by Evelyn Bailey
Last month we looked at some of the roots of liberation and equality in Rochester, New York. This month we will look at pre-Stonewall era and the beginnings of the gay liberation movement with excerpts from Jeff Lehigh’s Empty Closet article of February, 1990.
Prior to World War II, same-sex behavior was criminalized by laws in all states, most of which had existed without modifications since the colonial or Victorian eras. Homosexuals didn’t really have much of an agenda or a liberation movement in those days. Their prime concern was to keep a very low profile — in order to stay alive, and avoid assaults by gay bashers.
Their second main concern was try to hold onto a job in a homophobic world where continued employment and accommodation usually required them to remain deeply in the closet. There was a near consensus among mental health professionals, human sexuality researchers, theologians and others that homosexuality was a mental disorder which materialized as chosen, abnormal, deviant, and unnatural sexual behavior.
Jeff states that this view was challenged by Alfred Kinsey in 1948 when he wrote Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and in 1953 when he wrote Sexual Behavior in the Human Female also known as the Kinsey Reports, as well as the Kinsey scale.
Alfred Kinsey found that four percent of the adult men he interviewed identified themselves as exclusively homosexual, another 13 percent were more than incidentally homosexual for at least three years after the age of 16, and 37 percent had had a homosexual experience in their adult lives. The fact that gay people were so numerous surprised nearly everyone and offered hope to millions of closeted gays. Kinsey’s work has profoundly influenced social and cultural values in the United States, as well as internationally.
In 1990, Horace Lethbridge (1926–2008) was secretary of the Gay Alliance and counselor at the Wellesley Counseling Center. Horace had this to say about the Kinsey Report: “In the 40 years since then, we have a much more accepting climate for gays, and now have more college kids who are willing to identify their leanings and come out of the closet.”
The Kinsey Report gave much hope to rural and small town homosexuals, who, like some teenagers of today, felt isolated and as if they were the only ones who had such feelings. But the Kinsey Report was a small victory for homosexuals; it gave them knowledge, but that was all.
According to Jeff, during the McCarthy era, which started in 1950, rightwing Senator Joseph McCarthy helped usher in the House Un-American Activities Committee. “Homosexuals were deemed to be a security risk and unstable personalities, and were systematically investigated and fired from their jobs.” (Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community, page 43.)
Those in the military who were found to be homosexual, or even suspected of being homosexual, received an undesirable discharge from the Armed Forces. During this time, undesirable discharge meant only one thing, that the person being discharged was accused of being gay. One of the laws of this time, which may or may not have been taken off the books yet, is described by Joan Giuffre: “The laws were, three or more homosexuals in one place constituted an illegal gathering. What they took as proof of a homosexual gathering then, was to catch three people dancing illegally… Now it’s legal to dance in a gay bar; it was not then.”
But even with McCarthyism and such repressive laws, Rochester had gay bars like Patsy’s, which was one of Rochester’s first gay bars; it closed around 1959. The other early bars were Dick’s 43 and the Blue Chip. There were a string of other bars in the city that opened and closed quite rapidly. The early gay bars did seem to have staying power until after the Stonewall riot in New York City on June 28, 1969. That day the police raided the Stonewall as they had before, but in the early morning of June 28, the police met opposition from the bar’s patrons, who threw glasses, bottles, bricks, change from their pockets. Several of the patrons and a few employees were arrested.
Other riots took place for several days after the raid on the Stonewall. When asked how he felt upon hearing about the Stonewall riots, Horace Lethbridge replied, “…. Excited, very excited and glowing with the recognition that at last we were standing up, saying that you can’t do that to us.” When asked about the fight for rights, he replied. “I think, whether you are heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual, there will always be those who fight for rights, and others who sit back and applaud or say, ‘l can’t do that, thank heaven they are.’ And it is maybe even more so for the gay community than for the non-gay.”
After the Stonewall riots, the Gay Liberation Front was formed in July 1969. In Rochester, the Gay Liberation Front had three area organizations in Geneseo (formed sometime in I971), in Brockport and at the University of Rochester; the latter became the Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley in 1973. The Stonewall riot did have a powerful positive effects on the LGBT community; it gave the community the desire for the rights that we not only need but deserve.
Shoulders to Stand On is proud to present excerpts from Jeff Lehigh’s article and the comments of Horace Lethbridge and others who worked tirelessly publicly and privately to create a safe, inclusive environment where all of us can live as openly gay men and women without fear of reprisal.