November Vancouver The Gay […]

Graph

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.)

All Events

February Vancouver The Canadian Gay […]June 27 Toronto The founding meeting […]May Vancouver The first meetings […]

All Places

Gay Liberation Front Drop-In Centre Pink Cheeks Commune Vancouver

All People

Dick Rulens Ron Whinton John Forbes Gordon Hardy

All Organizations

Gay Alliance toward Equality GATE Vancouver Canadian Gay Activists Alliance CGAA Ephemerals Youth International Party Gay Liberation Front GLF

All Periodicals

Brite Lite: GLF Newsletter The Peak

All Citations

"We ARE the People Our Parents Warned Us About...," Georgia Straight, 2-9 December 1970, p. 9."Street Theatre and the Ephemerals," BriteLite (no. i) (1971), p. 2 Q.Q., "Page 69" (column), Georgia Straight, 16-23 December 1970, p. 9 Q.Q., "Out of the Closets and into the Streets," Georgia Straight, 20-27 January 1971, p. 18 Jearld Moldenhauer and Bob Wallace, "History: Toronto & Vancouver," Gay (a supplement to McGill Daily), 24 November 1972, pp. 3, 6 Gerald Hannon, "Who We Were, Who We Are: John Forbes," Body Politic, no. 80 (1982), p. 35 "Gay Liberation Front: The First in a Two-Part Series on the History and Politics of the Vancouver Gay Liberation Front," Georgia Straight, 14—18 May 1971, p. 20 (note: part two was not published)" Gay Liberation Front (GLF)" vertical file, Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, Toronto Gay Alliance toward Equality (GATE) (Vancouver) papers, 82-005 and 88-040, Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, Toronto "GLF Changes Perspectives," Georgia Straight, 5-8 October 1971, p. 15 " John Forbes " vertical file, Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, Toronto

Graph Legend

Ron Whinton

Names

Biography

All Events