In 1955, The Daughters of Bilitis was founded in San Francisco by activist couple Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon and pickets were organized in front of that same city’s Grace Cathedral in support of a gay clergyman in 1965. California is the locale for many of the earliest stands against harassment, attacks and home to the attenuating activism that followed. The truth, however, is there are many others that predate Stonewall. New York is often made the epicenter of the gay rights movement and for certain, it can lay claim to one of the LGBTQ community’s most important watershed moments.
There’s a lot of talk about the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots this year, what a unifying moment it was when queer people fought back, and what it means to the LGBTQ community.
