“‘YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE UNIVERSENO LESS THAN THE TREES AND THE STARSYOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HERE…,’”
“‘YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE UNIVERSENO LESS THAN THE TREES AND THE STARSYOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HERE…,’” Mid-west Homophile Convention flyer, Milwaukee Gay Peoples Union, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 8, 1972. Flyer c/o Milwaukee LGBT History; words from Max Ehrmann, “Desiderata” (1927)..On April 8, 1972, forty-five years ago today, “[a]fter more than two months of hard work and detailed planning,” Milwaukee’s Gay Peoples Union (GPU) “successfully launched what is probably its most ambitious project to-date: the Mid-West Homophile Conference.” As the GPU News described in its May/June edition, the conference “was the first such conference in Milwaukee’s history…[, and] it was also the first visit for Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny,” two leaders of the national gay liberation movement..Gittings, according to GPU News, “gave a summation of what life could be, but isn’t, for the millions of gay women in America…[and] urged the delegates to ‘make society accept us on our terms, not theirs.’…Her [ ] enthusiasm was evidently contagious throughout the entire conference, as witnessed by the degree of fellowship which prevailed. ‘Our problem,’ she concluded, ‘is society’s problem and instead of us changing for society, society should change to accommodate us.’.“Taking a slightly more militant stance, Dr. Frank Kameny gave a summary of the struggles he has been involved in on behalf of gay liberation and how he has watched the movement fight its way to where it is today. ‘We have to stand up for our rights and push hard. This is our country, our government, our future, and we will not sit back and take whatever is dealt out to us,’ Kameny told a cheering audience…In closing, Kameny commanded the different represented groups to not be afraid to fight their oppression. ‘…you must zap it to anyone who deprives you of your rights,’ adding, ‘…there is no homosexual problem, just a heterosexual one.’”.Follow @makinggayhistorypodcast and visit their website to hear incredible archival interviews with queer pioneers, including Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #Resist (at Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- source link
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