Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of a number of
Gay LiberationGay Liberation is the name used to describe the radical 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 CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
in 1969, immediately after the
Stonewall riotsThe 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 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.
Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of a number of
Gay LiberationGay Liberation is the name used to describe the radical 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 CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
in 1969, immediately after the
Stonewall riotsThe 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 riotsThe 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
pacifismPacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes or gaining advantage. Pacifism covers a spectrum of views ranging from the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved; to calls for the abolition of the institutions of the military and war;...
movement. On 27 June 1969 in
Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village , 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. Greenwich Village, however, was known in the late 19th – earlier to mid 20th...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, a
gay barA gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively 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 InnThe 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 the start of the modern gay liberation movement. It is located at 51-53 Christopher Street, between West 4th Street and Waverly Place, in...
, was a well known LGBT establishment located on
Christopher streetChristopher 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 gay rights movement in the late 1970s...
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 PartyThe Black Panther Party was an African-American revolutionary organization established to promote Black Power, and by extension self-defense for blacks. It was active in the United States from the mid-1960s into the 1970s...
— some of whom would return the gesture of solidarity. They took an
anti-capitalistAnti-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 familyA nuclear family is a family group consisting of only a father and mother and their children, who share living quarters. This can be contrasted with an extended family. Nuclear families can be of any size, as long as the family can support itself and there are only children and two parents...
and traditional
gender roleA gender role is defined as a set of perceived behavioral norms associated particularly with males or females, in a given social group or system. It can be a form of division of labour by gender. It is a focus of analysis in the social sciences and humanities...
s. Several GLF women such as Martha Shelley went on to form the
Lavender MenaceThe 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...
.
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 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. 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 LightThe 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 actionOn 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 WhitehouseMary Whitehouse CBE was a British campaigner for what she perceived to be values of morality and decency derived from her Christian beliefs. She began by focusing her efforts on the broadcast media, which she regarded as highly influential, and where she felt these values were particularly lacking...
at
Methodist Central HallMethodist Central Hall may refer to:*Methodist Central Hall, Birmingham*Grand Central Hall, Liverpool*Westminster Central Hall, London...
, and included Cliff Richard and Malcolm Muggeridge. Groups of GLF members in drag invaded and spontaneously kissed each other; others released
miceA 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. The American white-footed mouse and the deer mouse also sometimes live in houses. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common...
, 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 BirminghamThe University of Birmingham is a British 'Redbrick' university located in the city of Birmingham, England...
.
The
papers of the GLF are among the
Hall-Carpenter ArchivesThe Hall-Carpenter Archives are named after the authors Marguerite Radclyffe Hall and Edward Carpenter . They are housed at the London School of Economics and Middlesex University....
at the London School of Economics.
Several members of the GLF including
Peter TatchellPeter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British human rights activist, who gained international celebrity for his attempted citizen's arrest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in 1999 and 2001, on charges of torture and other human rights abuses.Tatchell was selected as Labour Party...
continued their campaigning beyond the 1970s under the banner of
OutRage!OutRage! is a direct action campaigning group in the United Kingdom which was formed to fight for the equal rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in comparison to heterosexuals. It is a radical group which has frequently been criticised for being extremist; members have been arrested on some...
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),
StonewallStonewall 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 organisation in Europe, it was formed in 1989 by political activists and others lobbying against section 28 of the Local Government Act...
(which focused on lobby tactics), the
Lesbian AvengersThe 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! is a direct action campaigning group in the United Kingdom which was formed to fight for the equal rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in comparison to heterosexuals. It is a radical group which has frequently been criticised for being extremist; members have been arrested on some...
co-existed.
See also
- Gay Liberation
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 in North America, Western Europe, and Australia and New Zealand...
- Socialism and LGBT rights
While gay rights are seen by many in the western world today as a left-wing political issue, sexual minorities and gender variant people do not belong as a group to the Left or Right of politics...
- Gay Activists Alliance
- USA GLF: N. A. Diaman
N. 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 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 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 transwomen, with her friend Marsha P...
- OutRage!
OutRage! is a direct action campaigning group in the United Kingdom which was formed to fight for the equal rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in comparison to heterosexuals. It is a radical group which has frequently been criticised for being extremist; members have been arrested on some...
- London GLF: Bob Mellors
Bob Mellors was a British gay rights activist.-Biography:In 1970 Bob went to New York and became involved with the Gay Liberation Front becoming friends with Aubrey Walter during demos outside the Women's House of Correction in New York...
, Peter TatchellPeter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British human rights activist, who gained international celebrity for his attempted citizen's arrest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in 1999 and 2001, on charges of torture and other human rights abuses.Tatchell was selected as Labour Party...
- Hall-Carpenter archives
The Hall-Carpenter Archives are named after the authors Marguerite Radclyffe Hall and Edward Carpenter . They are housed at the London School of Economics and Middlesex University....
- List of LGBT rights organizations
- 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...
External links