Printed in the first edition of the Empty Closet, January 1971:
Dance Anyone? by Larry Fine and R. J. Alcala
On December 5, UR Gay Liberation and UR Women’s Liberation co-sponsored a Liberation Dance in the Lounge of the Frederick Douglass Building at the U of R. The band was the Albatross. They were going through their warm up while some of us went about putting candles in the windows, setting up the colored flashing lights, the incense, the beer counter, and trying to figure out where the change boxes were.
In Todd, Perry Brass, editor of “Come Out”, and two others from New York City Gay Liberation were speaking at the UR Gay Liberation Front meeting, while the preliminary blizzard of the evening raged outdoors. Meanwhile, back at the FDB lounge, people started buying tickets. The candle on the ticket table kept going out. As the dance floor began to sprout writhing bodies of all kinds (MMMMMM!), we started to stop worrying about how much money we could conceivably lose. The Albatross kept the sound flowing.
It was indeed a liberation dance. Girls were dancing with girls, guys
with girls, guys with guys, and gays with straights without the
inhibitions of social pressure or police harassment. “It’s like a
great big party,” someone said. “My dear, it’s far better than any
bar!” commented another. We thought so too. It was a much more
relaxed situation than we usually see on Saturday nights. For one
thing, a lot of our friends showed up. Secondly, there were more than
just a couple of token girls around, and not everybody there was gay.
There were just a lot of people dancing, talking, and sitting around
listening to the music.
Of the nearly 200 people there, some 60% were from the U of R; the
rest were from area colleges and the Rochester community.