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Queer History Establishment dumps Randy Wicker
Queer historians delete gay man who organized first known U.S. picket on a queer issue.
On October 12, 2004, a distinguished panel of queer historians
spoke at the San Francisco Public Library, downtown.
After their presentations, an audience member stood up and said:
"This question is about the 'homophile' period on the East Coast.
Randy Wicker claims that the first queer U.S. picket was
in September 1964,
in New York, at the Army induction center;
several months before the well-known 1965 picket at the White House.
Is Wicker correct?"
At least two panelists replied that Wicker was first;
BUT that his 1964 picket
was just a bunch of individuals, not an organization.
The questioner then asserted that there were
two organizations sponsoring the picket:
the Homosexual League of New York,
and the New York City League for Sexual Freedom.
Panelists again dismissed Wicker's role;
because HLNY was very small;
and because LSF wasn't exclusively (nor even primarily) gay.
Thus the panelists implied that the 1965 picket was historic,
but that the 1964 picket wasn't.
This attitude justifies the Establishment's practice of honoring
Franklin Kameny, Ph.D.,
leader of Washington D.C. Mattachine,
as organizer of the first queer picket line;
while dismissing Wicker's earlier picket.
The underlying assumptions seem to be:
(1) If Wicker, a gay man, individually organizes a picket on a queer issue
(military discrimination against queers), that just doesn't count.
(2) If non-queer allies participate in a queer-led picket on a queer issue,
then the picket isn't legitimately part of queer history.
Do those assumptions seem logical?
Objective?
Fair?
Does the queer history Establishment have some other motivation
for denying or minimizing Wicker's pioneering role?
Do they simply dislike Wicker as a person?
Or do they delete his 1964 picket because Wicker disgraced
himself, several years later,
by opposing the Stonewall Riots of 1969?
For that stance, he certainly merits harsh criticism --
but does Wicker really deserve to be erased from queer history?
In George Orwell's novel 1984, the protagonist's government job
includes erasing disfavored persons from official publications.
Orwell thus parodies a well-known Soviet practice.
Plus ca change,
plus ca meme chose.....
-- fan of Wicker
(despite his faults)
October 2004
.............
spoke at the San Francisco Public Library, downtown.
After their presentations, an audience member stood up and said:
"This question is about the 'homophile' period on the East Coast.
Randy Wicker claims that the first queer U.S. picket was
in September 1964,
in New York, at the Army induction center;
several months before the well-known 1965 picket at the White House.
Is Wicker correct?"
At least two panelists replied that Wicker was first;
BUT that his 1964 picket
was just a bunch of individuals, not an organization.
The questioner then asserted that there were
two organizations sponsoring the picket:
the Homosexual League of New York,
and the New York City League for Sexual Freedom.
Panelists again dismissed Wicker's role;
because HLNY was very small;
and because LSF wasn't exclusively (nor even primarily) gay.
Thus the panelists implied that the 1965 picket was historic,
but that the 1964 picket wasn't.
This attitude justifies the Establishment's practice of honoring
Franklin Kameny, Ph.D.,
leader of Washington D.C. Mattachine,
as organizer of the first queer picket line;
while dismissing Wicker's earlier picket.
The underlying assumptions seem to be:
(1) If Wicker, a gay man, individually organizes a picket on a queer issue
(military discrimination against queers), that just doesn't count.
(2) If non-queer allies participate in a queer-led picket on a queer issue,
then the picket isn't legitimately part of queer history.
Do those assumptions seem logical?
Objective?
Fair?
Does the queer history Establishment have some other motivation
for denying or minimizing Wicker's pioneering role?
Do they simply dislike Wicker as a person?
Or do they delete his 1964 picket because Wicker disgraced
himself, several years later,
by opposing the Stonewall Riots of 1969?
For that stance, he certainly merits harsh criticism --
but does Wicker really deserve to be erased from queer history?
In George Orwell's novel 1984, the protagonist's government job
includes erasing disfavored persons from official publications.
Orwell thus parodies a well-known Soviet practice.
Plus ca change,
plus ca meme chose.....
-- fan of Wicker
(despite his faults)
October 2004
.............
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National Gay and Lesbian 40th Anniversary Celebration in Philadelphia, 5/1/2005
by Equality Forum
Monday, Oct. 18, 2004 at 9:09 PM
Equality Forum announced that the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement will be held in Philadelphia at Independence National Historical Park on Sunday, May 1, 2005, as part of Equality Forum 2005 (April 25 to May 1).
National Gay and Lesbian 40th Anniversary Celebration in Philadelphia, Independence Hall, May 1, 2005
10/18/2004 12:37:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Michael Pomante, 215-732-3378 x 15 or 610-308-1441 (cell), or Malcolm Lazin, 215-732-7375 or 215-850-8751 (cell), both of the Equality Forum
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Equality Forum announced that the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement will be held in Philadelphia at Independence National Historical Park on Sunday, May 1, 2005, as part of Equality Forum 2005 (April 25 to May 1).
"On July 4, 1965, in front of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell 40 courageous activists demonstrated for gay and lesbian civil rights. These Pioneers cracked the cocoon of invisibility and started a national and international civil rights movement," stated Sally Susman, national co-chair, 40th Anniversary Celebration.
"On Sunday, May 1, 2005, with Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell Pavilion as the back-drop, we will honor 40 heroes, who over the past 40 years have made a defining difference for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) civil rights movement," said Jonathan Capehart, national co-chair, 40th Anniversary Celebration. "The Celebration will also include entertainers, speakers, programs on Independence Mall (Independence Hall to the National Constitution Center), large street festival, continuous screenings of Gay Pioneers, 40 Equality Forum rainbow flags along Independence Mall and a closing concert."
"Our role model for this celebration is Bayard Rustin, a colleague of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bayard was a gay African American who organized the National Demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. That demonstration helped define the African American civil rights movement. At the 40th Anniversary Celebration, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell will symbolize our quest for full equality," stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director, Equality Forum. "The Gay Pioneers chose this iconic site in 1965 to launch the movement. There is no better location than where our Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written and home of the beacon of freedom, the Liberty Bell."
"Equality Forum 2005 from April 25 to May 1 in Philadelphia will have over 60 events with 100 regional, national and international organizations participating. There is no registration fee and all substantive programs are free," stated Joseph Farrell, chair, Board of Directors. "We promise a week of impressive programs and celebratory events."
"We have obtained a permit from Independence National Historical Park, National Park Service," said Abbe Fletman, Regional Co-Chair. "We thank Mary Bomar, superintendent, Independence National Historical Park for embracing the 40th anniversary as an important part of the Park's history."
"We are grateful to U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, Congressman Robert Brady, Governor Ed Rendell and Mayor Street for their written support of the permit," said Michael Williams, Regional Co-Chair. "We take great pride that Philadelphia is the birthplace of our nation and the GLBT civil rights movement".
In July 2004, Equality Forum premiered "Gay Pioneers", a documentary about these seminal annual demonstrations in 1965 to 1969 in Philadelphia, New York and Washington.
"Almost no public school and few colleges teach gay history. 'Gay Pioneers' is about our civil rights. It is an inspiring film. Through grants 'Gay Pioneers' is being sent without charge to 2,600 GSAs, every LGBT community center and GLBTQ youth center and over 150 collegiate LGBT organizations," stated Malcolm Lazin.
"In 2003, Philadelphia launched a national campaign to attract GLBT tourism. Our motto is 'Get your history straight and your nightlife gay'. We promise the national and international GLBT community that Philadelphia lives up to its billing as the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection," stated Tami Sortman, chair, Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus.
Equality Forum's mission is to advance national and international GLBT civil rights. Equality Forum undertakes high impact initiatives, produces documentary films and presents the largest annual national and international GLBT civil rights forum.
---
EDITOR'S NOTES: For further information, visit http://www.equalityforum.com, http://www.gaypioneers.com or contact Michael Pomante, communications associate, at Michael [at] equalityforum.com or 215-732-3378 x15.
For digital photos from the press conference, visit http://www.equalityforum.com/press.cfm.
National Gay and Lesbian 40th Anniversary Celebration in Philadelphia, 5/1/2005
by Equality Forum
Monday, Oct. 18, 2004 at 9:09 PM
Equality Forum announced that the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement will be held in Philadelphia at Independence National Historical Park on Sunday, May 1, 2005, as part of Equality Forum 2005 (April 25 to May 1).
National Gay and Lesbian 40th Anniversary Celebration in Philadelphia, Independence Hall, May 1, 2005
10/18/2004 12:37:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Michael Pomante, 215-732-3378 x 15 or 610-308-1441 (cell), or Malcolm Lazin, 215-732-7375 or 215-850-8751 (cell), both of the Equality Forum
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Equality Forum announced that the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement will be held in Philadelphia at Independence National Historical Park on Sunday, May 1, 2005, as part of Equality Forum 2005 (April 25 to May 1).
"On July 4, 1965, in front of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell 40 courageous activists demonstrated for gay and lesbian civil rights. These Pioneers cracked the cocoon of invisibility and started a national and international civil rights movement," stated Sally Susman, national co-chair, 40th Anniversary Celebration.
"On Sunday, May 1, 2005, with Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell Pavilion as the back-drop, we will honor 40 heroes, who over the past 40 years have made a defining difference for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) civil rights movement," said Jonathan Capehart, national co-chair, 40th Anniversary Celebration. "The Celebration will also include entertainers, speakers, programs on Independence Mall (Independence Hall to the National Constitution Center), large street festival, continuous screenings of Gay Pioneers, 40 Equality Forum rainbow flags along Independence Mall and a closing concert."
"Our role model for this celebration is Bayard Rustin, a colleague of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bayard was a gay African American who organized the National Demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. That demonstration helped define the African American civil rights movement. At the 40th Anniversary Celebration, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell will symbolize our quest for full equality," stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director, Equality Forum. "The Gay Pioneers chose this iconic site in 1965 to launch the movement. There is no better location than where our Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written and home of the beacon of freedom, the Liberty Bell."
"Equality Forum 2005 from April 25 to May 1 in Philadelphia will have over 60 events with 100 regional, national and international organizations participating. There is no registration fee and all substantive programs are free," stated Joseph Farrell, chair, Board of Directors. "We promise a week of impressive programs and celebratory events."
"We have obtained a permit from Independence National Historical Park, National Park Service," said Abbe Fletman, Regional Co-Chair. "We thank Mary Bomar, superintendent, Independence National Historical Park for embracing the 40th anniversary as an important part of the Park's history."
"We are grateful to U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, Congressman Robert Brady, Governor Ed Rendell and Mayor Street for their written support of the permit," said Michael Williams, Regional Co-Chair. "We take great pride that Philadelphia is the birthplace of our nation and the GLBT civil rights movement".
In July 2004, Equality Forum premiered "Gay Pioneers", a documentary about these seminal annual demonstrations in 1965 to 1969 in Philadelphia, New York and Washington.
"Almost no public school and few colleges teach gay history. 'Gay Pioneers' is about our civil rights. It is an inspiring film. Through grants 'Gay Pioneers' is being sent without charge to 2,600 GSAs, every LGBT community center and GLBTQ youth center and over 150 collegiate LGBT organizations," stated Malcolm Lazin.
"In 2003, Philadelphia launched a national campaign to attract GLBT tourism. Our motto is 'Get your history straight and your nightlife gay'. We promise the national and international GLBT community that Philadelphia lives up to its billing as the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection," stated Tami Sortman, chair, Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus.
Equality Forum's mission is to advance national and international GLBT civil rights. Equality Forum undertakes high impact initiatives, produces documentary films and presents the largest annual national and international GLBT civil rights forum.
---
EDITOR'S NOTES: For further information, visit http://www.equalityforum.com, http://www.gaypioneers.com or contact Michael Pomante, communications associate, at Michael [at] equalityforum.com or 215-732-3378 x15.
For digital photos from the press conference, visit http://www.equalityforum.com/press.cfm.
Why would LGBT Establishment
prefer to forget
RANDY WICKER?
Maybe because Randolfe H. Wicker
advocates reproducing humans by cloning?
See:
http://www.clonerights.com/about_our_founder.htm
...................
How embarrassing can a queer get?
Especially when we're lobbying for
same-sex marriage rights???
...........
For more information:
http://www.clonerights.com/about_our_found...
Well, I am glad to see some are willing to stand up to the Orwellian rewriting of gay history.
There were three prominent members of The NY Mattachine Society included in our first demonstration: Craig Rodwell, founder of the Oscar Wilde Bookstore, and Renai Cafiero, one of the first gay delegates to the Democratic Presidential Convention in 1972 as a McGovern delegate; and myself.
The Homosexual League of New York did exist. I have a picture of about six of us working together on a mailing in the early 1960s.
The "progressive" members of Mattachine (like myself) used this organizational name so that we could participate in activities like picketing that the NY Mattachine Society would not agree to do or opposed doing.
The League for Sexual Freedom was quite a real organization with meetings that sometimes drew between fifty and a hundred members.
I am proud of the fact that at least half of those demonstrating were heterosexuals. Whether homosexuals or heterosexuals predominated really depends on how you count open bisexuals like Jeff Poland.
I laugh at the petty squabbling among gay activists. They have adopted "queer" as a badge of courage. Thank goodness African Americans were not so dimwitted as to "rehabilitate" the "N" word.
We always said we were fighting for "civil rights for homosexuals". That wasn't catchy enough for the post Stonewall "queer" crowd. They coined the term "Gay Rights". This was a linguistic error because it enabled the Religious Right to come up with the slogan "Gay Rights are Special Rights!"
Could anyone name one so-called "gay right" that is not also a civil right? Ask 100 passers-by on a street if they would "support" -or "like to have"- "gay rights".
Only openly gay people would reply positively to the "like to have" question. Most straight people would probably "pass". Of course, what use are "gay rights" to the general heterosexual public?
I laugh when I read the picketing rules in the documentary "Gay Pioneers". The producers of that show edited out my next comment, which was: "Now, I remember why I left the gay movement."
I left the narrow politics of the gay ghetto behind in the mid 1960s. I went on to be the main sloganeer for anti-war buttons. I helped found LEMAR (legalize marijuana) with Allen Ginsburg and Jeff Poland.
I got Screw Magazine busted by giving detailed instructions on "how to get maximum satisfaction out of sodomy" in an article entitled: "Up The Ass Is A Gas".
I exposed the corrupt ex-cons who used to control and exploit the annual Christopher Street Festival in NYC in 1990 and won control of that back for the community.
In 1997, I became the World's first human cloning activist and have been the leading champion of reproductive human cloning in the United States since that time. Check out http://www.clonerights.com
I am now an advisor at The Immortality Institute.(http://www.imminst.org) They are working "to conquer the blight of involuntary death". Darlings, I have always known how to pick a good fight. Now, I've joined the "ultimate" one.
The tired old queens who can only see the world through their narrow lavender glasses don't need to "dump" me. I was light years ahead of them in the 1960s. I'm still light years ahead of them.
My love to all--especially to lovely feminine gay men who are so often blind to their own beauty and too taken with the supposed handsomeness of gym boys!
Cloningly yours,
Randy Wicker
#1 Marineview Plaza #10E
Hoboken, NJ 07030
201-656-3280
Founder, Clone Rights United Front, http://www.clonerigths.com
Advisor, The Immortality Institute, http://www.imminst.org
There were three prominent members of The NY Mattachine Society included in our first demonstration: Craig Rodwell, founder of the Oscar Wilde Bookstore, and Renai Cafiero, one of the first gay delegates to the Democratic Presidential Convention in 1972 as a McGovern delegate; and myself.
The Homosexual League of New York did exist. I have a picture of about six of us working together on a mailing in the early 1960s.
The "progressive" members of Mattachine (like myself) used this organizational name so that we could participate in activities like picketing that the NY Mattachine Society would not agree to do or opposed doing.
The League for Sexual Freedom was quite a real organization with meetings that sometimes drew between fifty and a hundred members.
I am proud of the fact that at least half of those demonstrating were heterosexuals. Whether homosexuals or heterosexuals predominated really depends on how you count open bisexuals like Jeff Poland.
I laugh at the petty squabbling among gay activists. They have adopted "queer" as a badge of courage. Thank goodness African Americans were not so dimwitted as to "rehabilitate" the "N" word.
We always said we were fighting for "civil rights for homosexuals". That wasn't catchy enough for the post Stonewall "queer" crowd. They coined the term "Gay Rights". This was a linguistic error because it enabled the Religious Right to come up with the slogan "Gay Rights are Special Rights!"
Could anyone name one so-called "gay right" that is not also a civil right? Ask 100 passers-by on a street if they would "support" -or "like to have"- "gay rights".
Only openly gay people would reply positively to the "like to have" question. Most straight people would probably "pass". Of course, what use are "gay rights" to the general heterosexual public?
I laugh when I read the picketing rules in the documentary "Gay Pioneers". The producers of that show edited out my next comment, which was: "Now, I remember why I left the gay movement."
I left the narrow politics of the gay ghetto behind in the mid 1960s. I went on to be the main sloganeer for anti-war buttons. I helped found LEMAR (legalize marijuana) with Allen Ginsburg and Jeff Poland.
I got Screw Magazine busted by giving detailed instructions on "how to get maximum satisfaction out of sodomy" in an article entitled: "Up The Ass Is A Gas".
I exposed the corrupt ex-cons who used to control and exploit the annual Christopher Street Festival in NYC in 1990 and won control of that back for the community.
In 1997, I became the World's first human cloning activist and have been the leading champion of reproductive human cloning in the United States since that time. Check out http://www.clonerights.com
I am now an advisor at The Immortality Institute.(http://www.imminst.org) They are working "to conquer the blight of involuntary death". Darlings, I have always known how to pick a good fight. Now, I've joined the "ultimate" one.
The tired old queens who can only see the world through their narrow lavender glasses don't need to "dump" me. I was light years ahead of them in the 1960s. I'm still light years ahead of them.
My love to all--especially to lovely feminine gay men who are so often blind to their own beauty and too taken with the supposed handsomeness of gym boys!
Cloningly yours,
Randy Wicker
#1 Marineview Plaza #10E
Hoboken, NJ 07030
201-656-3280
Founder, Clone Rights United Front, http://www.clonerigths.com
Advisor, The Immortality Institute, http://www.imminst.org
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