Gay Liberation / Third World Gay Revolution
Text by Tristan Cabello. Copyright (©) by Tristan Cabello, 2008. All rights reserved.
(full-length interviews are available on Chicago Gay History. Copyright Prairie Avenue Productions, LLC)
Chicago Gay Liberation
Inspired by the Stonewall riots, a University of Chicago student named Henry Weimhoff, led the organization of the University of Chicago Gay Liberation Front. In February 70, this campus organization had become the Chicago Gay Liberation, organized a dance, and created Chicago's first Gay Pride Parade.[1]
ORAL HISTORY: Watch Joel Hall talk about Gay Liberation
ORAL HISTORY: Watch Vernita Gray talk about Gay Liberation
ORAL HISTORY: Watch Vernita Gray talk about Gay Liberation
Third World Gay Liberation
While the Chicago Gay Liberation had gained media and cultural exposure, there were tensions between lesbians and gay men, and between Black homosexuals and their white counterparts. A Women’s Caucus and a Black Caucus, which later became The Chicago Lesbian Liberation and The Third World Gay Revolution, formed within the Chicago Gay Liberation to address the specific concerns of lesbians and Black gay men.[2]
ORAL HISTORY: Watch Joel Hall talk about Third World Gay Liberation
ORAL HISTORY: Watch Max Smith talk about Third World Gay Liberation
African American Gay Activism
By the early 1980s, three African American gay groups had developed: National Coalition of Black Gays – Chicago Chapter (NCBG), Gentle Waves (Chicago’s Black Lesbian group) and the Committee of Black Gay Men.
ORAL HISTORY: Watch Gladys Croom talk about Black Lesbian Activism