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 |
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 [1] 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 ordinace for review to the Legislative Committee of Alderman Kenneth Appel.
Dramatization of 1st Meeting of Legislation Committee on Gay Rights Bill[2] The tone of the meeting is accurately reflected by the invective used, however, the specific swearing and put-downs are partly fictionalized. In the notes taken during the meeting by Paul Fuller, he concentrated on the outragous statements of the ministers and omitted our expletives, particularly his own highly vituperative ones.
Follow link to view 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 worked in the clause exempting religious institutions before the meeting.
Dramatization of 2nd Meeting of Legislation Committee on Gay Rights Bill-July 2,1973[3] There is a discrepency in regard to the date. Paul's notes and my recollection have the meeting taking place on July 2nd. I remember that it happened very soon after returning from watching Chicago's Gay Pride Parade. But the flyer indicates the meeting is on July 9th. It is possible the flyer refers to a yet another meeting due to an impasse on the 2nd and the vote out of committee did not happen until the 9th. That might explain why a vote on the ordinance by the council as a whole did not occur until August.
Human Rights Ordinance Fails By A Vote
