Highlights From The Turbulent 1960s Civil Rights Movement

The first gay rights demonstration

The first gay rights demonstration in America took place in 1964. Randy Wicker, Jefferson Poland and a small group of people from the “Sexual Freedom League” (the majority of which were straight) had had enough of the endless discrimination against gay people in the armed forces.

Source: Out

They went to the Army recruiting center in New York which was at 39 Whitehall Street. The protest attracted very little attention and was ignored by mainstream media and even by much of the gay community. The recruiting center, however, was immortalized in Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant” for its notoriety during the Vietnam War draft period.