Ignoring our "queerstory"

IGNORING FIRST KNOWN QUEER PICKET

Americans care little about mainstream history.
Likewise, American queers often ignore queer history (queerstory).


September 2004 is the 40th anniversary of the first queer picket in New York City, and possibly in the USA.
Did the queer press bother to mention this?



Here's an excerpt from MAKING GAY HISTORY by Eric Marcus (©2002), page 96:

"KAY [Lahusen]: .... Randy Wicker was the first to picket.

BARBARA [Gittings]: He picketed the Whitehall military induction center in 1964...."



Wicker didn't conduct this first picket alone.
He was backed by his own
Homophile League of New York (HLNY),
a radical spinoff from Mattachine;
and also by a mixed group, the New York City League for Sexual Freedom (NYC-LSF).
Jointly, the two organizations fielded about a dozen demonstrators.



-- Name With-Held