Grand Jury and the Fight for a Gay Rights Bill in Champaign, May 1972-May 1973

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

Jeff Graubart, Activist C-U Gay Liberation Front	Dave Rosen
William Stanley, Activist C-U Gay Liberation Front	Winston Stanfield III

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Despite the threat of a year in prison for breathing a word about the actions of the Urbana cop, when Bill Stanley and I were released from the Urbana police station, we went directly to the office of the Champaign County States Attorney and demanded a grand jury investigation. Unfortunately, neither of us knew the cops name. In the book, The Quest for Brian the cops name tag was ripped off, we assume in the anti-war riots two days earlier. But that is fiction. In truth, neither Bill nor I actually looked.

The assistant States Attorney did promise an investigation and we sent out a press release on the incident, for several purposes, not the least of which was to protect ourselves from revenge by the Urbana cop.

For reasons that did not become clear until 1976, there was a press blackout from May through November of 1972 on the grand jury investigation and the Gay Liberation Front's visits to the Champaign City Council demanding civil rights. At this time, all references in this section until November, 1972 will be from the fictional work The Quest for Brian although hopefully I will be able to produce other sources before the March 2010 deadline.

Bail for sit-in at Mayor Wikoff's office demanding he support the gay rights bill

Contact Person

Jeff Graubart jeffgrau@rcn.com