July 24th 1969: The Gay Liberation Front Holds It’s First Meeting

Today In LGBT History – July 24th 1969: The Gay Liberation Front Holds It’s First Meeting

by Will Kohler

DO YOU THINK HOMOSEXUALS ARE REVOLTING?
YOU BET YOUR SWEET ASS WE ARE!We're going to make a place for ourselves in the revolutionary movement. We challenge the myths that are screwing up this society. MEETING: Thursday, July 24th, 6:30 PM at Alternate U, 69 West 14th Street at Sixth Avenue.

*This was the leaflet that began the Gay Liberation Front. 

As we all know The Stonewall riots were not organized by any particular group.

In 1969  the leading gay political organization in operation was the Mattachine Society of New York (MSNY), that utilized  legal and reformist techniques. But right after the Stonewall Riots a group of gay, lesbian, and transgender people fed up with being abused formed the Gay Liberation Front. 

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. This was the first gay pride parade in New York in June 1970 .  As the flier shows below, this inaugural gathering was called Liberation Day and featured a “Gay-In” in Central Park, consciousness-raising groups, dances, and women-only potluck dinners.

The GLF had a broad political platform, denouncing racism and declaring support for various Third World struggles and the Black Panther Party.  They took an anti-capitalist stance and attacked the nuclear family and traditional gender roles. Several GLF women, such as Martha Shelley, Lois Hart, and Michela Griffo went on to form the Lavender Menace

The Gay Liberation Front sought to avoid many of the pitfalls they saw in the political tactics of groups like Mattachine. Where Mattachine activists had sought to project an image of respectability, the new gay liberationists would fight against mainstream attitudes and values. They would “start demanding, not politely requesting, our rights.”

GLFers did not hide or feel ashamed of their sexuality. They claimed it publicly, and they urged others to do the same long before Harvey Milk stated the same request in San Francisco.  The GLF, called for LGBT people to come "out of the closet and into the streets,"  and also believed that patriarchy and sexism were the root cause of the disenfranchisement of people and that assimilation wasn't the answer and that in order to gain rights. (Tell that to the HRC.)

The Gay Liberation Front aimed to create a society free not only from sexism and homophobia but also from sexual labels themselves

Will Kohler