…of New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division The Gay Activists Alliance was established in December 1969, six months after Stonewall. A leading organization in the gay liberation movement,…
Read More…me a P!…an R! What does it spell?” And from the purple column echoed the resounding cry: “Gay Power!” Then in repeating choruses: “Gay, gay power to the gay, gay…
Read More…York City and State. These three men were also among the founders of the Gay Activists Alliance, Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats (the first gay Democratic club in the country),…
Read More…Preservation placed a plaque on Hansberry’s Waverly Place home commemorating her residence there. 6. (former) Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse, 99 Wooster Street 99 Wooster Street today, courtesy of Village Preservation The…
Read MoreGay Activist Alliance Firehouse. On December 21, 1969, the Gay Activist Alliance (GAA) was founded. Almost exactly six months after the Stonewall Riots, the group was founded by Marty Robinson, Jim…
Read More…post-Stonewll period. And nearly all of his groundbreaking work was done from our neighborhoods. Dr. Bruce R. Voeller Dr. Voeller was an early president of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA…
Read More…PFLAG), and the National Gay Task Force (later the National LGBTQ+ Task Force), the first national gay liberation organization. Gay Activists Alliance flyer for the Snake Pit raid protest, March…
Read More…the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, now one of the nation’s largest media watchdog groups Dr. Bruce Voeller co-founded and was the first director of the National Gay and…
Read More…Day, Off the Grid asks and answers the question: Is Gay Street really “gay“? To help answer this question, we need to examine the history of the word “gay,” as…
Read More…(former location), 99 Wooster Street 99 Wooster Street, 1973 (left) and 2019 (from the Landmarks Preservation Commission report) The Gay Activists Alliance was founded in December 1969, six months after…
Read More…feminist organizations across the country. Gay Activist Alliance Firehouse (former location, 99 Wooster Street) Gay Activist Alliance Firehouse (former location), 99 Wooster Street The building at 99 Wooster Street was…
Read MoreGay Activist Alliance Firehouse. On October 15, 1974, the Gay Activist Alliance Firehouse, located in SoHo at 99 Wooster Street, was bombed. One of the most highly influential LGBT groups…
Read More…significance in LGBTQ+ history: The LGBT Community Center at 208 West 13th Street and the former Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) Firehouse at 99 Wooster Street. 99 Wooster Street – Gay…
Read More…historic event. Is Gay Street Really ‘Gay’?: Spoiler: It’s not, but the story offers some fascinating glimpses into the gay history of the Village and the history of the evolution…
Read More…parlance, “gay” means attracted to the same sex. But this was not always so, and the word’s evolution, interestingly, mirrors that of Gay Street and its environs. Gay originally meant…
Read More…Chapter inspired the creation of dozens more lesbian and feminist organizations across the country. Gay Activist Alliance Firehouse (former location), 99 Wooster Street Gay Activist Alliance Firehouse (former location), 99…
Read More…regular column, entitled The Gay Witch, for the Gay Activist Alliance’s newsletter GAY, launched in December of 1969. Notably, Martello also founded the group the Witches International Craft Associates as a networking organization…
Read More…99 Wooster Street) 99 Wooster Street, formerly the Gay Activist Alliance Firehouse. The building at 99 Wooster Street was formerly home to the Gay Activists Alliance, one of the most…
Read More…one person attempted to escape and was impaled on a fence, the Gay Activists Alliance and Gay Liberation Front quickly assembled a protest march, the results of which demonstrated the…
Read More…we couldn’t help but pick Big Gay Ice Cream Shop as our latest Business of the Month. 61 Grove Street location. Things moved quickly for what was originally Big Gay…
Read More…the Gay Activists Alliance, whose headquarters was a few block away at a former firehouse at 99 Wooster Street. Three particularly prominent activist lived here: Jim Owles, Arnie Kantrowitz, and…
Read More…1950s and a sense of isolation that followed him throughout his twenties. After the Stonewall riots, Katz became involved with activism within the gay community through the Gay Activists Alliance…
Read More…known today as the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, and commonly called The Center. The Center aimed to address the critical needs of lesbian and gay organizations trying…
Read More…do you like that? What a great way to end the interview! Access the full Margot Gayle oral history here. Margot Gayle’s oral history is one of about fifty in…
Read More…Gayle Margot Gayle campaigning to save the Jefferson Market Courthouse; From: H.J. Fields/The New York Public Library Born in 1908, Margot Gayle became involved in historic preservation while working at…
Read More…ground for the gays-in-the-military debate of 1993. It has worked with the administrations of presidents from Carter to Clinton. Additionally, some of the Task Force’s founders were former Gay Activists…
Read More…what became known as the Stonewall Rebellion. In 1992, the sculpture “Gay Liberation” by George Segal was placed in Christopher Park to honor the gay rights movement. In 1999, the…
Read More…important anniversary, we have decided to revisit our 1996 Oral History Interview with NYC Landmarks Law activist and historic preservationist Margot Gayle. Born in 1908, Gayle became involved in preservation…
Read More…the LGBT Community Center and the former Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse. This comes four years after the first and until recently only NYC individual landmark based on LGBT association, the…
Read MoreDavid Mulkins (center right) of the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors (BAN) speaks at a rally the group organized to save 35 Cooper Square. Jean Standish (far right) is also a…
Read More…they were pioneers of movements, advocates for equality, and shapers of the city’s nightlife culture. The story of female nightlife activists in the Village is one of resilience, community, and…
Read MoreRemembering Injustice Against Gay Clergy, an event at the Church of the Village honoring former gay clergymen Rev. Dr. Clarence Edward Egan (left) and Rev. Paul Abels (right). Image courtesy…
Read More…Pacino and Cazale accurately portrayed him and Naturile). At the time of the nascent gay liberation movement, Wojtowicz’s actions were fiercely debated by fellow advocates at the Gay Activists Alliance…
Read More…The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation The Gay Activists Alliance All of these organizations have had a profound effect on our city…
Read MoreThe Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street In June of 1969, a not uncommon police raid of the gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, was met with a spontaneous resistance that launched…
Read More…of our lesser-known map locations, however, highlight the under-recognized stories of 19th century Chinese American immigrant-rights activists. Some of these influential individuals, families, and organizations worked to provide housing, legal,…
Read MorePhoto by Marlis Momber Loisaida is a robust and varied community that includes creatives, activists, and mavericks who cultivated a richly diverse neighborhood. It’s also the subject of one of…
Read More…of the movement. Wojtowicz himself had been an active member of the Gay Activists Alliance, and participated in their regular meetings at their former firehouse headquarters in SoHo. Wojtowicz got…
Read More…of Gay and Lesbian Writers Gay Activists Alliance street fair with Washington Square Village in the distance, 1971. Image via NYPL A march up Sixth Avenue from the NYPL collection….
Read More…marginalizing its BIPOC and trans members. In the following years, Rivera actively called out the Gay Activists Alliance for downplaying the role of transgender individuals, many of whom were people…
Read More…get more historic sites recognized for their LGBTQ+ history, and in 2019 succeeded in achieving NYC landmark status for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, the Gay Activists…
Read More…involvement at the Stonewall Riots marked a pivotal moment in both her activism and legacy. Rivera was an active member of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), the Gay Activists Alliance…
Read More…Commons On December 2, 1964, gay rights activists Randy Wicker, Kay Tobin, and Craig Rodwell staged a picket in front of the Cooper Union Great Hall, protesting a talk conducted…
Read More…a 1966 ‘Sip-In’ for Gay Rights, Scott Simon, NPR interview, June 28, 2008. Gay activists are denied service at a 1966 Sip In at Julius’. Photo © 2016 Courtesy Estate…
Read More…manslaughter and common law infringements. To fight against this grim scenario, the Redstockings organized “raps” (similar to the “zaps” carried out by groups like the Gay Activists Alliance) in which…
Read More…famous Sip In challenged the regulation that prohibited bars from servings gay clients, in essence making gathering places for gay people illegal. With reporters in tow, four activists declared they…
Read More…LGBT landmarking ask to include the LGBT Community Center at 208 West 13th Street, the former Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse at 99 Wooster Street, as well as the Stonewall Inn and…
Read More…fiercely debated by gay advocates as to whether or not they supported the goals of the movement. Wojtowicz himself had been an active member of the Gay Activists Alliance, and…
Read More…often called the oldest continuously operating gay bar in New York City. It was originally established in 1867 and by the 1950’s was attracting gay patrons. Gay activists are denied…
Read More…Front (GLF), the Mattachine Society, and GAA (the Gay Activist Alliance), a “militant, non-violent organization dedicated exclusively to the attainment of civil and social rights for gays.” Many organizers involved…
Read More…organizations which continue to this day, including the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats, the first gay democratic club in the city. Today, the…
Read More…site of the first planned civil disobedience for gay rights) and the Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse in SoHo. The LPC has already allowed other extremely important LGBT history sites, such…
Read More…The designation came in the wake of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida just a few weeks earlier — the deadliest attack on a gay target…
Read More…Gay Rights Movement. In 1999, GVSHP and the Organization of Lesbian and Gay Architects and Designers, gained federal recognition for the site when it became the first place associated with…
Read More…became an entry point into the larger gay world, attracting young people who didn’t know of anywhere else to go, and bringing them into the gay community. (Gay New York,…
Read More…of “Gay and Lesbian Youth of New York” at the Gay And Lesbian Community Center on West 13th Street, as in the above image. A few of his photos from…
Read More…Google Street View c. Aug. 2018. In 1971, Christopher’s End was a mafia-controlled club. On July 24th, the Gay Activist Alliance organized a protest there against the club’s management by…
Read More…resident of the house, helped found a slew of organizations which continue to this day, including the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats, the…
Read More…and ways you can support them. Big Gay Ice Cream Shop (125 East 7th Street & 61 Grove Street) Big Gay officially launched in June of 2009 as an ice…
Read More…a platform for gay-themed writers to showcase their work. Although the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop is often considered the first gay and lesbian bookstore in the United States, that distinction…
Read More…of those were gay, and the San Remo came to be known as a place that attracted a mixed but often largely gay crowd. Photo left: Montgomery Clift (l.) is…
Read More…Department and the Christopher Park Alliance, a community group responsible for the maintenance and continued support of the park. Led by Andre Becker, the Christopher Park Alliance helped with revitalization…
Read More…2022, building on previous successful campaigns to preserve other sites essential to the history of LGBTQ+ rights, including the Stonewall Inn and the Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse. Earlier in 2022,…
Read More…them. Gay activists are denied service at a 1966 Sip In at Julius’. Photo © 2016 Courtesy Estate of Fred W. McDarrah. All Rights Reserved The “Sip-In” On April 21,…
Read More…LGBTQIA+ people. Abel provided the church’s meeting spaces for local activists (such as the Redstockings, the Gay Liberation Front, and the Harvey Milk High School) to discuss current and controversial…
Read More…East Village remain centers of gay and lesbian culture, entertainment, and residence as identified by this census analysis, it would seem that for pure concentration and number of gay or…
Read More…‘gay’ world. (Gay New York, 40-41) The Slide was closed by the police in 1892. From 1976 to 2012, No. 157 housed a rock club called Kenny’s Castaways. The large…
Read More…MacDougal Street became ‘the best-known locus of gay and lesbian commercial institutions.’(‘Long-Haired Men and Short-Haired Women: Building a Gay World in the Heart of Bohemia,’ in Beard and Berlowitz, 162-163.)…
Read More…the recreation center was one of the locations to host events for the Gay Games IV. The Gay Games were founded in 1982, with the goal of bringing together those…
Read More…colorful mayors. Read and see more about the building on our East Village Building Blocks website here. Oceanus Engine Co. No. 11/FDNY Engine Co. 13/Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse, 99 Wooster…
Read More…of significance to the LGBT civil rights movement, like the Stonewall Inn, Julius’ Bar, or the Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse, or sites in the South and East Village connected to African-American,…
Read More…to the LGBT civil rights movement, like Stonewall, Julius’ Bar, or the Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse, or sites in the South and East Village connected to African-American, immigrant, and social…
Read More…of Stonewall, but we should recognize there were gay activists before Stonewall, who laid much of the groundwork and built the advocacy infrastructure that allowed the gay rights movement to…
Read More…writers, musicians, and activists. It also holds a vast array of performance venues and gathering spaces that attracted and helped launch the careers of many prominent LGBTQ performers and provided…
Read More…was unveiled on October 7, 2015. Gay Street Gay Street Gay Street is often mistakenly thought to have been named for Sidney Howard Gay, editor of…
Read More…Life Cafeteria, which became an essential entry point into the larger gay world, attracting young people who didn’t have anywhere else to go and bringing them into the gay community….
Read More…elected officials, neighbors, activists, and community organizations in an important discussion about the status of former P.S. 64 at 605 East 9th Street and organize to return the building to…
Read More…former President of the Gay Activists’ Alliance (GAA) in New York, and the founding archivist at the LGBT Community Center at 208 West 13th Street. Richard was born in 1946…
Read More…center of gay life shifted somewhat to MacDougal, West 3rd and West 4th Streets, with a swath of lesbian and gay-oriented establishments including “Eve’s Tearoom” at 129 MacDougal Street, The…
Read More…to have streets named for both his first and last names. 1793-94 Gilbert Stuart portrait of Horatio Gates Gay Street We cannot conclusively determine the origin of Gay Street. Most…
Read More…could be shut down for having gay employees or serving gay patrons. As the gay community blossomed in New York City in the 1960s, they had few places to gather…
Read More…the development of gay theater, Cino served as a place of support for gay playwrights during a time when depicting LGBT experiences on stage was illegal. Watch here! Stories that…
Read More…role. While one page of the designation report describes the building’s architecture, ten pages describe the site history including sections on discrimination against gays, gay activism and resistance, and three…
Read More…his coming of age in the LGBT community; he documented his attendance at meetings of “Gay and Lesbian Youth of New York” at the Gay And Lesbian Community Center on…
Read More…13th Street; “Reality was far more dramatic than fiction,” wrote Schulman. ACT UP held an action involving 7,000 people at Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, disrupting mass. The activists distributed condoms…
Read MoreGay activists are denied service at a 1966 Sip In at Julius’. Photo © 2016 Courtesy Estate of Fred W. McDarrah. All Rights Reserved GVSHP recently received an inquiry from…
Read More…the Queer arts and activist scene of the East Village. About the Lesbian Avengers In Spring 1992, New York activists Ana Simo, Maxine Wolfe, Sarah Schulman, Anne-Christine d’Adesky, Marie Honan…
Read More…on April 21, 1966, where members of New York’s Mattachine Society, a group of homosexual activists, pushed the limits at this still active gay bar. And in 2009, GVSHP featured…
Read More…to Daughters of Bilitis member Arcus Flynn‘s account of the riots, in which she recalls that the imprisoned women chanted “Gay power! Gay power!” from the House of Detention. According…
Read More…in a Gay Environment) and the Metropolitan Community Church (an LGBT congregation). In 1983, Caring Community defaulted on its lease, and the LGBT-focused sublets, along with local gay and AIDS activists, saw…
Read More…few others to the list of “must visit sites.” The Gay Liberation Monument at Christopher Park is located right across from the Stonewall Inn (51-53 Christopher Street). It honors the gay…
Read More…appearance or discussion of gay people on public stages. To this day Webster Hall hosts a gay circuit party series named “Devil’s Playground” in honor of the parties of the…
Read More…gay men, from the sexual Revolution. If the 1970s to the AIDS Crisis of the 1980s and 90s to the successful battles for gay marriage and LGBTQ rights in the…
Read More…gay men who, at the time, were plagued by the onslaught of the HIV/AIDS crisis. The Gay Men’s Health Crisis used the club as a place to distrubte condoms and…
Read More…and gay men, and not many people publicly embraced the identity of parents of lesbian and gay children. Church of the Village at 13th Street and 7th Avenue, the birthplace…
Read More…of the Village Alliance Business Improvement District and City Lore, and many more, GVSHP is excited to participate in the unveiling of the Astor Place Mosaic Trail light poles at…
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