Shoulders to Stand On

history corner: May 1972

by Evelyn Bailey

40 yrs. ago this month, the Gay Liberation Front, precursor to the Gay alliance of the Genesee Valley was a very active organization on the University of Rochester Campus. Here is the GLF Calendar for May, 1972

MAY 5 – 7: Gay Cultural Explosion:  Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.  Cabaret, Costume ball, Love Feast, workshops, games, music, free food and drink, housing. Phone 275-6181 for details and to share a ride.
SAT., MAY 6: DANCE: U of R Frederick Douglass Lounge  9 – 1.  UR Students 75 cents, Others: $1.50.  Beer at very moderate prices.  Call in your favorite steppin’ tunes to the GLF office.  We’ll attempt to feature them.
SUN., MAY 7: GLF MEETING: “Community Center  – What’s Next?” Planning session for proposed community center. 7:30 pm Todd Union.
By Appointment: Physicians will take cultures for gonorrhea.  No charge. Appointment: 275-6181
SUN., MAY 14: GLF MEETING: “Gays Between the Covers”. A discussion of what writers say about us then and now.
SUN., MAY 21: GLF MEETING, "GAY ACTIVITIES IN TORONTO". Ms. Pat Hurphy and M. Charles Hill from Canadian homophlle organization CHAT discuss their recent government funding, the new community center, and other items of interest. Todd Union Music Lounge, 7:30 pm.
GAY PICNIC: Syracuse GLF. Green Lakes State Park. 12 noon.
FRI., MAY 26 "GAY WOMEN'S COFFEHOUSE", Women's Center, 555 E Main 9pm-lam, Free refreshments. Entertainment.
SUN., MAY 28 GLF POLITICAL-LEGAL ACTION MEETING "GAY LEGISLATION '72". Who helped, who hindered, what happened, what can we do better next time?

History Corner: April 1974

by Evelyn Bailey

GAY ALLIANCE MEETING SCHEDULE
SUN 7 APR: BUSINESS MEETING/GAY TOWN MEETING, First meeting at the new center location. 713 Monroe Ave.
SUN 14 APR: CENTER DROP-IN NIGHT. No meeting scheduled. but center open. All welcome --- Drop in!
SUN 21 APR: SPEAKER: " LAW ENFORCEMENT PROBLEMS WITH HOMOSEXUALS; A POLICEMAN'S VIEW" Representative from the Rochester Police Department.
SUN 26 APR: SOCIAL: GAY COPPEE HOUSE. Bring food, games, fun. friends, and especially yourself.
SUN 5 MAY  BUSINESS MEETING/GAY TOWN MEETING.
SUN 12 MAY; PROGRAM; "GAY MUSIC" Bruce Jewell of WCMF'S GREEN THURSDAY plays and discusses a newly emerging branch of music/

OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST
SUNDAYS:  COOKING CLASS. Basic and specialty cooking.
EVERY WEDNESDAY: Gay Radio Program,"GREEN THURSDAYS' WCMP-PM, 96.5rthz,               Wednesday midnight.
THURSDAYS: Gay Task Force meets, 2 Fuller Place, 8pm

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))

History Corner: July 1971

by Evelyn Bailey

What was our history 40 years ago - what were some of the significant events of July, 1971?

Rochester, NY
  July 4    American Independence: George Washington Died For Us; GLF Dance at U of R, plus other festivities

  July 11  DRAG BAG – A discussion of transvestites and Rochester Drag scene.

History Corner: June 1971

by Evelyn Bailey

What was our history 40 yrs. Ago? What was the significant event of June, 1971?

June 18 - 27  Gay Pride Week in New York City; 10 days of plays, movies, workshops, dances, suppers, and marches.

Thursday, June 24 – Candlelight march to City Hall in support of City council bill for Fair employment for gay men and women.

Saturday, June 26 – Workshops all day at Public School #41; Street Fair in front of Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse (name of new community center);          Street Dancing; 7 PM Potluck supper at the Firehouse; Evening – Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis Dance

Sunday, June 27 - New York City – Christopher Street Gay Liberation March to commemorate the beginning of the Gay Liberation Movement in June, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher St. in Greenwich Village; Noon – 2PM  Parade formed on Christopher St. west of Sheridan Square; 2 PM March proceeded along Christopher St., past Sheridan Square, past Stonewall Inn to Sixth Avenue.  Then the march turned north for fifty to sixty blocks to Central Park; 5 PM  Marchers assembled in Central Park in Sheep Meadow for a picnic lunch and love-in.

About 20 Rochester people and some Buffalo people marched under the Rochester banner. (From the Empty Closet No. 5 June 29, 1971)

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.

Gay Liberation Front

By Evelyn Bailey

Bob Osborne, Larry Fine, R.J. Alcala, Patti Evans, Karen Hagberg, Marshall Goldman. Who would you say these people are?

These men and women were the Shoulders on which the University of Rochester’s Gay Liberation Front was founded.

This October marks the 40^th Anniversary of the Gay Liberation Front. On the U of R campus the group has gone through many name changes, and is currently the Pride Network. The University of Rochester’s Meliora Weekend, Oct. 14–16, provides two opportunities to celebrate this extraordinary event where past meets the present: Pride Network 40th Anniversary After Hours, Friday, Oct. 15, 9 p.m.-12 midnight at Wilson Commons, Bridge Lounge; College Diversity Roundtable: Conversations about Diversity at the College, Saturday, October 16, 4:30 p.m.-6 p.m., Gleason Hall, Room 318/418. All are welcome!

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.

Tim Mains: New York State's First Openly Gay Elected Official

by Evelyn Bailey

It is November.  What comes to my mind?   November 3, Election Day and Thanksgiving.  These two occasions are linked very closely.  Our OUT Politicians give us a great deal to be thankful for.  The Shoulders that our Rochester GLBT community identifies as the first openly gay candidate to run for political office is Tim Mains.

When Tim Mains began his career in public education, he believed that the word “gay” and “teacher” didn’t belong in the same sentence, let alone the same classroom. He assumed that he would keep his private life and his professional life strictly separated. After all, such beliefs and practices were common in 1971, when Mains graduated from Ball State University and left his home in Indiana to teach high school social studies in a suburb of Rochester, New York. 

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.