A Photographic Look at the Birth of Gay Pride

June 26, 2014 3:38 PM

A Photographic Look at the Birth of Gay Pride
posted by scody (9 comments total)

I am always SO GAY for early 60s queers in suits protesting with giant signs and early 70s activists looking intellectual with long jackets and floppy hair.

Also, this slideshow I came across today which I didn't think warrented its own post but totally fits here Photos from Chicago's Pride Parade in 1985

(Which, to continue my earlier thought, proves I also like 80s mustachioed dudes in jean vests and cut-offs as well as hairy dudes in revealing singlets and pretty guys with blond feathered hair. So I guess really all this says is I'm pretty much a fan of all the classics.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 4:04 PM on June 26, 2014 [5 favorites]

We've come so far.

I mean look at what they're wearing in that 1985 photoset. You call that underwear? My grandma has skimpier skivvies.
posted by angerbot at 4:51 PM on June 26, 2014

Now that I'm fully an LA partisan, it's worth pointing out that the first parade to use gay pride as a theme was the 1966 LA motorcade protesting gays being excluded from the military.
posted by klangklangston at 6:09 PM on June 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

klangklangston: yes, the first anniversary march of the Stonewall Rebellion was a "gay liberation" march, and it was mostly a hurried scurry down a few blocks and then dispersing quickly. The concept of "gay pride" as the opposite of "gay shame" had been around earlier than 1969.

My partner, who is older than me, was a member of the GLF in the late 60s and early 70s. I've heard some tales.

Someplace online is about an hour of footage of the zip action takeover of the clerks' office, but I think you have to download a special player to see more than about 5 minutes of it.
posted by hippybear at 10:49 PM on June 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

That'd be awesome to see! I'll take a look around for it.
posted by klangklangston at 1:44 AM on June 27, 2014

The ripple from Stonewall led some years on to the glory that is the annual Sydney Gay Mardi Gras, which kicked off in 1978 on Saturday 24th June.

From mardigras.org:

Mardi Gras was Sydney’s contribution to the international Gay Solidarity Celebrations, an event that had grown up as a result of the Stonewall riots in New York. Mardi Gras was one of a series of events by the Gay Solidarity Group to promote the forthcoming National Homosexual Conference, and offer support to San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day and its campaign against California State Senator John Brigg’s attempts to stop gay rights supporters teaching in schools. It was also intended to protest the Australian visit of homophobic Festival of Light campaigner Mary Whitehouse.

"Several hundred gays, lesbians and straight supporters – some in fancy dress and some simply rugged up against the cold – gathered at Taylor Square and followed a truck with a small music and sound system down Oxford Street to Hyde Park. As revellers joined in along Oxford St, the police harrassed the lead float along the route and when the march stopped in Hyde Park, where telegrams of support were to be read, police confiscated the lead float truck and arrested the driver Lance Gowland. Angered by this, 1500 revellers diverted up William St to Darlinghurst Road, where the police had closed the road. At this point the police swooped and violently arrested 53 men and women, many of whom were beaten in cells. Over the months that followed more protests and arrests took place and the actions of the police came to be seen as heavy handed.

"By April in 1979 the parliament of New South Wales repealed the NSW Summary Offences Act legislation that had allowed the arrests to be made and created a new Public Assemblies Act which meant that Sydneysiders no longer had to apply for a permit to have a demonstration. They simply needed to inform the police. As such that first Mardi Gras march was a major civil rights milestone beyond the gay community. Up to 3,000 people marched in an incident-free parade in 1979."

Detailed 5-part documentary on YT, made by ABCTV in '98 for the 20th anniversary.
posted by valetta at 4:26 AM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

But did you know that the oldest continuously operating gay organization is the Satyr's Motorcycle Club (since 1954) - Happy 60th anniversary!!!
posted by Sophie1 at 8:06 AM on June 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

That'd be awesome to see! I'll take a look around for it.

This isn't the full hour of material I saw on Veoh once upon a time, but here is 30 minutes of that via YouTube:

Gay Marriage Bureau Takeover 1971 Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
posted by hippybear at 10:48 AM on June 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

I only realized today that this week was the 41st anniversary of a much more tragic event: the firebombing of the UpStairs Lounge (previously).
posted by scody at 2:13 PM on June 28, 2014