S3 E7"STREET POWER"
“The drug addicts, pillheads, teenage hustlers, lesbians, and homosexuals who make San Francisco’s ‘MEAT RACK’ their home are tired of living in the midst of the filth thrown out on to the sidewalks and into the streets by nearby businessmen”
Trans power is felt in San Francisco when the a riot breaks out at Compton's Cafeteria. Vanguard announces demonstrations of angry young street queers, & change finally comes. Barbara Gittings & Frank Kameny take on the Department of Defense and meet their new nemesis: "Dr." Charles Socarides. The LA Black Cat is raided on New Years Eve, inspiring new activists. CBS airs their controversial 1967 documentary "The Homosexuals” hosted by Mike Wallace.
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Original release: May 24, 2021
Episode 7-A“Mafia Buys Clubs for Homosexuals”“Another such private club will open next week. Nearly all are in Manhattan and about one-third are operated by underworld figures.” Paula Harrington as the New York Times reporter.
CBS Reports: "The Homosexuals"
March 7, 1967 📺
"Up Your Ass" by Valerie Solanas, 1967 👆
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compton’s cafeteria riots
august 1966
MAY 24, 2021
Summer 1966 💥
🎧 S3 E7 “STREET POWER”
MAY 26, 2021
“Compton’s at Turk and Taylor has long treated the younger residents of that area as if they were not at all human.” 💥
🎧 S3 E7 “STREET POWER”
🗂 @glbt_history
📸 Corner of Turk and Taylor with Compton's Cafeteria decor in foreground on the right, 1971. foundsf.org
MAY 27, 2021
“Tonight a ’clean sweep’ will be made on Market St; not by the POLICE, but by the street people who are often the object of police harassment… SO GET READY TO HEAR ABOUT ‘STREET POWER.’” 🗣🗯
🎧 S3 E7 “STREET POWER”
Listeners will recognize lots of text from Vanguard’s magazine as dialogue from the episode, and the new group Citizens Alert!
🗂 @glbt_history
JUNE 1, 2021
“SO GET READY TO HEAR ABOUT ‘STREET POWER.’” 💥 Happy Pride month! 💥
🎧 S3 E7 “STREET POWER”
AUGUST 1, 2021
🔥 On a hot August night in 1966…there was a revolution on Turk & Taylor.
@transgenderdistrict mural photo by photosbygooch
CBS Reports: "The Homosexuals"
March 7, 1967
MAY 24, 2021
CBS Reports: “The Homosexuals” tonight on @queerserial 📺
MAY 24, 2021
The second Annual Reminder picket filmed by CBS in 1967 💥
Listeners will recognize many moments from this clip, and recognize several names and voices! 📺 CBS Reports: “The Homosexuals,” 1967. 🎧 S3 E7 “STREET POWER” out today.
Also a snippet of one of the White House pickets!
MAY 25, 2021
Go behind the scenes of CBS’s 1967 documentary “The Homosexuals” in this week’s new episode 🎧
link in my bio!
MAY 26, 2021
America meets the homophiles on CBS 📺
CBS Reports: “The Homosexuals,” 1967. Featured in this week’s new episode! Link in my bio ✨
MAY 26, 2021
📺 “The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous.”
🎧 S3 E7. CBS Reports: “The Homosexuals,” 1967.
MAY 28, 2021
“...to blend the sexes, to de-feminize woman, to replace curve and contour with sexless, geometric sterility.” (see previous post)
🎧S3 E7
📺 CBS Reports: “The Homosexuals,” 1967. Hosted by Mike Wallace.
JULY 24, 2021
“Architects and lawyers, doctors, teachers, businessmen,” and other boring prudes.
🎧 S3 E7 “STREET POWER”
📺 CBS Reports: “The Homosexuals,” 1967. Hosted by Mike Wallace.
JULY 31, 2021
“a form that is in-between, a hybrid”
🎧S3 E7
📺 CBS Reports: “The Homosexuals,” 1967. Hosted by Mike Wallace.
AUGUST 7, 2021
Check out my other series, a spin-off of “Queer Serial” focusing on the “Infamous Crimes” of the 1955 Boise sex panic. It’s a wild 8-episode series with everything from murder to blackmail to queens and massive local conspiracies — which the city tried to cover up. ALL TRUE HISTORY!
Hear it on my patreon! Ep 1 is free on the Queer Serial feed 💖
✨ patreon.com/queerserial✨
🎥 This 1967 clip is from CBS Reports: “The Homosexuals,” which I covered in s3 episode 7.
Homosexuals on television, 1967
MAY 25, 2021
Briefly mentioned in this week’s episode, but here’s the full story: On Feb 7, 1967, Frank Kameny & Jack Nichols were some of the first guests to appear on a call-in show called “Controversy,” airing locally in D.C. The host, Dennis Richards, spent two hours interrupting, shouting, waving his arms and banging his fists on his desk, ending the show by shouting, “Get off my stage, out of my studio, you vicious, perverted, lecherous people! You make me want to vomit!” Then he took a few more calls. Callers said he needed to calm down, he’s overreacting. Some asked if Richards might be gay. Kameny considered their appearance a success.
Shortly after, WOOK called Kameny again and asked them to return for another show. Of course he said yes, and so Kameny, Nichols, and Lilli Vincenz appeared on the show on March 2, 1967. Richards was totally calm this time, and Vincenz thought it was likely because he didn’t want to act poorly in front of a young lady. They were able to answer the viewers’ questions without interruption. MSW considered this appearance a success, too.
MAY 23, 2021
I’ll tell you how… tomorrow on episode 7. 🎧
5 days later, they all appeared in the CBS Reports documentary “The Homosexuals.” Baltimore affiliate WMAR refused to air the episode, so local station WJZ took advantage of the controversy and allowed their show “Contact” to invite Jack Nichols for an interview on March 22. Nichols spoke on the air with Rev. LeRoy Graham, a chaplain and supporter of the homophiles. WJZ ran several promos for the episode, featuring a photo of Nichols and the tagline “The Second Largest Minority.”
📸 Frank Kameny, Lilli Vincenz and Jack Nichols, in the WOOK-TV studio. Photographer unknown. jimburroway.com
MAY 25, 2021
“For the first time, representatives from city hall and the police department will sit down at a conference table with members of the homophile community and allied civic organizations.” 🚨
🎧 S3 E7 “STREET POWER”
✨ We’re taking a closer look at the DOB’s 4th convention documents over on my Patreon! Link in bio!
🗂 @glbt_history
MAY 27, 2021
FBI surveillance during the events of episode 7 🔍
MAY 26, 2021
“Even though we live in an age of protest and demonstrations, this picket line in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4 was met with a degree of disbelief.” 🗣🗯
🎧 S3 E7 “STREET POWER”
📸 Randy Wicker and Barbara Gittings picket at the Annual Reminder, July 4, 1965. Photo by Kay Tobin Lahusen.
📸 Leo Skir, July 4, 1965 or 66. Photo by Kay Tobin Lahusen.
MAY 26, 2021
“Because Police Lawlessness is not just a problem of the Sunset Strip but a problem that exists throughout the City of Los Angeles, there will be: SIMULTANEOUS DEMONSTRATIONS in Silverlake, Sunset & Hyperion, & Sunset Strip, Watts, East L.A., Pacoima, Venice.” 🗣🗯
🎧 S3 E7 “STREET POWER”
📸 Black Cat Los Angeles, late 1960s.
🗞 Personal Rights in Defense and Education (PRIDE) flyer, February 11, 1967. @onearchives
📸 February 11, 1967 protest. @onearchives
📸 The new Black Cat restaurant, located in the same building as the original. theblackcatla.com
MAY 31, 2021
Meanwhile, during episode 7… 💣 Hibiscus (George Harris) in a large anti-war march at the Pentagon, October 21, 1967. Photo © Bernie Boston.
✨ Shortly after, Harris became Hibiscus, a performer in San Francisco acid drag group the Cockettes. (See the documentary!)
🎥 Hibiscus on the cover of David Weissman’s Cockettes documentary
📸 Hibiscus, 1970.
MAY 28, 2021
✏️ “How can camping become an acceptable homosexual expression?”
🎧 In this week’s episode, CBS said gay fashion designers of the mid-60s intended “to blend the sexes, to de-feminize woman, to replace curve and contour with sexless, geometric sterility.” One of the designers they’re obviously referring to: original Mattachine founder (second-ever member!) Rudi Gernreich.
Gernreich went on from the Mattachine Foundation after the schism to great success. He designed the topless bikini (“monokini”), the first thong bathing suit, and became known for his unisex designs and incorporating cutouts and vinyl. According to his notebook from the first living room Mattachine meetings in 1950, he was the chairman of a discussion about “camping.” He was clearly on to something….
📸 Rudi Gernreich and Peggy Moffitt modeling the “Marlene Dietrich” pantsuit, 1964. Photo by William Claxton.
📸 Peggy Moffitt modeling the topless swimsuit, 1964. Claxton
🗂 @onearchives (Harry Hay’s handwriting), Mattachine Foundation Christmas photo, December 1951. Konrad Stevens (back of head), Dale Jennings (profile), Harry Hay, Rudi Gernreich, Stan Witt, Bob Hull, Chuck Rowland, and Paul Bernhard. Photo by John Gruber.
📸 Peggy Moffitt in Gernreich Mini-dress, 1967. Claxton.
🗂 @sfpubliclibrary
🗞 TIME, December 1967.
🗂 @sfpubliclibrary
📸 Peggy Moffitt, Fall 1971 collection & Fall 1968 collection. Claxton.
📸 Rudi Gernreich sketching in his office, 1966. Claxton.
AUGUST 1, 2021
☮️ One of the many Allen Ginsberg sightings throughout the series!
📸 As mentioned recently in episode 7…Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, Allen Ginsberg, Maretta Greer, Lenore Kandel at a gathering of the Tribes for a 'Human Be-In'. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. January 14, 1967. @smithsonian
JUNE 1, 2021
“This was a different type of Harry Hay…one who could speak our language. He was a different character than we knew in the fifties.” ✨
He’s back! In episode 7, Harry Hay returns for his final appearance on the podcast. 🎭
🎧 S3 E7 “STREET POWER”
📸 Harry Hay and his partner John Burnside at Renaissance Faire, 1960s. @onearchives
📸 Young Harry Hay holding jester doll (!!) in 1914, @SFPL.
📸 Hay protesting Dan White’s parole, 1984. Photo by Anne Knudsen, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner Collection, @LAPL.
🗂 He still wrote under “Henry Hay” occasionally. @glbt_history
🗂 Part of the Mattachine Foundation Christmas photo, December 1951. (Season 1) Konrad Stevens (back of head), Dale Jennings (profile), Harry Hay, Rudi Gernreich. Photo by John Gruber. @onearchives
“Mafia Buys Clubs for Homosexuals"
MAY 29, 2021
🔍 “Another such private club will open next week. Nearly all are in Manhattan and about one-third are operated by underworld figures.”
🎧 S3 E7-A (...one last clue. Stay tuned.)
📸 1939 tax photo of Bonnie’s Stonewall Inn, NYC Municipal Archives
JUNE 1, 2021
Happy Pride month! 🔥 Let’s march to the Stonewall 🔥
Next week, "the serialized story of queer liberation in America from the beginning to Stonewall" begins her final episodes. 🎧
see you in the magazines
MAY 27, 2021
STUNNING Tangents issues published during the events of episode 7! September is particularly clever and so gorgeous.
🎧 S3 E7. Hear the story on the pod (link in bio) or read more about Tangents and the ONE Magazine schism in previous posts here ☺️
🗞 Courtesy Independent Voices Alternative Press Collection
MAY 30, 2021
Some of the final issues of ONE Magazine, published during the events of S3 E7.
🗂 @onearchives
JULY 14, 2021
The final issues of ONE Magazine, published during the events of S3 E7. 🗞
🗂 @onearchives
JUNE 13, 2021
💐 Some of the final issues of ONE Magazine, published during the events of S3 E7
🗂 @onearchives
MAY 30, 2021
🌟 “The announcement of the name Tracy Roberts, from any stage, in any gay club in Toronto is the signal for spontaneous, enthusiastic applause.” 🌟
🗞 Canada’s “TWO Magazine,” 1965.
The often-requested episode guide is up! Hope she’s helpful. All 3 seasons, bonus episodes, and Patreon research dives included. And here’s the season so far! (1963-67) Final six episodes start next week!! 🔥🔥🔥
queerserial.com/episodes
link in my bio
JUNE 6, 2021
Tomorrow! The last 6 episodes of the series, starting in my favorite cityyy. Any guesses? 🔍💖