Shoulders to Stand On

History Corner: December 1970 and 1971

by Evelyn Bailey

Merry Christmas!
From the U of R Campus Times 1970
Friday, December 4, 1970
Page 3 article. “UR Gay Liberation Front to Analyze Institutions”
(Listed events include: rap session (12/12), doctor on venereal disease in upstate New York (1/9/1971), psychologist on psychology of homosexuality (1/23), group discussion of gay literature (2/6), panel of clergymen on sexuality and human rights (2/26), a study of homosexuality in segregated institutions (3/6))

Jay Baker, The First Editor of The Empty Closet

The Beginning of the Gay Alliance

The Gay Liberation Front

Interviewed: Patti Evans and Whitey LeBlanc

Our History Is Our Strength

by Evelyn Bailey

From the very beginning of time, women have been viewed as the “weaker” sex. However, when you look at the women who wrote our history with their lives, they can hardly be identified as “weak”!

The women involved in the gay history of Rochester in the 1970s came out of a closeted frightened homosexual culture. Community meeting places consisted of bars that were commonly raided by police once a month on average, with those arrested exposed in newspapers.

December and January in LGBT History

by Evelyn Bailey

Many significant events happened during the months of December and January pre-1980.  These early struggles and successes laid the foundation for Gay Liberation.  If you do not recall these or know anything about them, I invite you to visit our website, shoulderstostandon.org.   

January 1, 1886 - English Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885 takes effect.   "Indecencies" between adult males in private become a crime punishable by up to two years imprisonment. 

December 11, 1908  Quentin Crisp is born.

Remembering the '60s and '70s in Rochester

by Evelyn Bailey

In the 60s and 70s, Rochester became known as the leading jazz town in upstate New York. Famous jazz musicians would come to Clarissa Street and play all night long moving from club to club. The Pythodd Room (Stanley and Delores Thomas) was one example of a top Clarissa Street "joint" that hosted jam session including everyone from Little Stevie Wonder to Jimmy Smith and the Mangione brothers (Chuck and Gap). The Mangiones grew up in Rochester, and Chuck went on to become one of the biggest "cross-over" trumpeters in jazz history, with his records regularly being played on jazz, smooth jazz, and easy listening stations.

What did the Gay Liberation Front do?

by Evelyn Bailey

In previous issues we looked at WHAT the Gay Liberation Front at the University of Rochester was.  We looked at WHO the driving force behind the organization was.  In this issue we want to look at WHAT  DID  THE  GLF  DO?

The accomplishments of the Gay Liberation Front at the University of Rochester can be summarized in one word – VISIBILITY.  The members of the GLF were naturally catapulted into the public arena.  Their commitment to educating the public and speaking out resulted in being OUT and VISIBLE themselves. 

Karen Hagberg, a student at the Eastman School of Music, came out publicly when she and two other students, R J Alcala and Jim Fishman, did a TV spot on WXXI channel 21, on July 14, 1971 on a talk show “Call 21.”  The show aired live so no copies were made at the station. 

Bob Osborne

by Evelyn Bailey

In last month’s Shoulders To Stand On article we looked at HOW and WHAT the Gay Liberation Front was.  This month we will look at who the people involved in the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) were.  We need to remember the times in which the GLF was established. 

The year was 1970.  A Richard Nixon was President.  U.S. troops invade Cambodia (May 1). Four students at Kent State University in Ohio slain by National Guardsmen at demonstration protesting incursion into Cambodia (May 4).   This was the year the Beatles broke up, the year Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin died of a drug overdose at the age of 27, the year of Midnight Cowboy, Love Story, Airport, the year IBM introduces the floppy disk, the year Maya Angelou wrote I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and the year of the 5th Dimension’s Grammy award winning song Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In.

Onto this stage steps Bob Osborne, the original founder of the Gay Liberation movement in Rochester.  Bob had a flair for revolutionary rhetoric.  His early writings in the first three Empty Closets carried with them the spirit of the turbulent 1960s.

Gay Liberation Front

by Evelyn Bailey

Over the next three months, Shoulders To Stand On will honor the Rochester Gay Liberation Front (hereafter referred to as the RGLF), forerunner to the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley.

Who or what - you might ask – was the Gay Liberation Front? To answer this question we need to take a trip back in our LGBT history.

The event that most authors seem to identify as having the most influence on the beginning of the gay liberation movement was the Stonewall riots of 1969. It would be a mistake to consider this event as the origin of the concept of gay liberation or the origin of a sense of community and gay pride.

Events in Gay History - April

by Evelyn Bailey

April 1
1970 - The Advocate estimates that there are approximately 6,817,000 gays and lesbians living in the United States.
1985 - The first classes are held at the Harvey Milk School for gay, lesbian and bisexual youth, a New York city-funded institution. Harvey Milk is the first gay high school in America.