Gay Liberation Front
Encyclopedia
Gay Liberation Front 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
, in which police clashed with gay demonstrators.
are considered by many as the catalyst in the organization of the GLF and other gay and lesbian movements. These riots are also considered to be the origin of the gay rights pacifism
movement. On 27 June 1969 in Greenwich Village
, New York
, a gay bar
was raided by New York police, routine at the time. 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. 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. They took an anti-capitalist
stance, and attacked the nuclear family
and traditional gender role
s. Several GLF women such as Martha Shelley
, Lois Hart and Michela Griffo went on to form the Lavender Menace
.
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 and alternative lifestyle.
By 1971 the UK GLF was recognized as a political movement in the national press, holding weekly meetings of 200 to 300 people. 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.
The disruption of the opening of the 1971 Festival of Light
was the best organised GLF action
. The Festival of Light was organised by Mary Whitehouse
at Methodist Central Hall
, and included Cliff Richard
and Malcolm Muggeridge
. 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.
Easter 1972 saw the Gay Lib annual conference held in the Guild of Undergraduates Union (students union) building at the University of Birmingham
.
By 1974 internal disagreements and lead to the movement splintering. Organizations that span 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. GLF branches had been set up in some provincial British towns (e.g. Bristol, Leeds, Bradford) and some survived for a few years longer.
The papers of the GLF are among the Hall-Carpenter Archives
at the London School of Economics.
Several members of the GLF including Peter Tatchell continued their campaigning beyond the 1970s under the banner of OutRage!
which still exists today, using similar tactics such as 'zaps' and performance protest to attract a significant level of media interest and controversy. It was at this point the emergence of a divide within the gay activist movement occurred mainly due to a difference in ideologies, after which a number of groups including Organisation for Lesbian and Gay Action (OLGA), Stonewall
(which focused on lobby tactics), the Lesbian Avengers
and OutRage!
co-existed.
Gay Liberation
Gay liberation is the name used to describe the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s in North America, Western Europe, and Australia and New Zealand...
groups, the first of which was formed in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots
Stonewall riots
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, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...
, in which police clashed with gay demonstrators.
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 riotsStonewall riots
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, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...
are considered by many as the catalyst in the organization of the GLF and other gay and lesbian movements. These riots are also considered to be the origin of the gay rights pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
movement. On 27 June 1969 in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, a gay bar
Gay bar
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
was raided by New York police, routine at the time. The Stonewall Inn
Stonewall Inn
The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall is an American bar in New York City and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which are widely considered to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for gay and lesbian rights in the United...
, was a well known LGBT establishment located on Christopher street
Christopher Street (Manhattan)
Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the continuation of 9th St. to the west of its intersection with 6th Ave. The Stonewall Inn is located on Christopher Street, and, therefore, the street was at the center of New York's...
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. 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
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
— some of whom would return the gesture of solidarity. They took an anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....
stance, and attacked the nuclear family
Nuclear family
Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...
and traditional gender role
Gender role
Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...
s. Several GLF women such as Martha Shelley
Martha Shelley
-Life and early work:Martha Altman, later Martha Shelley, was born on December 27, 1943, in Brooklyn, New York, to parents of Russian-Polish Jewish descent. Samuel R. Delany was a Bronx High School of Science friend. She was involved in a group based on the work of Harry Stack Sullivan which led to...
, Lois Hart and Michela Griffo went on to form the Lavender Menace
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 at the Second Congress to Unite Women in New York City on May 1, 1970...
.
GLF in the UK
In the United Kingdom the GLF had its first meeting in the basement of the London School of EconomicsLondon School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
on 13 October 1970. Bob Mellors
Bob Mellors
-External links:* *...
and Aubrey Walter had seen the effect of the GLF in the United States and created a parallel movement based on revolutionary politics and alternative lifestyle.
The disruption of the opening of the 1971 Festival of Light
Nationwide Festival of Light
The Nationwide Festival of Light was a grassroots movement formed by British Christians concerned about the development of the permissive society in the UK at the end of the 1960s....
was the best organised GLF action
UK Gay Liberation Front 1971 Festival of Light action
On the 9th September 1971 the UK Gay Liberation Front undertook an action to disrupt the launch of the Church-based morality campaign, Nationwide Festival of Light at the Methodist Central Hall Westminster...
. The Festival of Light was organised by Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse, CBE was a British campaigner against the permissive society particularly as the media portrayed and reflected it...
at Methodist Central Hall
Methodist Central Hall
Methodist Central Hall may refer to:*Methodist Central Hall, Birmingham*Grand Central Hall, Liverpool*Westminster Central Hall, London...
, and included Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
and Malcolm Muggeridge
Malcolm Muggeridge
Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge was an English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist. During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy...
. Groups of GLF members in drag invaded and spontaneously kissed each other; others released mice
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
, sounded horns and unveiled banners, and a contingent dressed as workmen obtained access to the basement and shut off the lights.
Easter 1972 saw the Gay Lib annual conference held in the Guild of Undergraduates Union (students union) building at the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
.
By 1974 internal disagreements and lead to the movement splintering. Organizations that span off from the movement included the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard
London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard
The London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard is the oldest gay and lesbian telephone help line in the UK, based in London.LLGS was founded in March 1974, providing help and information to London's gay community...
, Gay News
Gay News
Gay News was a pioneering fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality...
and Icebreakers
Gay's the Word (bookshop)
Located at 66 Marchmont Street in the Bloomsbury district of London, Gay's The Word is the only specifically lesbian and gay bookstore in the UK. 2011 marks the 32nd anniversary of the founding of the store, which first opened its doors on 1 January 1979...
. The GLF Information Service continued for a few further years providing gay related resources. GLF branches had been set up in some provincial British towns (e.g. Bristol, Leeds, Bradford) and some survived for a few years longer.
The papers of the GLF are among the Hall-Carpenter Archives
Hall-Carpenter Archives
The Hall–Carpenter Archives are named after the authors Marguerite Radclyffe Hall and Edward Carpenter...
at the London School of Economics.
Several members of the GLF including Peter Tatchell continued their campaigning beyond the 1970s under the banner of OutRage!
OutRage!
OutRage! is a British LGBT rights group that was formed to fight for equal rights of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in comparison to heterosexual people. It is a group which has at times been criticised for outing individuals who wanted to keep their homosexuality secret and for being...
which still exists today, using similar tactics such as 'zaps' and performance protest to attract a significant level of media interest and controversy. It was at this point the emergence of a divide within the gay activist movement occurred mainly due to a difference in ideologies, after which a number of groups including Organisation for Lesbian and Gay Action (OLGA), Stonewall
Stonewall (UK)
Stonewall is a lesbian, gay and bisexual rights charity in the United Kingdom named after the Stonewall Inn of Stonewall riots fame. Now the largest gay equality organization not only in the UK but in Europe, it was formed in 1989 by political activists and others lobbying against section 28 of the...
(which focused on lobby tactics), the Lesbian Avengers
Lesbian Avengers
The Lesbian Avengers began in New York City in 1992 as "a direct action group focused on issues vital to lesbian survival and visibility." Dozens of other chapters quickly emerged worldwide, a few expanding their mission to include questions of gender, race, and class.Though some groups continue...
and OutRage!
OutRage!
OutRage! is a British LGBT rights group that was formed to fight for equal rights of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in comparison to heterosexual people. It is a group which has at times been criticised for outing individuals who wanted to keep their homosexuality secret and for being...
co-existed.
See also
- Socialism and LGBT rightsSocialism and LGBT rightsThe connection between left-leaning ideologies and LGBT rights has a long and mixed history. Some socialists and members of other left wing political ideologies have supported LGBT rights, while many Marxist/Socialist regimes including the USSR, People's Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba, and...
- Gay Activists Alliance
- Gay LeftGay LeftGay Left was a collective of gay men who produced a journal of the same name published every six months in London, England between the years 1975 and 1980...
, UK magazine 1975-80 - USA GLF: N. A. DiamanN. A. DiamanN. A. Diaman is a gay American novelist and artist. He received a BA in 1958 from the University of Southern California with a major in humanities....
, Brenda HowardBrenda HowardBrenda Howard was an American bisexual rights activist and sex-positive feminist. Howard was an important figure in the modern LGBT rights movement.- Biography :...
, Sylvia RiveraSylvia RiveraSylvia Rae Rivera was an American transgender activist. Rivera was a founding member of both the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance and helped found STAR , a group dedicated to helping homeless young street trans women, with her friend Marsha P... - OutRage!OutRage!OutRage! is a British LGBT rights group that was formed to fight for equal rights of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in comparison to heterosexual people. It is a group which has at times been criticised for outing individuals who wanted to keep their homosexuality secret and for being...
- London GLF: Bob MellorsBob Mellors-External links:* *...
, Peter TatchellPeter TatchellPeter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements... - Hall-Carpenter archivesHall-Carpenter ArchivesThe Hall–Carpenter Archives are named after the authors Marguerite Radclyffe Hall and Edward Carpenter...
- List of LGBT rights organizations