Gypsies,Tramps, and Thieves part 18

[mitchtv]

The War at Home

This story took place in the late 60’s

The S. F. Examiner had written some pretty unflattering Things about S. F.’s awakening Gay Community. The war had infused aggressiveness into the Gay Guys. They were sick of being kicked off the podiums and dais’s, and not having any input at the table, so to speak, thanks to the straight radical who dominated the “movement”. It was time for action.
The word spread, and before you knew it, we had a medium sized picket line, with a respectable volume in from of the Examiner building on 5th street. There were some veterans of the really first picket line at States line in the financial district, that we had organized for Gail Whittington, who was pursuing an anti Gay discrimination case against them. We had signs, present were Stevens McClave (Gay is Good), activists like Gary Allender, Gary Weinberg, and Leo Laurence. That’s where I met Pat (brandy) Brown, John Mosher, and Tom Peele. It was there I met the then Rev Michael Itkin of some bizarre Catholic sect. I don’t know why but Gary (Juanita) W. hated him with a passion. It was a strange crew and we were loud.
Then someone threw some purple printers ink out the Examiner window, and that’s when the trouble started. Outraged, we quickly started smearing the ink all over the building and making handprints on the walls. The Police, always in the mood to attack gays, started in, and that’s where Brandy taught me one thing, THE VALUE OF LEADERSHIP.
A snarling, scratching, high kicking bunch of “fags” threatened to turn the incident into another Stonewall. Quickly, however the Tac Squad took over and Brandy, our vanguard, was captured, and Tom Peele earned his nickname Emma, from his high kicks that day. It was considered by many present to be the birth of the newly formed Gay Liberation Front, and the original purple hand logo for the group was chosen from the mess on the examiner wall that day. (It was later replaced by less esoteric symbols like the lambda and the pink triangle, and more appropriately so).
We were on a roll, and Rolling Stone magazine, and its editor, Jan Wenner was next. He acted like a self-righteous, straight, asshole, and he though he could disrespect the gay crowd with impunity.He would rue that day...