Prologue: 1960s
1967 Louis (Lou) Crompton placed an advertisement in The Lincoln Star (the local morning paper, which is now the daily local newspaper, The Lincoln Journal Star) to promote the Mattachine Society. Lou knew about the gay rights movement but nothing seemed to be happening in the Midwest. He included his telephone number in the advertisement. Lou received a call from a graduate student, but also from the police, who asked him to come down to the station to talk. Concerned about the police request, Lou called the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who advised him to decline, as there was no basis for the request. At the time Lou was a board member of the ACLU.