Protests Begin

In the turbulent ’60s, a handful of LGBT rights activists—believing the courts were a dead end—turned to the Constitution’s 1st Amendment: the right to speak out.

Risking the loss of their jobs, their friends, and their families, they staged small demonstrations in major cities. Among the organizers was Frank Kameny, whose rebuff by the Supreme Court had ignited his sense of injustice. 

Protests would gather momentum after 1969, when the patrons of New York’s Stonewall Inn fought back against a police raid. As LGBT people became increasingly visible, the debate over gay rights escalated.  

“Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.”

—from the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

Planned protests begin. In spring of 1965, LGBT activists hold protests in front of the White House and the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and at the United Nations in New York City.

Jack Nichols, Frank Kameny, and Lilli Vincenz picket the White House in Washington, DC, May 29, 1965. Courtesy of the Franklin Kameny Papers, Library of Congress

Jack Nichols, Frank Kameny, and Lilli Vincenz picket the White House in Washington, DC, May 29, 1965. Courtesy of the Franklin Kameny Papers, Library of Congress

Gay rights protest at the Pentagon, July 31, 1965. Courtesy of the Franklin Kameny Papers, Library of Congress

Gay rights protest at the Pentagon, July 31, 1965. Courtesy of the Franklin Kameny Papers, Library of Congress


Protest outside of Compton’s Cafeteria, July 18, 1966. Still from the documentary, “Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria,” 2005

Protest outside of Compton’s Cafeteria, July 18, 1966. Still from the documentary, “Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria,” 2005

Spontaneous protests break out, too. In April 1965 a group described by the press as “homosexuals and persons wearing non-conformist clothing”—many of them young people of color—begin a sit-in and five-day protest sparked by refusal of service at Dewey’s lunch counter in Philadelphia. In the summer of 1966, rebellion erupts at Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco when patrons retaliate against the frequent police harassment of drag queens at the direction of Compton's staff.

“It was risky and we were scared. Picketing was not a popular tactic at the time. And our cause seemed outlandish even to most gay people.”

—activist and organizer Barbara Gittings, recalling the protests of the 1960s