Wisconsin Pride
Gay Peoples Union
Clip: Special | 2m 19sVideo has Closed Captions
Gay Peoples Union nurtured LGBTQ+ life in 1970s Milwaukee.
Two gay men, Alyn Hess and Eldon Murray, had the security to be out and used that power to lead Gay Peoples Union. GPU was in nearly every aspect of LGBTQ+ life through its advocacy, telephone hotline, health clinic and more. They garnered the first sympathetic press coverage and created their own media through The Gay Perspective weekly radio show and the nationally-regarded paper, GPU News.
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Wisconsin Pride is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Funding for Wisconsin Pride is provided by Park Bank, SC Johnson, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of the Capital Times, TruStage, the New Harvest Foundation,...
Wisconsin Pride
Gay Peoples Union
Clip: Special | 2m 19sVideo has Closed Captions
Two gay men, Alyn Hess and Eldon Murray, had the security to be out and used that power to lead Gay Peoples Union. GPU was in nearly every aspect of LGBTQ+ life through its advocacy, telephone hotline, health clinic and more. They garnered the first sympathetic press coverage and created their own media through The Gay Perspective weekly radio show and the nationally-regarded paper, GPU News.
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- Radio Host: Welcome once again to Gay Perspective, the radio voice of Gay People's Union.
We're going to be interviewing a young lady who happens to be a homosexual.
But first, let's have a little music.
♪ ♪ [cue ball strikes] - The nation's first LGBTQ+ radio program, Gay Perspective, hit the airwaves in 1971.
- Host: This program will discuss a gay perspective.
- Produced in Milwaukee by the activist organization Gay People's Union to serve a community finding its voice.
- Host: Today, throughout the country, homosexuals are clamoring for their rights.
- Michail Takach: Within 10 years of the Black Nite Brawl, Milwaukee had really come together as a community of LGBT people looking to not just find each other socially but to socially activate and organize.
One of the organizations that came out of this era was Gay People's Union.
- Gay People's Union was founded in 1971 by two openly gay men, Eldon Murray and Alyn Hess.
- Brice Smith: Being able to be openly gay, they were able to do so much work for the community and for the Gay Liberation Movement.
- Michail Takach: This was a time where people could be fired from their job just for being gay.
- Eldon Murray, who served in Korea, then worked as a stockbroker, was quoted, "My clients didn't care "as long as I made money for them.
"I could stand up and be openly gay when few people could."
- Standing alongside him was gay rights crusader Alyn Hess, a landscape architect turned social activist.
- Michail Takach: They established the first gay crisis hotline in Milwaukee.
They opened the first gay community center.
And they also fought with local newspapers about printing the names of people arrested for disorderly conduct and got them to end that policy, which was a lifesaver for many, many gay people.
- Dick Wagner: They were remarkable pioneers in the fight for gay rights.
- Michail Takach: They really changed Milwaukee for the better.
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Clip: Special | 5m 57s | Responding to the AIDS pandemic took political will and new social action led by ACT-UP. (5m 57s)
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Clip: Special | 2m 9s | Gay bars once were the only place you could be gay, and it was still risky. (2m 9s)
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Clip: Special | 4m 46s | Years before Stonewall, a Milwaukee bar’s patrons fought back against homophobic attacks. (4m 46s)
Gay Press and Leaping La Crosse News
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Clip: Special | 5m 27s | A diverse gay press united LGBTQ+ people. La Crosse had its own lesbian newsletter. (5m 27s)
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Clip: Special | 11m 6s | Wisconsin led the nation in enacting anti-discrimination laws for gays and lesbians. (11m 6s)
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Clip: Special | 5m 2s | The nation’s first out lesbian candidate for office ran to protest anti-LGB school policy. (5m 2s)
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Clip: Special | 4m 58s | A trans-pioneer from Wauwatosa, WI, Lou Sullivan helped others to live as themselves. (4m 58s)
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Clip: Special | 5m 25s | Milwaukee lesbian couple sought marriage equality in the Seventies. (5m 25s)
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Clip: Special | 2m 37s | The Madison Alliance for Homosexual Equality was Wisconsin’s first LGBTQ+ advocacy group. (2m 37s)
Preview: Special | 30s | Remarkable stories of fighting injustice define a pivotal LGBTQ+ era in Wisconsin. (30s)
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Wisconsin Pride is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Funding for Wisconsin Pride is provided by Park Bank, SC Johnson, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of the Capital Times, TruStage, the New Harvest Foundation,...