(Full-length interviews are available on Chicago Gay History. Copyright Prairie Avenue Productions, LLC)

Chicago Gay Liberation

Inspired by the Stonewall riots, a University of Chicago student named Henry Weimhoff, led the organization of the University of Chicago Gay Liberation Front. In February 70, this campus organization had become the Chicago Gay Liberation, organized a dance, and created Chicago's first Gay Pride Parade.[1]

ORAL HISTORY: Watch Joel Hall talk about Gay Liberation

ORAL HISTORY: Watch Vernita Gray talk about Gay Liberation

ORAL HISTORY: More Vernita Gray

Third World Gay Liberation

While the Chicago Gay Liberation had gained media and cultural exposure, there were tensions between lesbians and gay men, and between Black homosexuals and their white counterparts. A Women’s Caucus and a Black Caucus, which later became The Chicago Lesbian Liberation and The Third World Gay Revolution, formed within the Chicago Gay Liberation to address the specific concerns of lesbians and Black gay men.[2]

ORAL HISTORY: Watch Joel Hall talk about Third World Gay Liberation

ORAL HISTORY: Watch Max Smith talk about Third World Gay Liberation

African American Gay Activism

By the early 1980s, three African American gay groups had developed: National Coalition of Black Gays – Chicago Chapter (NCBG), Gentle Waves (Chicago’s Black Lesbian group) and the Committee of Black Gay Men.

ORAL HISTORY: Watch Gladys Croom talk about Black Lesbian Activism

References

1. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/508.html.
2. http://chicagogayhistory.com/movie.html?vid=4997.