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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The Grand Jury

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 assumed in the anti-war riots two days earlier. But that is fiction. In truth, neither Bill nor I actually looked.

Dramatization of First Meeting with Assistant State's Attorney I remember nothing about the look or dress of the Assistant Champaign County State's Attorney, so all such references are fiction, the rest is not.

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.

Two weeks later, the Assistant State's Attorney called to let me know that the investigation was complete and it was going to the Champaign County Grand Jury.

But then something went very wrong. With summer break approaching, several weeks went by without the Assistant State's Attorney returning my calls.

Dramatization of June Attempt to Meet Assistant State's Attorney Accurate representation of first attempt to meet with Assistant State's Attorney after he suddenly broke up communication.

Dramatization of August Attempt to Meet Assistant State's Attorney His mother might have died for the July Grand Jury and he was on vacation in August. I do not recall the order of the excuses.

Septemeber brought another excuse from his secretary. I never saw the Assistant State's Attorney again and gave up trying.

At least part of the reason for his sudden change of heart comes to light in Jeff Graubart: A Conspiracy Unraveled, My 17 Day Urbana Sit-in, March, 1976 but not all the facts are known to this day. Perhaps the Freedom of Information request will be answered before the March 2010 deadline and the rest of the truth will come out.

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Gay Liberation Goes to the Champaign City Council

For reasons that did not become apparent 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.

Outraged at the discrimination at the Wigwam and physical attacks from Wigwam management, the Gay Liberation Front held a march to and a demonstration at the Chamapaign City Council demanding civil rights protections.

Dramatization of May, 1972 Gay Liberation March to Champaign City Council It is probably fictional that we heard about the Wigwam closing down on the exact same day as the march to the Champaign City Council or that was the day the Assistant State's Attorney agreed to bring the Urbana cop before the grand jury. They did all within a few days of each other and the exact dates are still unknown, so they are combined into a single day for fictional purposes. However, all the other thing mentioned about the three events are intended to be accurate.

In July of 1972, Champaign voted on the gay rights bill.

Dramatization of July, 1972 Champaign City Council Vote on Gay Rights Intended to be an accurate representation of the meeting.

In August of 1972, Bill Stanley, Paul Fuller and Jeff Graubart were attacked by a knife weilding assailant yelling "I'll kill you faggots." We turned on our attacker and sent him running in fear, but I used the incident to try and re-interest the Champaign City Council in the gay rights bill.

Dramatization of August, 1972, Request to Champaign Council to Reconsider Gay Rights

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

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Going to Jail for Gay Rights

After the second unanimous defeat of the gay rights bill in Champaign, on November 9th, 1972, fifteen members of the Gay Liberation Front held a sit-in in the Mayor Wikoff's office, demanding he come out in favor of the ordinance. At 5 o'clock, Clarance Fletcher and Jeff Graubart remained and were arrested for Criminal Trespass to Public Property.

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Champaign Tries Again After 1973 Election

Gay Rights and Bible in Same Discussion

Champaign citizens react to the vote in Penny For Your Thoughts local CBS radio show and reprinted in the News-Gazette.

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Contact Person

Jeff Graubart jeffgrau@rcn.com