…plus our first mention of Stonewall.
January 30, 2016.
Important “history” of the early years of the LGBT civil rights movement, and the world it had to work in, is found in issues of ONE/Tangents magazines in the 1950s and ’60s.The “Tangents” News & Views section today may even be more important than the articles or book reviews of the time—the letters are still important as they show what readers were thinking.
While much of the lgbt history in San Francisco has been put on the record, some perspectives, and names and events, are not covered or are not covered adequately.
An example is found in the Aug/Sept, 1969 issue of Tangents. The lead article is Don Slater’s coverage of the issue of the Army drafting young men who had said they were homosexual. Not even young men and women who fought to end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” era understand the issue, and it is no longer valid.
The News section had reports on gay issues and laws in CT; GA; Bonn, West Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark—we covered all news and gave our views.
And the news in Berkeley CA then was almost as up to date as that today—homosexual and black civil rights efforts—should they work together. Considering the Black lives Matter of today, it should be noted that we reported on the work of Leo Laurence, Don Burton, et al., and their connection with the Black Panthers. Remember that the first battle the movement had to fight was being connected with another “unpopular” cause, Communism. So leaders thought working with other causes might harm ours and/or theirs.
Leo was handing out leaflets at a Black Panthers meeting, as reported in The Berkeley Barb, where he wrote:
The Black Panther official who okayed distribution of our leaflets said, “Our Board of Control hasn’t endorsed this, but we’re for anyone who wants freedom, so go ahead.”
And the next item was the first mention of New York’s riot/rebellion at Stonewall. And the typical media coverage. “They were throwing more than hankies. I was almost decapitated by a slab of thick glass. It was thrown like a discus and just missed my throat by inches. The beer can didn’t miss; it hit me right above the temple,” said a cop to Jerry Lisker of the New York Daily News, after the Tactical Patrol Force had raided the Stonewall Inn, “in the heart of a three-block homosexual community in Greenwich Village…A mecca for the homosexual element.” One customer complained that the cops didn’t report that “they broke up everything in sight…stole money out of the cash register, and smashed it, and why did it take them two years to discover the place didn’t have a liquor license?”
Also up to date was mention of a computer in Saratoga, New York, matching up—instead of a boys and girls for a school dance—boys and boys, etc.
