‘Better blatant than latent’ – 1971 ca.
This unattributed gay “come out” sticker circulated in Washington, D.C. circa 1971
1971 was an early period in the open LGBTQ+ rights movement in the Washington, D.C. area with active groups bursting into the public square, including the D.C. Mattachine Society, the Gay Liberation Front, the Gay Mayday Collective, the Furies, the Gay Activist Alliance and gay alliance groups on college campuses like George Washington University and the University of Maryland.
All of these except the Mattachine Society arose 1969-71 and began staging public demonstrations and publishing newsletters, flyers, bumper stickers and other media espousing LGBTQ+ rights.
The long running Washington Blade began publishing in 1969. Activists also began writing articles for local alternative publications like the Washington Free Press, Quicksilver Times and Off Our Backs.
The Gay Liberation Front participated in the 1970 Black Panthers’ Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention and wrote an extensive platform on LGBTQ+ rights. The GLF also “liberated” straight clubs in this period by organizing same-sex dancing at them.
The D.C. Mattachine Society had been staging open protests since 1965 and in 1971 Franklin Kameny of the Mattachine Society ran for D.C. Delegate as an openly gay man. Throughout the period of 1969-73, LGBTQ+ activists gathered together to participate as a group in anti-Vietnam War protests in the city.
The first official Washington, D.C. Gay Pride Day was held in June 1972, though there would be many more battles in the years to come, including those in contemporary times.
For a PDF of this 2 ½ x 6 inch sticker, see washingtonareaspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Sticke...
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsjCQ69wA
Original held in the Jeffrey T. Goldthorpe collection
‘Better blatant than latent’ – 1971 ca.
This unattributed gay “come out” sticker circulated in Washington, D.C. circa 1971
1971 was an early period in the open LGBTQ+ rights movement in the Washington, D.C. area with active groups bursting into the public square, including the D.C. Mattachine Society, the Gay Liberation Front, the Gay Mayday Collective, the Furies, the Gay Activist Alliance and gay alliance groups on college campuses like George Washington University and the University of Maryland.
All of these except the Mattachine Society arose 1969-71 and began staging public demonstrations and publishing newsletters, flyers, bumper stickers and other media espousing LGBTQ+ rights.
The long running Washington Blade began publishing in 1969. Activists also began writing articles for local alternative publications like the Washington Free Press, Quicksilver Times and Off Our Backs.
The Gay Liberation Front participated in the 1970 Black Panthers’ Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention and wrote an extensive platform on LGBTQ+ rights. The GLF also “liberated” straight clubs in this period by organizing same-sex dancing at them.
The D.C. Mattachine Society had been staging open protests since 1965 and in 1971 Franklin Kameny of the Mattachine Society ran for D.C. Delegate as an openly gay man. Throughout the period of 1969-73, LGBTQ+ activists gathered together to participate as a group in anti-Vietnam War protests in the city.
The first official Washington, D.C. Gay Pride Day was held in June 1972, though there would be many more battles in the years to come, including those in contemporary times.
For a PDF of this 2 ½ x 6 inch sticker, see washingtonareaspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Sticke...
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsjCQ69wA
Original held in the Jeffrey T. Goldthorpe collection