Queens Liberation Front (QLF) was a

homophile Terms used to describe homosexuality have gone through many changes since the emergence of the first terms in the mid-19th century. In English, some terms in widespread use have been sodomite, Achillean, Sapphic, Uranian, homophile, lesbian, g ...

group primarily focused on

transvestite Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional, or ceremonial reasons. The term is considered outdated in Western c ...

rights advocacy organization in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. QLF was formed in 1969 and active in the 1970s. They published ''Drag Queens: A Magazine About the Transvestite'' beginning in 1971. The Queens Liberation Front collaborated with a number of other LGBTQ+ activist groups, including the

Gay Activists Alliance The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) was founded in New York City on December 21, 1969, almost six months after the Stonewall riots, by dissident members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). In contrast to the Liberation Front, the Activists Alliance s ...

and the

Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) was a gay, gender non-conforming and transvestite street activist organization founded in 1970 by Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, subculturally-famous New York City drag queens of color.Fein ...

Formation

Queens Liberation Front was founded as Queens by

Lee Brewster Lee Greer Brewster (April 27, 1943 – May 19, 2000) was an American drag queen, transgender activist, and retailer. He was a founding member of the pre-Stonewall activist group, Queens Liberation Front. In the 1970s and 1980s, he published ''Drag' ...

in 1969. At his first ball in February 1969, Brewster announced plans to form the group, with October 31, 1969 (

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

, a particularly popular holiday in the drag community) to be its formal founding date. The organization was founded in part to oppose the relegation of drag queens to the back of the March at the first

Christopher Street Liberation Day The NYC Pride March is an annual event celebrating the LGBTQ community in New York City. Among the largest Pride events in the world, the NYC Pride March attracts tens of thousands of participants and millions of sidewalk spectators each Ju ...

in June 1970. In protest, the street queens from

STAR A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

moved to the front and marched at the front of the parade anyway.

Activities

Queens Liberation Front participated in many activities to advocate for the rights of LGBT people, particularly

transvestites Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional, or ceremonial reasons. The term is considered outdated in Western c ...

. The organization also participated in LGBT events such as the LGBT Pride March. Members sometimes wore drag while lobbying New York state legislators. The organization often collaborated with other local LGBT organizations, such as

and

. In the early 1970s, the organizations successfully used litigation to overturn a New York City ordinance against

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...

. In 1973, Queens Liberation Front agreed to a compromise amendment to New York City's anti-discrimination ordinance that added sexual orientation to the ordinance, but clarified the ordinance did not cover cross-dressing. The organization's director, Bebe Scarpie, met with the bill's sponsor at City Hall and agreed to the compromise. The organization's lawyer, Richard Levidow, believed the exclusionary clause violated the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

and was therefore unenforceable.

Lesbian Feminist Liberation Lesbian Feminist Liberation was a lesbian rights advocacy organization in New York City formed in 1972. Formation Lesbian Feminist Liberation was originally the Lesbian Liberation Committee and a part of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA). In 197 ...

opposed the performance by

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

s at the 1973 LGBT Pride March in New York City. As they passed out flyers,

Sylvia Rivera Sylvia Rivera (July 2, 1951 – February 19, 2002) was an American gay liberation and transgender rights activist September 21, 1995. Accessed July 24, 2015. who was also a noted community worker in New York. Rivera, who identified as a drag q ...

, of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, took the microphone from emcee

Vito Russo Vito Russo (July 11, 1946 – November 7, 1990) was an American LGBT activist, film historian, and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book ''The Celluloid Closet'' (1981, revised edition 1987), described in ''The New York Time ...

and spoke against this sentiment, delivering a speech about spending time in jail, and being harassed and beaten by the straight men who were preying on all the members of the gay community. Rivera ended by leading a chant for "Gay Power!"Rivera, Sylvia, "Queens In Exile, The Forgotten Ones" in ''Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries: Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonist Struggle''. Untorelli Press, 2013. Lesbian Feminist Liberation's

Jean O'Leary Jean O'Leary (March 4, 1948 – June 4, 2005) was an American lesbian and gay rights activist. She was the founder of Lesbian Feminist Liberation, one of the first lesbian activist groups in the women's movement, and an early member and co-dir ...

then read a statement on behalf of 100 women that read, in part, "We support the right of every person to dress in the way that she or he wishes. But we are opposed to the exploitation of women by men for entertainment or profit." June, 1973. Accessed Oct 13, 2015. Queens Liberation Front's

replied in support of drag and the drag queens in the community. The increasingly angry crowd only calmed when

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

, who heard on the radio in her

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

apartment, arrived, took the microphone, and began singing "

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

". This was one of several events in early 1970s where lesbian feminists, gay men, and drag queens at times found themselves in conflict; while other events, such as those led by the GLF women's caucus, often had harmonious participation between these sometimes contentious factions.Shepard, Benjamin Heim and Ronald Hayduk (2002) ''From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization''. Verso. pp.156-160 Photos of Gay Liberation Front Demonstrations
by Diana Davies at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

Digital Collection. Accessed 17 May 2019

References

External links

Drag Queens: A Magazine About the Transvestite
issue 1 on the

Digital Transgender Archive The Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) is an online resource based at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, in collaboration with more than sixty international colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, and private collections. It ...

{{LGBT in New York 1969 establishments in New York City LGBT political advocacy groups in New York (state) Organizations based in New York City Organizations established in 1969 Transgender rights in the United States

Formation

Activities

See also

References

External links