Gay Liberation Front
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Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots.
One of the GLF's first acts was to organize a march in response to Stonewall, and to demand an end to the persecution of homosexuals. The GLF had a broad political platform, denouncing racism and declaring support for various Third World struggles and the Black Panther Party — some of whom would return the gesture of solidarity. They took an anti-capitalist stance, and attacked the nuclear family and traditional gender roles. Several GLF women such as Martha Shelley went on to form the Lavender Menace.
United Kingdom
Having read about the GLF, Aubrey Walter went to New York after graduating from the London School of Economics (LSE). While in New York he met Bob Mellors, another LSE student.
After returning to London, they arranged a GLF meeting in a room at the LSE on October 13, 1970. When Louis Eaks, a leading member of the Young Liberals, was arrested for cottaging on Highbury Fields, Islington, the GLF decided to protest. This torchlight demonstration on November 27 1970 involved around 80 GLF members, and was the first ever public gay protest in Britain.
In August 1971 a GLF march along Islington's Upper Street to Highbury Fields laid the foundations for the first Gay Pride in London in 1972. The GLF occupied Time Out's London office in March 1972, demanding that the magazine publish gay advertisements. The group inserted a flyer in copies of Dr David Reuben's Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (which claimed gay men were obsessed with vegetables) claiming the publishers would give a refund to anyone who was not satisfied with the book, and later delivered a 12-foot long cucumber to the publishers' London offices.
The best organised GLF action was to disrupt the opening of the Festival of Light organised by Mary Whitehouse at Methodist Central Hall. Groups of GLF members in drag invaded and spontaneously kissed each other; others released mice, sounded horns and unveiled banners, and a contingent dressed as workmen obtained access to the basement and shut off the lights.
See also
References
Book about the London GLF: No Bath But Plenty Of Bubbles: An Oral History Of The Gay Liberation Front 1970-73 by Lisa Power (Editor). New York and London: Cassell, 1995
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