Homophile Action League

Last updated
Homophile Action League
Formation1968
Dissolved1973
Headquarters1321 Arch Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Co-founder
 Ada Bello
Co-founder
Carole Friedman

The Homophile Action League (HAL) was established in 1968 in Philadelphia as part of the Homophile movement in the United States. [1] [2] [3] The organization advocated for the rights of the LGBT community and served as a predecessor to the Gay Liberation Front. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Contents

Background

The Homophile Action League was founded in August 1968 by LGBT rights activists and lovers Ada Bello and Carole Friedman. [8] [9] [10] Other early members and leaders in the organization included Byrna Aronson, George Bodamer, Rosalie Davies, Lourdes Alvarez, Jerry Curtis, Barbara Gittings, and her life partner, Kay Lahusen. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

The organization was established after the dissolution of the local chapter of an LGBT advocacy organization called the Daughters of Bilitis, the first American lesbian civil rights group. While the group was largely run by lesbian women at its inception, its membership also included gay men. [8] [17]

Upon its founding, the stated mission of the organization was to "change society's legal, social, and scientific attitudes toward the homosexual in order to achieve justified recognition of the homosexual as a first-class citizen and a first-class human being." [18] [19]

Activities

After the Philadelphia Police Department raided Rusty's bar (a lesbian bar) and arrested 12 women in 1968, members of the league held meetings with the department to express their concerns and desire for reforms. [20] [8] [21]

The Homophile Action League published the "HAL Newsletter" in the late 1960s and early 1970s [11] which challenged discrimination and police harassment against the LGBT community. [20] [22] The league's newsletter was also one of the first publications to use and publish the term "Gay Pride" in 1970. [23]

The league had an office space at 34 South 17th Street, a space that was shared with the Janus Society. The organization later had an office location at 1321 Arch Street. [24]

The organization was a member of the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations, a subsidiary of the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations. [25] Representatives from the organization also took part in the final Annual Reminder protest at Independence Hall in July 1969 (among the earliest LGBT demonstrations in the United States) and subsequent Christopher Street Liberation Day demonstrations. [4] [26] [27] [28] [29] In June 1972, the Homophile Action League served as one of the host organizations of the first official Gay Pride Parade in Philadelphia. [30] [31]

The organization held regular meetings at the St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia's Hamilton Village. [32] [33] The organization hosted social events (including some of the first public gay dances in Philadelphia) as well as forums and training on topics including LGBT rights, political advocacy, and an educational series titled "Homosexuality and Religion." Guest speakers to the organization included Joe Acanfora in November 1972. [11]

In 1970, member Jerry Curtis registered as the league's lobbyist with the Pennsylvania General Assembly, becoming one of the first LGBT organization lobbyists in the history of the state. [34] [35] During the early 1970s, members of the league actively lobbied members of the Philadelphia City Council to enact gay rights legislation that would add housing and employment non-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation. [14] [36] The efforts were unsuccessful at the time, with legislation being stalled in committee for several years and failing to pass in 1974 (similarly worded legislation was later enacted in 1982). [37]

With the rise of more radical gay liberation politics following the riots, homophile organizations such as the Homophile Action League were largely inactive by the mid-1970s. The gay liberation movement replaced the term "homophile" with a new set of terminology such as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender. [38]

HAL Collective

For a brief period during the early 1970s, the organization ran the "HAL Collective," a house that offered cooperative housing to gays and lesbians in Philadelphia. [15]

Legacy

One of the members of the league, Kiyoshi Kuromiya, co-founded the Gay Liberation Front in 1969 following the Stonewall riots. [39] [40]

A picket sign used by the Homophile Action League (donated by Frank Kameny in 2006) is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History. [41]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonewall riots</span> 1969 spontaneous uprising for gay rights in New York City

The Stonewall riots, also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall, were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Patrons of the Stonewall, other Village lesbian and gay bars, and neighborhood street people fought back when the police became violent. The riots are widely considered the watershed event that transformed the gay liberation movement and the twentieth-century fight for LGBT rights in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homophile movement</span> Collective term for the LGBT organisations of the 1950-60s

The homophile movement is a collective term for the main organisations and publications supporting and representing sexual minorities in the 1950s to 1960s around the world. The name comes from the term homophile, which was commonly used by these organisations. At least some of these organisations are considered to have been more cautious than both earlier and later LGBT organisations; in the U.S., the nationwide coalition of homophile groups disbanded after older members clashed with younger members who had become more radical after the Stonewall riots of 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ONE, Inc.</span> American gay rights organization

One, Inc., or One Incorporated, was one of the first gay rights organizations in the United States, founded in 1952.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay liberation</span> Social and political movement in the 1960s and 70s.

The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride. In the feminist spirit of the personal being political, the most basic form of activism was an emphasis on coming out to family, friends, and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NYC Pride March</span> Event celebrating the LGBTQ community

The NYC Pride March is an annual event celebrating the LGBTQ community in New York City. The largest pride parade in North America and among the largest pride events in the world, the NYC Pride March attracts tens of thousands of participants and millions of sidewalk spectators each June. The parade route through Lower Manhattan traverses south on Fifth Avenue, through Greenwich Village, passing the Stonewall National Monument, site of the June 1969 riots that launched the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiyoshi Kuromiya</span> Japanese-American activist and author (1943–2000)

Kiyoshi Kuromiya was a Japanese-American author and civil rights, anti-war, gay liberation, and HIV/AIDS activist. Born in Wyoming at the World War II–era Japanese American internment camp known as Heart Mountain, Kuromiya became an aide to Martin Luther King Jr. and a prominent opponent of the Vietnam War during the 1960s.

This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the 1960s.

LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century and influential in achieving social progress for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT pride</span> Positive stance toward LGBT people

LGBT pride is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBT rights movements. Pride has lent its name to LGBT-themed organizations, institutes, foundations, book titles, periodicals, a cable TV channel, and the Pride Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Rodwell</span> American gay rights activist

Craig L. Rodwell was an American gay rights activist known for founding the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop on November 24, 1967 - the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors - and as the prime mover for the creation of the New York City gay pride demonstration. Rodwell, who was already an activist when he participated in the 1969 Stonewall uprising, is considered by some to be the leading gay rights activist in the early, pre-Stonewall, homophile movement of the 1960s.

The North American Conference of Homophile Organizations was an umbrella organization for a number of homophile organizations. Founded in 1966, the goal of NACHO was to expand coordination among homophile organizations throughout the Americas. Homophile activists were motivated in part by an increase in mainstream media attention to gay issues. Some feared that without a centralized organization, the movement would be hijacked, in the words of founding member Foster Gunnison Jr., by "fringe elements, beatniks, and other professional non-conformists".

The Annual Reminders were a series of early pickets organized by gay organizations, held yearly from 1965 through 1969. The Reminder took place each July 4 at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and were among the earliest LGBT demonstrations in the United States. The events were designed to inform and remind the American people that gay people did not enjoy basic civil rights protections.

<i>Drum</i> (American magazine)

Drum was an American gay men's culture and news magazine published monthly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, featuring homoerotic photographs as well as news, book reviews, editorials, and fiction. It was published beginning in October 1964 by the homophile activist group the Janus Society as a continuation of the group's monthly newsletter. Edited by Clark Polak, the president of the Janus Society, the magazine represented Polak's radical approach to the homophile movement by emphasizing sexual liberation when other homophile organizations were focused on assimilating with straight society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT culture in Philadelphia</span>

The development of LGBT culture in Philadelphia can be traced back to the early 20th century. It exists in current times as a dynamic, diverse, and philanthropically active culture with establishments and events held to promote LGBT culture and rights in Philadelphia and beyond.

East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO) was established in January 1962 in Philadelphia, to facilitate cooperation between homophile organizations and outside administrations. Its formative membership included the Mattachine Society chapters in New York and Washington D.C., the Daughters of Bilitis chapter in New York, and the Janus Society in Philadelphia, which met monthly. Philadelphia was chosen to be the host city, due to its central location among all involved parties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queens Liberation Front</span> Transvestite rights advocacy group

Queens Liberation Front (QLF) was a homophile group primarily focused on transvestite rights advocacy organization in New York City. QLF was formed in 1969 and active in the 1970s. They published Drag Queens: A Magazine About the Transvestite beginning in 1971. The Queens Liberation Front collaborated with a number of other LGBTQ+ activist groups, including the Gay Activists Alliance and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ada Bello</span> Cuban American researcher and LGBT rights activist (1933–2023)

Ada C. Bello was a Cuban-American LGBT rights activist and medical laboratory researcher of Portuguese descent. She was a founder of the Philadelphia Chapter of Daughters of Bilitis and the Homophile Action League. Bello led activism efforts for the LGBT community beginning in the late 1960s and served in advocacy roles including as a board member of the LGBT Elder Initiative.

Ellen Broidy is an American gay rights activist. She was one of the proposers and a co-organizer of the first gay pride march.

<i>The Phoenix: Midwest Homophile Voice</i> LGBT magazine

The Phoenix: Midwest Homophile Voice was an American homophile magazine that ran from 1966 to 1972. It was published by The Phoenix Society for Individual Freedom, in Kansas City, Missouri, and was the first LGBT magazine in the Midwest. The magazine was founded by Drew Shafer, a gay rights activist from Kansas City (KC), who was known for bringing the homophile movement to KC. The magazine's motto was: “Rising From the Fiery Hell of Social Injustice, The Wings of Freedom Will Never Be Stilled.”

References

  1. ↑ Ferentinos, Susan (2016). "Sitting In, Speaking Out: Pennsylvania's Revolutionary Homophile Movement". Pennsylvania Legacies. 16 (1): 20–26. doi:10.5215/pennlega.16.1.0020. ISSN   1544-6360. JSTOR   10.5215/pennlega.16.1.0020.
  2. ↑ Hall, Simon (2008). "Protest Movements in the 1970s: The Long 1960s". Journal of Contemporary History. 43 (4): 655–672. doi:10.1177/0022009408095421. ISSN   0022-0094. JSTOR   40543228. S2CID   162919237.
  3. ↑ Newton, David E. (2009-10-27). Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Reference Handbook, 2nd Edition: A Reference Handbook, Second Edition. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   978-1-59884-307-1.
  4. 1 2 "Ada Bello". If They Should Ask. Archived from the original on 2017-11-11. Retrieved 2019-09-27.
  5. ↑ Stein, Marc Robert (1994). The city of sisterly and brotherly loves: The making of lesbian and gay movements in greater Philadelphia, 1948-1972 (Thesis). ProQuest   304122700.
  6. ↑ Porter II, Juan (May 29, 2020). "You Should Know This Gay Asian-American Civil Rights, Anti-War, and HIV/AIDS Activist". TheBody. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved October 15, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ↑ Baumann, Jason (2019-04-30). The Stonewall Reader. Penguin. ISBN   978-0-14-313351-3.
  8. 1 2 3 "Ada Bello (born 1933), Interviewed February 7, 1993 · Philadelphia LGBT History Project, Marc Stein, Creator · OutHistory". outhistory.org. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  9. ↑ "Barbara Gittings (1932-2007), Interviewed February 2, 1993 · Philadelphia LGBT History Project, Marc Stein, Creator · OutHistory". outhistory.org. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  10. ↑ "Carole Friedman (born 1945), Interviewed June 24, 1993 · Philadelphia LGBT History Project, Marc Stein, Creator · OutHistory". outhistory.org. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  11. 1 2 3 "Homophile Action League (HAL) Newsletter: January 1973". Philadelphia Studies. 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  12. ↑ "Before Stonewall: The Gay Pride Movement in Philadelphia | Historical Society of Pennsylvania". hsp.org. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  13. ↑ Brownworth, Victoria A. (2015-08-14). "How Did Early Gay Activists Find the Courage to Stand Up for Their Rights?". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  14. 1 2 "Harry Langhorne (1947-2001), Interviewed June 25, 1996 · Philadelphia LGBT History Project, Marc Stein, Creator · OutHistory". outhistory.org. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  15. 1 2 "Rosalie Davies (1939-2009), Interviewed May 28, 1993 · Philadelphia LGBT History Project, Marc Stein, Creator · OutHistory". outhistory.org. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  16. ↑ Nichols, David, and Morris J. Kafka-Holzschlag. "The Rutgers University Lesbian/Gay Alliance 1969-1989, The First Twenty Years." The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries 51.2 (1989).
  17. ↑ Stein, Marc (2022). Queer Public History: Essays on Scholarly Activism (1 ed.). University of California Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv2kx88vx. ISBN   978-0-520-30431-4. JSTOR   j.ctv2kx88vx.
  18. ↑ Faderman, Lillian (2016-09-27). The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   978-1-4516-9412-3.
  19. ↑ Stewart, Chuck (2014-12-16). Proud Heritage: People, Issues, and Documents of the LGBT Experience [3 volumes]: People, Issues, and Documents of the LGBT Experience. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   978-1-61069-399-8.
  20. 1 2 Gregg, Cherri (2019-06-19). "For LGBT people of color, equality has been a multi-layered fight". KYW. Archived from the original on 2019-09-27. Retrieved 2019-09-27.
  21. ↑ Stein, Marc (2022-03-22). Queer Public History: Essays on Scholarly Activism. Univ of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-30431-4.
  22. ↑ Beemyn, Brett (2013-05-13). Creating a Place For Ourselves: Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community Histories. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-135-22240-6.
  23. ↑ "'Pride': The Word That Went From Vice to Strength". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  24. ↑ "Philadelphia Area Sites of LGBT Historical Importance | exhibits.hsp.org". digitalhistory.hsp.org. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  25. ↑ Sargeant, Fred (1969). "Interview". New Symposium II. Archived from the original on June 14, 2010. Retrieved May 8, 2010– via David Carter.
  26. ↑ "NYC Pride March". NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.
  27. ↑ Andrews-Spicer, Taylor (2014-10-01). "LGBTQIA: Five Moments in Philadelphia's LGBT History That You Should Know -" . Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  28. ↑ "Annual Reminder Participants · Marc Stein: 50th Anniversary Annual Reminders, Philadelphia, July 4, 1965-July 4, 1969 · OutHistory". outhistory.org. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  29. ↑ Stein, Marc (2019-05-07). The Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History. NYU Press. ISBN   978-1-4798-9571-7.
  30. ↑ Skiba, Bob (2018-06-08). "Gay Pride in Philadelphia, 1972-2018". Philadelphia Gay News. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  31. ↑ "The history of Philadelphia's gay rights movement". Philadelphia Corporation For Aging. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  32. ↑ "History | St. Mary's, Hamilton Village" . Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  33. ↑ "A Statement Concerning St. Mary's Church, Hamilton Village, and the Homophile Action League (1970)". Philadelphia Studies. 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  34. ↑ Katz, Jonathan (1975). A Gay News Chronology, January 1969-May 1975: Index and Abstracts of Articles from the New York Times. Arno Press. ISBN   978-0-405-07409-7.
  35. ↑ "New Pennsylvania Lobbyist Seeking Homosexual Rights". The New York Times. 1970-09-20. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  36. ↑ Nickels, Thom (2002). Gay and Lesbian Philadelphia. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN   978-0-7385-1000-2.
  37. ↑ Mumford, Kevin J. The Trouble with Gay Rights: Race and the Politics of Sexual Orientation in Philadelphia, 1969–1982, Journal of American History, Volume 98, Issue 1, June 2011, Pages 49–72, doi : 10.1093/jahist/jar139
  38. ↑ Dudley Clendinen; Adam Nagourney (30 July 2013). Out For Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in Ame. Simon and Schuster. pp. 46–47. ISBN   978-1-4767-4071-3.
  39. ↑ Lubin, Joan; Vaccaro, Jeanne (2020). "AIDS infrastructures, queer networks: Architecting the critical path". First Monday. doi: 10.5210/fm.v25i10.10403 . ISSN   1396-0466. S2CID   225026921.
  40. ↑ Porter II, Juan (May 29, 2020). "You Should Know This Gay Asian-American Civil Rights, Anti-War, and HIV/AIDS Activist". TheBody. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved October 15, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  41. ↑ "Homophile Action League - Philadelphia". National Museum of American History. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.