page_title: History of lesbianism in the United States
section_title: 1970s Political action
hierarchical_section_title: History of lesbianism in the United States / 1950–1999 / 1970s Political action
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of author &amp; activist Sally Miller Gearhart
context_page_description: Unless otherwise noted, the members of same-sex female couples discussed here are not known to be lesbian, but they are mentioned as part of discussing the practice of lesbianism—that is, same-sex female sexual and romantic behavior.
context_section_description: In the 1970s open lesbians also began their first forays into American politics. In 1972, Nancy Wechsler became the first openly gay or lesbian person in political office in America; she was elected to the Ann Arbor City Council in 1972 as a member of the Human Rights Party and came out as a lesbian during her first and only term there. That same year, Madeline Davis became the first openly lesbian delegate elected to a major political convention when she was elected to the Democratic National Convention in Miami, Florida. She addressed the convention in support of the inclusion of a gay rights plank in the Democratic Party platform. In 1974, Elaine Noble became the first openly gay or lesbian candidate ever elected to a state-level office in America when she was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. She had come out as a lesbian during her campaign. Furthermore, the first openly gay or lesbian person to be elected to any political office in America was Kathy Kozachenko, who was elected to the Ann Arbor City Council in April 1974. In 1977, Anne Kronenberg was Harvey Milk's campaign manager during his San Francisco Board of Supervisors campaign, and she later worked as his aide while he held that office. (While Kronenberg identified as a lesbian at that time, she later fell in love with and married a man she met in Washington, D.C. in the 1980s.) In 1978, lesbian Sally Miller Gearhart fought alongside Harvey Milk to defeat Proposition 6 (also known as the "Briggs Initiative" because it was sponsored by John Briggs), which would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools in California. Gearhart debated John Briggs about the initiative, which was defeated. A clip of their debate appeared in the documentary film The Times of Harvey Milk, which also included Gearhart talking about working with Milk against Proposition 6, and appearances by Kronenberg.
  In 1979, the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was held, in Washington, D.C. on October 14. It drew between 75,000 and 125,000 lesbians, bisexual and transgender people, gay men, and straight allies to demand equal civil rights and urge the passage of protective civil rights legislation. The march was led by the Salsa Soul Sisters, a lesbian group, who carried the official march banner. Charlotte Bunch and Audre Lorde were the only out lesbians who spoke at the main rally.
  San Francisco lesbian bar Peg’s Place was the site of an assault in 1979 by off-duty members of the San Francisco vice squad, an event which drew national attention to other incidents of anti-gay violence and police harassment of the LGBT community and helped propel a (unsuccessful) citywide proposition to ban the city's vice squad altogether. Historians have written about the incident when describing the tension that existed between the police and the LGBT community during the late 1970s.
caption: Sally Miller Gearhart worked with Harvey Milk to help defeat the Briggs Initiative in the 1970s
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