LGBT Civil Rights Movement - Before Stonewall
July 4, 1965 marks the 50th Anniversary of the start of the LGBT Civil Rights Movement. That's right, although the Stonewall Riots in 1969 are frequently cited as the beginning of the gay liberation movement in the United States, the organized movement actually traces its origins to July 4, 1965. It was on that date that a group of 40 courageous gay and lesbian activists demonstrated for homosexual equality in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. They hailed from New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., collaborating as East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO) and they repeated their protest as "Annual Reminders" each July 4th through 1969. After 1969, the group shifted their attention to organizing a march commemorating the first anniversary of Stonewall in 1970, which is remembered as the first New York City Pride Parade. The principal organizers of the Annual Reminders were Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings, who came to be known as the father and mother of the organized LGBT civil rights movement. They continued their advocacy for gay rights throughout their lives.
A multi-day celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the LGBT Civil Rights Movement will be held July 2-5, 2015 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
To learn more about Kameny, Gittings, and other early gay pioneers, you might start with the following books @ your Milwaukee Public Library:
Gay is Good: The Life and Letters of Gay Rights Pioneer Franklin Kameny, edited by Michael G. Long, Syracuse University Press, 2014
Out of the Past: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Rights in America [DVD documentary], originally produced in 1997
Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context, edited by Vern L. Bullough, Harrington Park Press, 2002