As Candice Boyce, an early lesbian activist, recalls, “ weren’t conscious of the oppression of blacks and Latino and Asian people or women. Many women, disenchanted by the predominantly male agenda of GAA, formed other groups such as Radicalesbians and Salsa Soul Sisters. Put off by GLF’s support of social groups with different agendas (like the Black Panthers), the Gay Activist Alliance (GAA) was formed to focus activism exclusively on lesbian and gay issues. But because of the enormous diversity of the gay and lesbian population, rifts began splintering the movement around the issues of gender, class, race, ethnicity, and politics.
The movement spread like wildfire across the nation, with Gay Liberation Front (GLF) chapters sprouting in cities across the nation, bringing issues of gay and lesbian rights into the national consciousness. Through archival footage and eyewitness testimony, Out Rage ’69 tells the story of Stonewall and the heady euphoria that swept throughout the gay community in its wake. A riot quickly ensued, spreading throughout Greenwich Village. On the eve of Judy Garland’s funeral in 1969, police stormed the Stonewall Inn and were met, for the first time, with resistance. It was during one of these raids, on the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York, that the modern radical gay rights movement was born. Consequently, organized crime controlled gay bars and police raids were frequent. It was illegal to operate a business where gay people congregated. To be homosexual in the 1960s was to risk arrest. While Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, the fight for sexual freedom and women’s liberation swept the nation. It was the year of Woodstock and the Manson murders. The Black Panthers and the Young Lords took to the streets to fight for the liberation of people of color. While the war in Vietnam escalated, so did the massive efforts of the anti-war movement, with protests raging on campuses across the country.
The “69” in Out Rage ’69 refers to 1969 - a landmark year for social revolution.
#Deepfocus similares series
Out Rage ’69, produced, directed, and written by award-winning filmmaker Arthur Dong, is the first installment of The Question of Equality, a four-part film series that shows a multi-faceted history of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement.
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