San Francisco Chapter of Daughters of Bilitis Reports on CRH and California Hall Incident
Dublin Core
Title
San Francisco Chapter of Daughters of Bilitis Reports on CRH and California Hall Incident
Description
Daughters of Bilitis San Francisco Chapter Newsletter, January 1965.
Source
Repository: GLBT Historical Society
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
February 1965
After the ball was over...
By now I am sure everyone has heard about the famous Mardi Gras Ball held in San Francisco Jan. 1 and sponsored by six homophile organizations (DOB included) to raise funds for the Council on Religion and the Homosexual.
As a result of police harassment of the ball (by the police's own count there were 55 officers present) there have been many publicity breakthroughs in San Francisco. The "conspiracy of silence" of the news media has suffered a fatal crack.
The Council held a press conference the day following the ball which received coverage on KRON-TV and in the S.F. Chronicle and the S.F. Examiner. Subsequently the American Civil Liberties Union called and volunteered to defend the six people arrested (three attorneys and one housewife for "interfering with officers in the performance of their duty" and two men for so-called disorderly conduct). The ACLU also held a press conference which was duly reported in the papers and on TV.
Mayor John R. Shelley announced he had not yet studied the police reports so he could not comment. Apparently he still hasn't seen the reports because he has made no comment.
For two half-hour program the Dick Stewart show on KGO-TV featured the Rt. Rev. Canon Robert W. Cromey, vicar of St. Aiden's Episcopal Church, and Don Lucas, executive secretary of the Mattachine Society, in a lively discussion of the reasons for the Council on Religion and the Homosexual. Guy Strait, the editor of Citizens News, was interviewed on "Spectrum 74" on KCBS radio. The attorneys who were arrested (Evander Smith, Herb Donaldson and Elliott Leighton) appeared on KAFE-FM and that tape was replayed by BBC throughout the British Commonwealth.
Board members of the Council taped a 90 minute program about the Council which will be aired on KPFA-FM about Jan 27 or 28. Call the station and/or watch your papers for the date.
The Rev. John Moore, pastor of Glide Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco has given a series of three sermons on sex. The one on Jan. 17 entitled "Church, Community, and Homosexuality" filled the church and received coverage in all three S.F. papers.
A series of 3 broadcasts about the Council is scheduled for airing in the near future on KXKX-FM. Further, the long-awaited KRON-TV special on homosexuality is now announced for early in Feb.—watch your papers!
Part of the problem homophile organizations have had in getting their message to the public has been the reluctance or refusal of mass media to tough the subject. This barrier has been broken. Although the ball was not the financial success it was hoped it would be, it has done more to bring the homosexual's plight to the attention of the public than anything else. Letters to the editors of all three S.F. papers were overwhelmingly against the police tactics. Comments from foreign newsmen and newspapers have been all against the police.
Although S.F. papers have not seen fit to comment editorially on the ball and the ensuing actions other papers in the U.S. have, and all favorably to the homosexual position. It would seem that the homophile organizations in San Francisco have been in at the birth of a new era which can only result in a final determination that U.S. citizenship is for all whether homosexual or heterosexual, black or white, male or female. DOB member should be proud to be a part of the beginning of this new determination.
Phyllis Leon
Public Relations Director, DOB
After the ball was over...
By now I am sure everyone has heard about the famous Mardi Gras Ball held in San Francisco Jan. 1 and sponsored by six homophile organizations (DOB included) to raise funds for the Council on Religion and the Homosexual.
As a result of police harassment of the ball (by the police's own count there were 55 officers present) there have been many publicity breakthroughs in San Francisco. The "conspiracy of silence" of the news media has suffered a fatal crack.
The Council held a press conference the day following the ball which received coverage on KRON-TV and in the S.F. Chronicle and the S.F. Examiner. Subsequently the American Civil Liberties Union called and volunteered to defend the six people arrested (three attorneys and one housewife for "interfering with officers in the performance of their duty" and two men for so-called disorderly conduct). The ACLU also held a press conference which was duly reported in the papers and on TV.
Mayor John R. Shelley announced he had not yet studied the police reports so he could not comment. Apparently he still hasn't seen the reports because he has made no comment.
For two half-hour program the Dick Stewart show on KGO-TV featured the Rt. Rev. Canon Robert W. Cromey, vicar of St. Aiden's Episcopal Church, and Don Lucas, executive secretary of the Mattachine Society, in a lively discussion of the reasons for the Council on Religion and the Homosexual. Guy Strait, the editor of Citizens News, was interviewed on "Spectrum 74" on KCBS radio. The attorneys who were arrested (Evander Smith, Herb Donaldson and Elliott Leighton) appeared on KAFE-FM and that tape was replayed by BBC throughout the British Commonwealth.
Board members of the Council taped a 90 minute program about the Council which will be aired on KPFA-FM about Jan 27 or 28. Call the station and/or watch your papers for the date.
The Rev. John Moore, pastor of Glide Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco has given a series of three sermons on sex. The one on Jan. 17 entitled "Church, Community, and Homosexuality" filled the church and received coverage in all three S.F. papers.
A series of 3 broadcasts about the Council is scheduled for airing in the near future on KXKX-FM. Further, the long-awaited KRON-TV special on homosexuality is now announced for early in Feb.—watch your papers!
Part of the problem homophile organizations have had in getting their message to the public has been the reluctance or refusal of mass media to tough the subject. This barrier has been broken. Although the ball was not the financial success it was hoped it would be, it has done more to bring the homosexual's plight to the attention of the public than anything else. Letters to the editors of all three S.F. papers were overwhelmingly against the police tactics. Comments from foreign newsmen and newspapers have been all against the police.
Although S.F. papers have not seen fit to comment editorially on the ball and the ensuing actions other papers in the U.S. have, and all favorably to the homosexual position. It would seem that the homophile organizations in San Francisco have been in at the birth of a new era which can only result in a final determination that U.S. citizenship is for all whether homosexual or heterosexual, black or white, male or female. DOB member should be proud to be a part of the beginning of this new determination.
Phyllis Leon
Public Relations Director, DOB
Citation
“San Francisco Chapter of Daughters of Bilitis Reports on CRH and California Hall Incident”, The Council on Religion and the Homosexual, LGBTQ Religious Archives Network, accessed May 18, 2024, https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/exhibits/show/crh/item/1790.