First Gay Liberation Front Protest (1969)
Fri Sep 12, 1969
Image: Gay Liberation Front members marching on Times Square, Fall 1969. Photograph by Diana Davies.
On this day in 1969, the U.S. Gay Liberation Front held their first protest, demanding a meeting with Village Voice publishers who refused to publish their ads, claiming the word "gay" was profane. After being confronted, the ads were ran.
The U.S. Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was formed in the aftermath of the Stonewall Uprising, a landmark event in the American queer liberation struggle. The Stonewall Uprising received homophobic coverage from the Village Voice, whose authors referred to the protesters with language like "blatant queens", "limp wristed", and dubbing the event "the Great removed Rebellion".
A little over two months after the riot, the newly formed GLF tried to place two small ads in the Voice, however the Voice refused to run them, and claimed the word "gay" was profane. On September 12th, 1969, the GLF held their first protest, demanding a meeting with publisher Ed Fancher. The protest went on all day as Fancher stubbornly refused to meet with the group, however he eventually conceded to meet.
In the meeting, Fancher conceded the matter of the ads, and allowed the words "homosexual" and "gay" to appear in the paper - the activists won.
- Date: 1969-09-12
- Learn More: www.back2stonewall.com, en.wikipedia.org.
- Tags: #Queer, #Protests.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org