For those of you who don't know this history, homophile groups were accomodationist in their strategies, trying to persuade straights and the state that gays and lesbians, except for their sexuality, were just like everyone else: unfortunately, in this day and age of gay marriage, gay babies and gay war, this is increasingly the case.
Activists subsequently formed the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), a group that made a definitive break with homophile politics. This, it is said, was the birth of gay liberation, which is technically true. An iconic event, it began on Jin Greenwich Village, New York, following a raid on the Stonewall Inn, and continued on for days as roving groups of queers provoked, and resisted, the police. What we are celebrating, other than the success of GLBT entrepeneurship, is the Stonewall Riots. It is June, otherwise known by Presidential proclamation as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month, a time when major cities and resort towns around the country have parades and sell beer.
Michael Schiavi, Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times Of Vito Russo(Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011).
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