List of LGBT actions in the United States prior to the Stonewall riots

Homophile picket at the White House, 1965

Although the June 28, 1969, Stonewall riots are generally considered the starting point of the modern gay liberation movement,^[1][2] a number of demonstrations and actions took place before that date. These actions, often organized by local homophile organizations but sometimes spontaneous, addressed concerns ranging from anti-gay discrimination in employment and public accommodations to the exclusion of homosexuals from the United States military to police harassment to the treatment of homosexuals in revolutionary Cuba. The early actions have been credited with preparing the LGBT community for Stonewall and contributing to the riots' symbolic power.^[3]

A favorite technique of early activists was the picket line, especially for those actions organized by such Eastern groups as the Mattachine Society of New York, the Mattachine Society of Washington, Philadelphia's Janus Society and the New York chapter of Daughters of Bilitis, These groups acted under the collective name East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO).^[4] Organized pickets tended to be in large urban population centers because these centers were where the largest concentration of homophile activists were located.^[5] Picketers at ECHO-organized events were required to follow strict dress codes. Men had to wear ties, preferably with a jacket. Women were required to wear skirts. The dress code was imposed by Mattachine Society of Washington founder Frank Kameny, with the goal of portraying homosexuals as "presentable and 'employable'".^[6] Many of the participants in these early actions went on to become deeply involved in the gay liberation movement.^[7]

Actions

Date	Location	Reason	Description
May 1959	Los Angeles	To protest police harassment	LGBT people clashed with police at Cooper's Donuts, a hang-out for drag queens and street hustlers who were frequently harassed by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Police arrested three people, including John Rechy, but other patrons began pelting the police with donuts and coffee cups. The LAPD called for back-up and arrested a number of rioters. Rechy and the other two original detainees were able to escape.[8]
September 19, 1964	New York City	To protest the US military's treatment of gay people	Organized by activist Randy Wicker, a small group picketed the Whitehall Street Induction Center after the confidentiality of gay men's draft records was violated. This action has been identified as the first gay rights demonstration in the United States.[9]
December 2, 1964	New York City	To protest the disease model of homosexuality	Four gay men and lesbians picketed a lecture by a psychoanalyst espousing the model of homosexuality as a mental illness. The demonstrators were given ten minutes to make a rebuttal.[9]
December 31, 1964	San Francisco	To protest police action	The Council on Religion and the Homosexual held a costume party at California Hall on Polk Street in San Francisco to raise money for the new organization. When the ministers informed the San Francisco Police Department of the event, the SFPD attempted to force the rented hall's owners to cancel it. At the event itself, some of the ministers and ticket takers were arrested, creating a brief riot.[10]
April 17,[4] and April 18, 1965[11]	Washington, D.C., New York City	To protest Cuba and the United States' policies on homosexuality	Homophile activists picketed the White House on April 17 and the United Nations[12] on the 18th after learning that Cuba was placing homosexuals in forced labor camps.[13]
April 25, 1965	Philadelphia	To protest a restaurant's gay-exclusionary service policy	An estimated 150 people participated in a sit-in when the manager of Dewey's restaurant refused service to several people he thought looked gay. Four people were arrested, including homophile rights leader Clark Polak of Philadelphia's Janus Society. All four were convicted of disorderly conduct. Members of the society also leafleted outside the restaurant the following week and negotiated with the owners to bring an end to the denial of service. Three people staged another sit-in on May 5, occupying a table for a few hours.[14]
May 29, 1965	Washington, D.C.	In support of gay rights	Organized by ECHO, seven men and three women picketed the White House.[15] The first of a series of pickets held throughout the summer, which also targeted the Civil Service Commission, the State Department and The Pentagon.[13]
July 4, 1965	Philadelphia	General informational picket	Organized by ECHO, demonstrators picketed at Independence Hall. Picketers returned each year through 1969 for what came to be known as the Annual Reminder beginning a new era in Philadelphia LGBT culture as a presence in the community.[16]
September 26, 1965	San Francisco	In support of a pro-gay clergyman	Thirty people picketed Grace Cathedral to protest punitive actions taken against Rev. Canon Robert Cromey for his involvement in the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, an alliance between LGBT people and religious leaders.[17]
October 23, 1965[18]	Washington, D.C.	In support of gay rights	The last White House picket. Demonstrators felt, with this event, that picketing the White House had lost its effectiveness as a tactic.[19]
April 21, 1966	New York City	To challenge the state's prohibition against serving alcohol to known homosexuals	Activists Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell and John Timmons were seeking a test case to challenge New York's regulation barring known homosexuals from being served alcohol in bars and restaurants. They invited reporters to follow them as they sought a refusal of service. After being served in several bars despite announcing their homosexuality, the group was finally refused service at Julius, a gay bar that had been raided previously. Although Leitsch's complaint to the State Liquor Authority resulted in no action, the city's human rights commission declared that such discrimination could not continue.[20]
May 21, 1966	Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.	To protest the exclusion of homosexuals from the United States armed forces	A coalition of homophile organizations across the country organized simultaneous demonstrations for Armed Forces Day.[21] The Los Angeles group held a 15-car motorcade (which has been identified as the nation's first gay pride parade)[22] and activists held pickets in the other cities.[23][24] The protest grew out of the first meeting of the organization that would become the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations.[22]
July 18, 1966	San Francisco	To protest a restaurant's harassment and denial of service	Around 25 people picketed Compton's Cafeteria when new management began using Pinkerton agents and police to harass gay and transgender customers.[25]
August 1966	San Francisco	To protest continued harassment	Gay and transgender customers rioted at Compton's in response to continued police harassment. The restaurant and the surrounding neighborhood sustained heavy damage. The following night demonstrators threw up another picket line, which quickly descended into new violence and damage to the restaurant.[25]
September 1966	Chicago	To protest being ignored by the press	Mattachine Midwest picketed the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times for routinely ignoring press material and refusing advertising from the organization. Sun-Times columnist Irv Kupcinet mentioned the pickets in his column but neglected to mention that his paper was one of the targets. The Tribune gave the event no coverage.[26]
January 1, 1967	Los Angeles	To protest police raids on gay bars	The LAPD raided the New Year's Eve parties at two gay bars, the Black Cat Tavern and New Faces. Several patrons were injured and a bartender was hospitalized with a fractured skull. Several hundred people spontaneously demonstrated on Sunset Boulevard and picketed outside the Black Cat.[27]
February 11, 1967	Los Angeles	In solidarity with other minority groups in the city	Organized by the owner of gay bar Pandora's Box and built on the Black Cat protests of weeks earlier, about 200 LGBT people watched as around 40 picketers demonstrated in front of the Black Cat in coordination with hippies and other counterculture groups who had been targeted by police for harassment and violence.[28]
March 17, 1968	Los Angeles	To protest entrapment and harassment by the LAPD	Two drag queens known as "The Princess" and "The Duchess" held a St. Patrick's Day party at Griffith Park, a popular cruising spot and a frequent target of police activity. More than 200 gay men socialized through the day.[27]
April 23, 1968	New York City	To protest the classification of homosexuality as a mental illness	The Student Homophile League of Columbia University picketed and disrupted a panel of psychiatrists discussing homosexuality.[29]
May 30, 1968	Los Angeles	General gathering	Homophile groups organized a "gay-in" in Griffith Park.[30]
August 1968[31]	Los Angeles	To protest a police raid on The Patch, a gay bar	Following the arrest of two patrons, The Patch owner Lee Glaze organized the other patrons to move on the police station. After buying out a nearby flower shop, the demonstrators caravanned to the station, festooned it with the flowers and bailed out the arrested men.[32]
April 1969	San Francisco	To protest the firing of a gay activist	When gay activist and journalist Gale Whittington was fired by the States Steamship Company after coming out in print, a small group of activists operating under the name "Committee for Homosexual Freedom" (CHF) picketed the company's San Francisco offices every workday between noon and 1:00 for several weeks.[33]
May 1969[34]	San Francisco	To protest the firing of an employee suspected of being gay	Tower Records fired Frank Denaro, believing him to be gay. The Committee for Homosexual Freedom picketed the store for several weeks until Denaro was reinstated.[35] The CHF ran similar pickets of Safeway stores, Macy's and the Federal Building.[33]

See also

• List of LGBT rights organizations
• Timeline of LGBT history

Notes

1. Duberman, p. xi
2. Bianco, p. 194
3. Allyn, p. 155
4. Loughery, p. 270
5. Miller, p. 239
6. Loughery, p. 271
7. Loughery, p. 272
8. Faderman and Timmons, pp. 1–2
9. Campbell, p. xvii
10. D'Emilio, pp. 193–195
11. Witt et al., p. 208
12. Bianco, p. 167
13. Witt et al., p. 209
14. Stein, Marc (2005-05-09). "The First Gay Sit-In". History News Network. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
15. Fletcher, p. 68
16. Marks Ridinger, p. 130
17. Gallo, p. 114
18. Hogan and Hudson, p. 636
19. Tobin and Wicker, p. 104
20. Eisenbach, pp. 46–47
21. Bérubé, photo section 2, p. 6
22. Fletcher, p. 42
23. Slater, Don (May 1966). "Protest on Wheels". Tangents. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
24. Timmons, p. 221
25. Carter, p. 109
26. Alwood, p. 62
27. Witt et al., p. 210
28. Teal, p. 25
29. Fletcher, p. 67
30. Teal, p. 26
31. Faderman and Timmons, p. 159
32. Clendinen and Nagourney, p. 180
33. Stryker and Van Buskirk, p. 53
34. Teal, p. 32
35. Murray, p. 61

References

• Allyn, David (2000). Make Love, Not War: The Sexual Revolution, an Unfettered History. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-03930-6.
• Alwood, Edward (1996). Straight News: Gays, Lesbians, and the News Media. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08437-4.
• Bérubé, Allan (1990). Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two. New York, The Penguin Group. ISBN 0-452-26598-3.
• Bianco, David (1999). Gay Essentials: Facts For Your Queer Brain. Los Angeles, Alyson Books. ISBN 1-55583-508-2.
• Campbell, J. Louis (2007). Jack Nichols, Gay Pioneer: "Have You Heard My Message?". Haworth Press. ISBN 1-56023-653-1.
• Carter, David (2005). Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution. Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-34269-1.
• Cleninden, Dudley and Adam Nagourney (1999). Out For Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America. New York, Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81091-3.
• D'Emilio, John (1983). Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940–1970. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-14265-5.
• Duberman, Martin (1993). Stonewall. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-525-93602-5.
• Eisenbach, David (2006). Gay Power: An American Revolution. Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0-7867-1633-9.
• Faderman, Lillian and Stuart Timmons (2006). Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02288-X.
• Fletcher, Lynne Yamaguchi (1992). The First Gay Pope and Other Records. Boston, Alyson Publications. ISBN 1-55583-206-7.
• Gallo, Marcia M. (2006). Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rise of the Lesbian Rights Movement. Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0-7867-1634-7.
• Hogan, Steve and Lee Hudson (1998). Completely Queer: The Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia. New York, Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-3629-6.
• Loughery, John (1998). The Other Side of Silence – Men's Lives and Gay Identities: A Twentieth-Century History. New York, Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-3896-5.
• Marks Ridinger, Robert B. (2004). Speaking For Our Lives: Historic Speeches and Rhetoric for Gay and Lesbian Rights (1892-2000). Haworth Press. ISBN 1-56023-175-0.
• Miller, Neil (1995). Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present. New York, Vintage Books. ISBN 0-09-957691-0.
• Murray, Stephen O. (1996). American Gay. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-55191-1.
• Stryker, Susan and Jim Van Buskirk, with foreword by Armisted Maupin (1996). Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco, Chronicle Press. ISBN 0-8118-1187-5.
• Teal, Donn (1971, reissued 1995). The Gay Militants: How Gay Liberation Began in America, 1969–1971. New York, St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-11279-3 (1995 edition).
• Timmons, Stuart (1990). The Trouble With Harry Hay. Boston, Alyson Publications. ISBN 1-55583-175-3.
• Tobin, Kay and Randy Wicker (1972). The Gay Crusaders. New York, Paperback Library, a division of Coronet Communications. ISBN 0-446-66691-2.
• Witt, Lynn, Sherry Thomas and Eric Marcus (eds.) (1995). Out in All Directions: The Almanac of Gay and Lesbian America. New York, Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-67237-8.

External links

• Resources on Regional Homophile/LGBT Organizations in the 1960s
• Political correspondence from the papers of Frank Kameny