My Mayoral Campaign, January 1973-April 1973

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

Jeff Graubart, Gay activist,SWP mayoral candidate,Narrator	Dave Rosen
Hiram Paley, Democratic mayoral candidate	Manny Singer
Ruth Brookens, Republican mayoral candidate	Ethel Doughty
Rev. Charles Llewellyn, Fundamentalist minister, Independent mayoral candidate	Rev. Orville Barber
William Stanley, Gay activist, YSA member, Graubart campaign manager	Winston Stanfield III

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With Champaign twice unanimously defeating the gay rights bill and the Champaign County States Attorney burying the grand jury investigation of the abusive Urbana cop and McGovern delegate Kathy Wilch calling gays child molesters from the podium of the Democratic National Convention, and victorious Illinois gubenatorial candidate Dan Walker telling me personally that gays were godless sinners who deserved no rights, my uncontrollable rages were crippling me as a person. I decided that violent overthrow of the United States government was a necessity and convinced by my friend, mentor and fellow gay activist, William Stanley, that socialist revolution was the answer. I joined the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA), youth group of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Obsessed with seeing justice done regarding the Urbana cop and demanding civil rights protection in both cities, I used the platform of an Urbana mayoral campaign to get my views heard.

Note the signature of the Urbana City Clerk at the bottom. As you will see, It is the greatest irony of this exhibit and of critical importance to the novel.

At the start of the campiagn, the Urbana Chamber of Commerce invited the Democratic and Republican mayoral candidates to a luncheon. Invitations went out before fundamentalist minister Llewellyn declared his candidacy, so I was the only candidate excluded. We decided to protest.

Dramatization of Chamber of Commerce Protest and Lunch Menu and outfits of the candidates fictionalized. The peculiar emotion of worrying about killing Ethel Doughty probably did not occur during that lunch, but it was a frequent emotion I felt at the time.

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Click to see actual copy of My Campaign Platform

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Above the headline reads Trotsyist, socialist, homosexual.

I was able to do door-to-door campaigning in only a small portion of the city due to work obligations. The most dramatic day occurred campaigning in the very poor and mostly black wards of north Urbana.

Dramatization of Campaigning in North Urbana

Contact Person

Jeff Graubart jeffgrau@rcn.com