“Out of the Closets and Into the Streets”: Lessons from the Gay Liberation Front
Recently, members of the Christopher Street Tours team, including myself, had the privilege of attending an event at the LGBT Center in partnership with the American LGBTQ+ Museum. The invitation and title boldly read: “OUT OF THE CLOSETS! 1969 | Founders of the Gay Liberation Front.” As a gay tour guide in New York City and the founder of an LGBTQ+ walking tour company, I knew there was nowhere else I’d rather be that night.
As an LGBTQ+ historian, my heroes aren’t found on reality TV – they’re the activists who paved the way for us all. So, seeing the founders of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in person, I was truly starstruck. These are the faces I’ve seen in black-and-white photos that were taken almost 55 years ago – faces that I saw in the archives and libraries when I was researching for the creation of my tour. And at this event, those faces suddenly came to life. Older now, but just as sharp and radical as they were back then.
The Gay Liberation Front was born in 1969, shortly after the Stonewall Riots. Inspired by the radical movements of the time, like the Black Panther Party and the feminist movement, GLF sought to challenge societal norms and fight against oppression. Their goal was equality for the LGBTQ+ community, but they also stood for broader causes, like racial, gender, and economic justice. Even though GLF dissolved by 1972, their influence ignited a global LGBTQ+ liberation movement that still resonates today.
The panel featured founding members like Perry Brass, Mark Segal, Martha Shelley, Ellen Broidy, John Knoebel, Mark Horn, and Flavia Rando. Today, they serve on the Board of Directors for the Gay Liberation Front Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the legacy of GLF and educating others about its impact. As the foundation says, “Stonewall was the match, the Gay Liberation Front was the fire,” and “GLF changed history. The GLFF is preserving it.”
At Christopher Street Tours, our mission is to “share stories and uplift the voices of those who paved the way before us.” Sitting in that room, hearing the panelists share their stories, it was clear – these are the very people we talk about in our mission. Reading their words in archives or seeing photos of protests and marches is one thing, but hearing their stories firsthand was a different kind of powerful.
This event was a vital reminder to honor the past and continue their work. The panelists shared how they were able to turn moments of injustice into movements of action. And with everything happening in 2024, we’re living through many such moments, rife with opportunity to spark change ourselves.
When asked, “What next? What would you tell younger generations?” one panelist replied, “You don’t need any leaders. You are the leaders.” In my opinion, this stems from the idea that we often wait for someone else to tell us how to act or how to get involved. But in GLF, leadership wasn’t about titles or hierarchies – it was about passion, action, and solidarity. Each person had a voice. And that’s my hope for all of us today: to see those same leadership qualities in themselves and carry the torch forward for the future.
