religion and the Homosexual hosts a forum for the gay community to question political candidates in San Francisco
1965: The gay volunteer organization the Imperial Court System is created to help fund efforts against domestic violence, homelessness, and health issues within the community.
1965: Gay Mormon Rev. Adrian Ravarour organizes Vanguard for homeless and marginalized LGBT youth in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, hosting dinners, dances, and public protests “for equal treatment, acceptance and to end discrimination”. The street teens are so inspired, they’re the ones who picket Gene Compton’s Cafeteria after a mild riot the night before, when a drag queen tossed her coffee at a cop who requested his I.D.
1965: When CRH member and straight ally Rev. Canon Robert Cromeywas demoted by the Grace Cathedral Episcopal Church, 30 activists protested outside their iconic Ghiberti doors in the first documented gay protest against a religious institution.
1965: DOB newsletter editor Barbara Gittings (later dubbed the Mother of the Gay Rights Movement) and former government employees who lost their jobs under the Lavender Scare stage public demonstrations in front of the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and Independence Hall in Philadelphia for LGB civil rights. Listen to her Making Gay History interview here.
The black lesbian woman pictured in front of the White House is Daughters of Bilitis New York chapter Vice President, Ernestine Eckstein.
The picketing of Independence Hall in Philadelphia became a Fourth of July tradition known as Annual Reminders. What started with 40 gays and lesbians increased up to 120 in 1969. (The next year, the East Coast Homophile Organization changed their demonstration to “Christopher Street Liberation Day” to commemorate Stonewall. At the recommendation of first gay bookstore owner Craig Rodwell, they moved to New York City where he headed the committee for the first official Gay Pride.)
1966: The North American Conference of Homophile Organizations is founded to politically coordinate gay and lesbian groups around the country. In 1968 they “resolved to send questionnaires to political candidates to determine positions” on their new five point Homosexual Bill of Rights.
1966: The Mattachine Society protests the NY Liquor Authority’s prohibition against serving disorderly gay patrons with a “sip-in” at Greenwich Village’s Julius Bar before formally suing. Dick Leitsch brings his case to the New York State Appellate Court. Eventually, the New York City Commission allows homosexuals the right to be served, which also grants liquor licenses to explicitly gay bars.
1966: Multiple city protests were held against the military exclusion of homosexuals on Armed Forces Day, including a 15 car, twenty mile motorcade from Don Slater’s Committee to Fight Exclusion of Homosexuals from the Armed Forces regarded as the first gay parade. Slater was interviewed by CBS News, Time magazine, and the New York Times, reaching thousands.
1966: The first gay and lesbian community center opens
1966: The Mattachine Society pickets the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times for their refusal of press information and advertising from a homophile organization.
1967: New York City’s Civil Service Commission makes public its year-old policy of allowing city agencies to hire and employ lesbians and gay men, after successful lobbying by the Mattachine Society’s NY chapter
1967: Columbia University becomes the first American college to officially recognizes a gay student group – Robert “Donny the Punk” Martin’s Student Homophile League. In 1968, they disrupted a psychiatry panel discussing homosexuality.
1967: The Black Cat Riots start after uncover police arrest 16 kissing bar patrons celebrating the New Year. The altercation resulted in at least one arrest for assaulting a police officer and a gay man with a ruptured spleen. A month later, over 500 people organized by Personal Rights in Defense and Education (P.R.I.D.E.) marched outside the Black Cat Tavern in protest,supported by the major and other city officers, ending with a kiss-in. This is the first known association of pride with LGBT rights. Their PRIDE newsletter became The Advocate. The bar’s owner, Sol Stoumen, won his case against police raids as illegal under California state law but cost him $38,000 in the process and the bar stayed closed. The two patrons convicted for lewd conduct makes the argument for equal protection for homosexuals under the 14th Amendment, another first.
1967:A lesbian bar police raid spurs Cuban immigrant Ada Bello and Jewish social worker Carole Friedman to form the Homophile Action League. They request a meeting with the Philadelphia police inspector, forcing the hand of their public relations officer to tell the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Homosexuals have been, are now, and will be treated equally with heterosexuals.” They wrote letters to the state legislature to repeal Pennsylvania’s sodomy law and to the city council to pass a gay rights ordinance. One of the organization’s next presidents had immigrated from Cuba too: Lourdes Alvarez.
1967: Daughters of Bilitis founders and The Ladder editors, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, became the first openly lesbian couple to join the National Organization for Women, Martin becoming their first out lesbian elected to the board of directors.
1968: The Metropolitan Community Church is founded as the first explicitly gay-inclusive Protestant ministry, first meeting in founder Troy Perry’s home, then the Huntington Park Women’s Club, then the Encore Theater in Hollywood. (MCC has since expanded to 222 affiliated churches in 37 countries.) The Reverend officiates the first known public same-sex union of two Latino gay men.
1969: Boycotts and picketed are organized by the Committee for Homosexual Freedom against Tower Records, Safeway, Macy’s, and the Federal Building after homosexual employees are explicitly fired for their sexuality. CHF formed in San Francisco in response to the States Steamship Company firing Gale Whittington after his public coming out.
1969: The Stonewall riots transform the gay rights movement from one limited to a small number of activists into a widespread protest for equal rights and acceptance. Multiracial butch lesbian Storme Delaverie punched her arresting cop and shouted to the crowd, “Are none of you going to do anything?” One of the many gay Latino patrons, Raymond Castro, shoved the two officers dragging him by the arms to the ground. Three days of riots ensued. To build on the momentum, militant activist groups like the Gay Liberation Front formed in the following weeks and Dick Leitsch sprung the Mattachine Action Committee. The Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis sponsored a rally at Washington Square Park a month after the uprising. Del Martin & Phyllis Lyon picked Robin Tyler up from the airport when she moved to San Francisco after reading The Ladder; 20 years later she organized the first March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Harry Hay was behind the Radical Faeries too, and Randy Wicker surfaced again in the Gay Activists Alliance. Frank Kameny not only sent copies of his gay rights manifesto to Kennedy, Johnson, the cabinet, the Supreme Court, and US Congress, he mailed his newsletter to J. Edgar Hoover until Hoover died. Barbara Gittings used to bring a stuffed dinosaur toy with her to meetings after having her presence as an older woman questioned. After Stonewall, Gittings and Kameny successfully campaigned the American Psychiatric Association to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness.
They never stopped dedicating themselves to gay liberation.
Free epub of Lillian Faderman’s The Gay Revolution: Story of the Struggle (x)
Relatable FE Quote or Something 