You’re familiar with Stonewall, of course! But what about the activist movements throughout history that haven't received as much attention?
Let's take a look at some of the more obscure political actions that have also changed the course of Queer history.
A Brief History of Overlooked Queer Political Actions
When US army soldier Henry Gerber was stationed in Germany, from 1920 to 1923, he saw the rise of homophile organizations, as gay rights groups were once called.
Upon returning to Chicago, in 1924, Gerber founded The Society for Human Rights, first gay rights organisation in America, which also produced the country’s first gay rights newsletter, called Freedom and Friendship.
Shortly after the newsletter was disseminated, Gerber's home was raided by the police. He was arrested, his papers confiscated, he lost his job and life savings and the Society fell apart.
Later, Gerber relocated to New York City and began writing activist works again, this time under the pen name Parisex. He continued his activism until his death in the 1970s.
The Mattachine Society was formed in the early 1950s by Harry Hay.
It started in California but quickly spread across the country, providing a space for gays and lesbians to gather and discuss their experiences.
This was radical, at a time when few Americans were out. In some places, it was ilegal for homosexuals to gather at all.
The organization declared that homosexuals were an oppressed minority and that developing a community was essential to overcoming oppression, and that anti gay legislation in the US needed to be overturned.
However, in 1953, the group’s radical ideas were traded for more accommodationist ones which stated that homosexuals should adapt to, not combat, heterossexual lifestyles in order to obtain equality.
The Mattachines dissolved at the end of the 1960s when gay rights activism became more aggressive.
The Daughters of Billitis was formed in 1955, in San Francisco, by Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin.
It was named after poet Pierre Louys’ The Songs of Bilitis, in which Bilitis was said to be a female lover of Greek poet Sappho.
It was one of the first lesbian organizations ever established in the US. Originally assembled as a meeting place for lesbians, the group also held public forums to teach people about homosexuality, and provided support to partnered, single and parenting lesbians.
The Daughters of Bilitis shut down in the early 1970s but is known for its commitment to fostering understanding in and out of the lesbian community.
The riot at Jean Compton's cafeteria, in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighbourhood, happened in August 1966.
A policeman grabbed a Drag Queen in an attempt to arrest her and she threw a cup of coffee in his face.
A riot began almost immediately, with glass windows smashed by thrown sugar shakers, tables flipped and cutlery thrown.
These particular Compton’s customers had had enough.
Cops had been arresting Drag Queens, gay hustlers and transgender women at the 24 hour eatery regularly for crossdressing, for obstructing the sidewalk or for any reason they could find to throw them in jail.
After the incident, the diner banned trans women and the Tenderloin’s largely Queer community rebelled, picketing the establishment and breaking its new windows.
The Compton riots received no coverage at all in any of san Francisco's publications but today is recognized for its importance as one of the first Queer uprisings against police brutality.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence first emerged in 1979 when four gay men, bored with the sameness of San Francisco’s Castro district, put on retired nun's habits.
Realizing their presence could bring joy and initiate social change they draw attention to Queer discrimination and religious hypocrisy, promoted safe sex and educated against the dangerous effects of drug use, all the while raising money for AIDS, LGBTQ+ and community related causes.
Chapters have since expanded across the globe.
Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaires, or STAR, was organized by Queer historical icons and self-described Drag Queens Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.
Both had been present at Stonewall and active in the Gay Liberation Front and decided to organize homeless trans youths, Drag Queens, sex workers, immigrants and low income people in New York.
Rivera and Johnson were homeless themselves, and so STAR was a way to help provide shelter for the people they knew as their children.
They bought a building, fixed it up and provided shelter and clothes for people who came through.
STAR grew from New York to Chicago, California and even England and lasted approximately three years before it shut down.
While the riots at Stonewall are, of course, important their story started decades before and continues today.
Thanks to people like Henry Garber, Phyllis Lyon, Sylvia Rivera, Larry Kramer and countless others, Queer activism still has a loud and forcible voice, in and out of the community.
We owe so much to their legacy. We continue to speak out and honour the strides they made for us and the lives we hope to change in the future.
Transcript of:
A Brief History of Overlooked Queer Political Actions
narrated by Billy Porter and illustrated by Amit Greenberg
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