The Fight for a Gay Rights Bill in Urbana, April 1973-October 1973

The Cast - Major players identified. Actual historical figures on left.

Jeff Graubart, Activist/Treasurer C-U Gay Liberation Front,Narrator	Dave Rosen
Hiram Paley, D-Mayor of Urbana	Manny Singer
Charles Llewellyn, Fundamentalist minister	Rev. Orville Barber
William Stanley, Activist C-U Gay Liberation Front	Winston Stanfield III
Paul Fuller, Activist C-U Gay Liberation Front	Seth Heller
Roger Walther, Activist/President C-U Gay Liberation Front	Roger Hamilton
Alderman Kenneth Appel, D-Chairman Legislation Committee	Ken Boyce
Alderman Ed Harris, D-Legislation Committee, Unitarian Minister	William Harrison
Alderman John Petersen, I-Legislation Committee, Progressive	Joel Sandberg
Alderman George Eighmy, R-Legislation Committee	George McPherson

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Following the city elections of April, 1973, a majority of those elected to the Urbana City Council had now pledged to support the gay rights bill. The Champaign-Urbana Gay Liberation Front shifted its efforts from Champaign to Urbana.

A copy of the Ann Arbor gay rights bill had already been submitted to several pro-gay aldermen right after the election. It had been modified to Illinois law and we expected it to be passed at the first meeting of the new Council.

Dramatization of Gay Rights Discussion at First Council Meeting The timing and conversation about the death of one of the characters in the novel is fictional. The rest of the meeting is reported as recalled.

The chaos created by Charles Llewellyn's 1500 signatures against the bill convinced the mayor to send a copy of the ordinance for review to the Legislative Committee of Alderman Kenneth Appel.

Evidence of abuse by the Urbana cop in the Wigwam incident-See Harassment at the Wigwam, April 1972 was sent to Mayor Paley and Alderman Ken Appel.

Despite the evidence presented and the charge to the Committee on Legislation to begin work on the bill, a month went by with no action. The Gay Liberation Front held a small protest at the June meeting of the Urbana City Council to demand action.

As a result of this protest, the Mayor responded to the charges against the Urbana cop and the Committee on Legislation began hearings at its June 25th meeting. Mayor Responds to Urbana Cop Charge

Dramatization of 1st Meeting of Legislation Committee on Gay Rights Bill The tone of the meeting is accurately reflected by the invective used, however, the specific swearing and put-downs might have occurred at this or any of the subsequent meetings. In the notes taken during this meeting by Paul Fuller, he concentrated on the outragous statements of the ministers and omitted our expletives, particularly his own highly vituperative ones.

Legislative Committee Meeting Notes by Paul Fuller

For the next meeting of the Urbana Legislation Committee, Gay Liberation passed out a flyer to get more community participation, although only two or three new faces showed up. Bill Stanley and Alderman John Petersen added the clause exempting religious institutions.

Dramatization of 2nd Meeting of Legislation Committee on Gay Rights Bill-July 9,1973 Unlike the dramatization, the timeline and supporting news sources do not show the ordinance being voted out of committee until the end of August. There were at least two additional committee meetings of which I have no record, however, to my recollection, they were all replays, fought with the same vehemence between the two sides.

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Urbana Votes on Gay Rights

Audio re-creation of my speech to the Urbana City Council

Finally, at the Urbana City Council meeting of August 28th, 1973, a vote would be taken on the gay rights ordinance that came out of the Committee on Legislation.

Dramatization of Urbana City Council vote on gay rights Some of the conversation is fictionalized but speakers are accurately paraphrased to the best of my recollection and excerpts from available sources.

Human Rights Ordinance Fails By A Vote

Daily Illini Editorial on the Vote

Contact Person

Jeff Graubart jeffgrau@rcn.com