Graph Legend
10 Events
3 Places
4 People
5 Orgs
13 Titles
November Vancouver The Gay […]
When
1970-11
Description
November Vancouver The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) formed out of weekly meetings held at the Pink Cheeks commune, 2132 Carolina Street. Gordon Hardy was a key organizer of the group. On December 11, the GLF opened a drop-in centre at 509 Carrall Street, in a building shared with the Youth International Party (Yippies). Formed as an activist, communal collective to combat gay oppression, the almost entirely male membership of GLF held weekly meetings on Sunday nights; the drop-in centre was open Friday nights. A gay switchboard was in operation by January 1971. The group was involved in the production of the gay supplement to the Simon Fraser University student newspaper The Peak in March 1971 and published at least one issue of its newsletter BriteLite (April 1971). Also, the Ephemerals, a revolutionary drag group similar to The Cockettes, were associated with the GLF. Formed by Twilight Rose (pseud, of John Forbes) and Ruby Tuesday (pseud, of Ron Whinton), the Ephemerals specialized in street theatre that satirized drag and mocked traditional male-female roles and stereotypes. The GLF was short-lived, disbanding by the autumn of 1971. Its demise was partly due to the secession of Dick Rulens and others from the group to form the Canadian Gay Activists Alliance (CGAA) in February 1971. Many of the remaining members of GLF joined the Gay Alliance toward Equality (GATE), formed in May 1971. (see also February, May, and June 27, 1971.)
