Title: Gay rights movement
Description: This collection of records gives an overview of the militant American homophile movement (the gay rights movement including gay people and their allies) from 1970 to 1983, particularly in New York, taken from the now-disbanded Gay Activists Alliance (GAA). The GAA was founded in response to the Stonewall riots of 1969, and it was intended to be a militant yet nonviolent organization advancing civil and social rights for gay people. It focused on attaining fair employment and housing, fought against laws specifically targeted at gays, and attempted to reduce police harassment. Members of the GAA also hoped to create a new gay culture, free from societal constraints. The collection itself is composed of four distinct categories: committee files, topical files, printed ephemera, and international lists of gay organizations and publications. The committee files are composed of records from various committees working within the Gay Activists Alliance. This includes correspondence from the News and Media Relations Committee, which worked on public relations issues, and the Executive Committee, which oversaw all of the organization's various other committees. The topical files include miscellaneous documents of internal record, such as meeting minutes, by-laws, and election questionnaires, as well as documents related to the GAA's gay studies research project. The printed ephemera is comprised of articles and press releases issued by the GAA and other homophile organizations. These records document a key period in the gay community's attempts to obtain better civil and social rights. Because the GAA was formed as a direct consequence of the Stonewall riots, the collection of these materials offers essential documentation of the homophile movement's shift away from the passive education espoused by such preexisting organizations as the Mattachine Society.
Subjects: Gay rights, Homosexuality, Gay liberation movement, Mattachine Society of New York, Gay Activists Alliance
Places: New York