Gay is angry
Today’s archive spelunking led me down a rabbit hole trying to learn more about the “Gay Revolution Networker” mentioned in this poster from 1971 (full size). The “Gay is Angry” poster is from the Library of Congress’s Yanker Poster Collection, but the LOC provides no further information on the GRN.
Some research by Langdon Manor Books into a flyer in their catalog suggests that the Gay Revolution Networker was a New York City-based gay collective, which held meetings at locations including the Washington Square Church and the Come!Unity Press, a gay anarchist collective and print shop in New York City that I want to learn more about.
This flyer — itself a fascinating piece, described by Langdon as “a gorgeous enigma” — advertises a meeting for the GRN, but also includes on the opposite side an essay by a person named Velvet, which denounces the Gay Activist’s Alliance as sexist and complacent, and notes “the part about sexism goes for GRN too”.
while fighting a superficial battle against anti-gay discrimination, they affirm---through a convenient ignorance or complacency---their own discriminatory, unwritten policies against poor people, transvestites, and anyone defying the stereo-type role-playing which has become a trademark of the gay activists alliance. it is significant and tragic that the people who supervise things at the firehouse do a commendable job at examining the sexism of the straight community while refusing to examine or even acknowledge their own sexism. such has been the latest development in the straight-identified gay civil rights movement. naturally, gaa rejects the whole concept of a sexual revolution whereby those who have at least attempted to develop their own consciousness about sexism will be the new guiding force for gays coming out, the young people who must no longer be faced with the closety rhetoric of an organization that represents a dying consensus---the one that says its OK to be a superficial faggot as long as you polish, with diligent secrecy, your lambda button.......... the course of the gay movement is taking on a new sense of liberation these days. at last, there are people who are willing to recognize the whole spectrum of internal and external oppression, sexism from within and without, from you and me---and at last, we shall attempt radical change (revolution) within ourselves, perhaps the most challenging and important revolutionary action of our lives.---Velvet.
I wonder what else can be found about Velvet.
The front side of the flyer makes reference to the “GRN Tearoom”, quoting graffiti by John:
When the Church does the
work of commerce,
And Business does the
work of government,
And government does the
work of criminals,
Then - it is time for criminals
to do the work of the church.