Shoulders to Stand On

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.

Gay Liberation in Rochester, New York

Excerpts from an article by Michael Robertson in the Empty Closet, June 1975

“We have fled from blackmailing cops, from families who disowned or ‘tolerated’ us; we have been drummed out of the armed services, thrown out of schools, fired from jobs, and beaten by punks and policemen.  Straight cops patrol us, straight legislators govern us, straight employers keep us in line, straight money exploits us.  We have pretended everything is OK because we haven't been able to see how to change it - - we've been afraid.”

Out of this intolerable reality and the struggle of all peoples to be treated as human beings was born the gay liberation movement. In this article I want to focus on the event that catapulted gay liberation into the 20th century full-blown, and specifically its effect on Rochester, New York.

It was this month 39 years ago that some thing unremarkable happened. On June 27, an event which had occurred a thousand times before across the United States over the decades took place. THE POLICE RAIDED A GAY BAR! The very first public response to overt harassment was demonstrated. The Stonewall Riots mark the conscious organized beginning of the gay liberation movement. They also mark the beginning of Gay Pride.

The Beginning of Gay Pride

by Evelyn Bailey

PRIDE - the quality or state of being proud: as a: inordinate self-esteem b: a reasonable or justifiable self-respect c: delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship <parental pride>

This definition captures the feeling the Rochester Community has openly proclaimed and enjoyed for many years. Our growing sense of who we are individually and as a community has moved us to be out and proud. We take great pride in our community’s accomplishments in its struggle for equal rights under the law and the freedom to be who we are. 

This month we celebrate 38 years of PRIDE in a 3 day event filled weekend. On Saturday, July 19th, the Rochester gay community will hold its 19th Annual Gay Pride Parade. This year their will be over 300 Gay Pride Parades and Celebrations throughout the world.