Gay Liberation Front in Bloomington
The Indiana University campus in Bloomington has historically served as a center for progressive organizing in the otherwise historically conservative surrounding area. In the early 1970s, a Gay Liberation Front chapter was founded in Bloomington by students on the IU campus.
Early Organizing
The Bloomington Gay Liberation Front (GLF) first became visible in the spring of 1970 and held its first public meeting in August. It was the first visible/out gay student group on Indiana University's Bloomington campus.
The Bloomington GLF was one among many Gay Liberation Front chapters that sprung up on college campuses nationwide following the 1969 Stonewall Riots. The Bloomington chapter’s main focus was promoting homosexual pride, using slogans like "Gay is Good." It grounded itself in a homosexual identity, and politically promoted a minoritizing view of homosexuality. In line with other chapters of the GLF, the Bloomington GLF was organized around the principles of the New Left and was originally established with no formal hierarchies or elected officers.
During its first year the GLF often drew more than one hundred students, but attendance dropped drastically by the end of the year, with only around twenty students in attendance. Many members attributed the drop in attendance to the leftist political leanings of the group, which alienated Bloomington’s more conservative student body. This tension may have ultimately lead to the group’s transformation into the Bloomington Gay Alliance, and then the Bloomington Gay and Lesbian Alliance.
Events, Projects, and Activism
Hosted actions of the Bloomington Gay Liberation Front included bi-weekly meetings, consciousness raising/support groups, and weekly information tabling. The weekly literature tabling created a visibility as it was done in a high traffic area, and offered educational resources. The consciousness raising/support groups offered members a place to share their experiences and support each other. The groups’ bi-weekly meetings were business-centered and oriented around the group’s functioning.
The GLF also hosted several dances that were very successful and drew people crowds from all around Indiana. The dances were originally hosted in Wright Quad, a dorm, but due to the large crowds they ultimately drew, the dances were later moved to Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union. Alumni Hall had an eight hundred person capacity, and the dances usually sold out. The dances provided significant funds for the GLF, which allowed them to get an office in the Indiana Memorial Union.
Community Engagement and Fighting Discrimination
One of the Bloomington Gay Liberation Front’s first actions took place in July of 1971. The action was in response to a sign which hung in Nick’s English Hut—a local bar, restaurant and gay hang out. The sign read, “This is not a fruit stand.” When students asked the management about the meaning of the sign, the manager stated it meant “exactly what you think it means” and escorted the students out.
The group mimeographed pamphlets and on the following night, July 23rd , formed a picket line outside the bar and handed out literature encouraging people to take their business elsewhere. The sign was removed by the following day.
Sexism and Racism in the Bloomington GLF
The Bloomington Gay Liberation Front's member body primarily consisted of gay white males. Within a year of the GLF's formation, a Gay Women Liberation Front formed as an addition to the Gay Liberation Front. The Gay Women Liberation Front, also referred to as the Lesbian Liberation Front, formed as a result of frustrations with the male-dominated meetings and sexism within the larger GLF group. One GWLF member describes the group as primarily a functional and informational group rather than social.
In addition, there was very little attendance or participation from people of color in the groups. One of the members of the group states, “and there was certainly racism...this was, after all, Bloomington, Indiana. ”
Changing Focus
Within a year the political orientation of the GLF had shifted significantly. The focus of the group became more about maintaining its existence to ensure gay visibility and presence on campus. By the end of the second year the group had begun electing officers, one male and one female. The group moved away from the leftist politics of the GLF. One member recalled, “At that time members were into the whole leftist movement. Now we just have conservative, moderate capitalists like everybody else. ”
By 1973, the GLF had renamed itself the Bloomington Gay Alliance (BGA). For many members of the GLF/BGA the draw of the group was never activism based. As Duncan Mitchell, an early member of the GLF, states, “Most people were mainly interested in getting laid, finding friends, finding boyfriends, having some place to go on Saturday nights, and that’s important too especially considering the relative isolation that gay kids grow up in.”
