Gay Activist Alliance Firehouse

"A School for Democracy"

Within weeks of the Stonewall Rebellion, activists formed the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). Even the Front’s name was unapologetically radical, inspired by the National Liberation Front fighting U.S. troops in South Vietnam at the time.¹ However, GLF members quickly divided over strategy. Some wanted to form alliances with other radical groups like the Black Panthers. Others wanted to focus exclusively on gay issues.

The latter formed a group of their own, the Gay Activist Alliance (GAA), which focused exclusively on gay and lesbian issues.² Arthur Evans, one of the founders of the organization, called GAA “a school for democracy.”³

In 1971, GAA used a former firehouse at 99 Wooster Street as its headquarters.⁴ Here they planned sit-ins, picket lines and “zaps.” A zap might be described as performance art as a form of political protest. Here was one example: As Mayor John Vliet Lindsay spoke at the 100^th anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Marty Robinson approached the mayor and spoke into his microphone, “When are you going to speak out on homosexual rights, Mr. Mayor?” Policemen took Robinson away, but others from GAA got into the line to shake the mayor’s hand. Each tried to give Lindsay a flyer and asked why he remained silent on gay rights. Six days later, GAA members made up a third of the audience for the mayor’s weekly TV program on WNEW to call out questions like, “Are you in favor of the repeal of the sodomy laws?”⁵

The GAA’s most popular events were Saturday night dances and “Firehouse Flicks,” a movie night organized by film buff and activist Vito Russo, author of The Celluloid Closet.⁶ The GAA Firehouse was a precursor of today’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center at 208 West 13^th Street.

Sadly and ironically, an arsonist set fire to the structure in 1974, ending its use by GAA. The crime was never solved.

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¹ Carter, David. Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, St. Martin's Press, 2004, pp. 218-9

² Rapp, Linda. "Gay Activists Alliance," GLBTQarchive.com, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2019.

³ Carter, op.cit., pp. 250-251.

⁴ "Taking Pride: 150 Years of LGBT History," entry #14, NYCLPC.org. Retrieved June 21, 2019.

⁵ Faderman, Lillian. The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, Simon and Schuster, p. 219.

⁶ "HDC@LPC: Designation Testimony – LGBTQ Sites," June 3, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.