This Sunday I'd like to talk about Marty Robinson.

Just before Stonewall, Marty found LGB activism. He understood intrinsically that the old style of activism promoted by groups like Mattachine was falling far short of what was needed to move the ball forward. He... 1/16

... objected to Dick Leitsch's (Mattachine president) having put a straight woman, Madeleine Cervantes, in a position of authority at MattachineNY. Cervantes was given to stereotyping gays and lecturing them on how she expected them to "behave" and Marty wanted none of... 2/16

... her condescension.

The Stonewall riots happened and MattachineNY's Dick Leitch sought to defuse the militant's by creating an Action Committee so that he could control the militants (Marty, Michael Brown, Martha Shelley & others). It didn't work. Marty and those... 3/16

... militants used that platform to reach out into LGB community to explain that the time was ripe to create the next phase of radical militancy, the Gay Liberation Front. As GLF quickly assumed a place of prominence in the newly radicalized, gay rights movement, Marty... 4/16

... just as quickly became recognized as one of the smartest people in the new movement. Marty was a born leader and used his skills to push GLF to new heights. He lead GLFers into political activism that had never been seen before, LGB people confronting NYC... 5/16

... politicians on their own turf - publicly attended community meetings. This important step put NYC pols like the mayor & governor that LGB people were no longer going to play by straight rules. Marty's fingerprints were everywhere - from the gay press to LGB oriented... 6/16

... gatherings open to LGB people only, the first such for gay people that were not controlled by the Mafia. Marty was a strong supporter of women's spaces & lesbian only events.

As the summer of 1969 progressed into fall, GLF began it's unraveling. The extremists in... 7/16

... GLF had rendered consensus impossible to attain any longer. By October/November, most of the important leadership, including Marty, had left to form the Gay Activists Alliance and with that the age of GAA Zaps began, with confronting political leaders at the forefront. 8/16

On March 8, 1970, NYPD Inspector Seymour Pine, who had led the raid at the Stonewall Inn that became a riot the year before, led a raid at the Snake Pit after hours club, one of the few non-Mafia bars in NYC. Insp. Pine sought to eliminate the possibility of another riot... 9/16

... by not expelling the unarrested patrons onto the streets, this time taking the patrons to the 6th Precinct station house to the be released with summonses. One patron, an Argentinean named Diego Vinales, did not know that he was to be immediately released and fearing...10/16

... deportation, tried to flee the station, jumping from a window. He was impaled on an iron picket fence.

Word of the raid and serious injury to Vinales spread quickly through the gay community that Sunday morning. A meeting of GAA & GLF leaders was hastily assembled...11/16

... at Marty's apartment and leaflets were quickly drafted & mimeographed calling for a demonstration and march on the 6th Precinct. Hundreds of us assembled at Christopher Park, opposite the Stonewall (GAA, GLF, our group Hymn, and so many others) at 9:00 PM and marched...12/16

... on the 6th. The press, who had not covered Stonewall, knew that something major was underway and this time covered what was being done. Marty had created a new form of gay guerrilla action that forever changed the LGB movement. In mid-April, Marty & the GAA zapped... 13/16

... NYC Mayor Lindsay at an event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A week later, Marty & the GAA team zapped Lindsay again during a television program. By May, Marty & GAA had city & city officials on defense. Marty submitted the community's demands. The city was not... 14/16

... communicating with organizers of the Christopher Street Liberation Day Umbrella Committee who were preparing for the first Pride. Marty's brilliant organizing changed that and, as well, set the stage for future zaps and the template for groups like the AIDS... 15/16

Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and that changed LGB history.

The present day LGB community owes a great debt to those early LGB activists, particularly Marty Robinson, who spearheaded the modern gay rights movement. 16/16