overview

The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) was formed in December 1969 by Jim Owles, Marty Robinson, Arthur Evans, Arthur Bell, and others, who became disaffected by the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), the first LGBT group formed right after Stonewall. Focused exclusively on “the liberation of gay people,” GAA became the most influential American gay liberation activist organization in the early 1970s. While the pickets and actions by earlier homophile groups in the 1960s, like the Mattachine Society’s Sip-In at Julius’, had been peaceful, the post-Stonewall groups, including GAA, GLF, and Radicalesbians, were more confrontational.

The success of the Snake Pit protest on March 8, 1970, organized by GAA and GLF, inspired GAA’s most famous, effective, and imaginative tactic. This was the “zap,” a direct, surprise public confrontation with political figures and corporate and governmental entities regarding gay rights and discrimination, designed to gain gay and straight media attention. Morty Manford and Evans called it “a hybrid of media theatre and political demonstration.” Robinson is generally credited with being the driving force behind GAA’s zaps. These actions were highly focused, coordinated, and targeted, and put a spotlight on the various forms of discrimination suffered by the LGBT community. This model of political activism influenced later LGBT groups, such as ACT UP, with its media-savvy actions.

This curated theme features (in chronological order) 18 of GAA’s significant zaps and other actions during its first three years, among several dozen that the group conducted.

sources

“Marty Robinson,” in Kay Tobin (Lahusen), The Gay Crusaders (New York: PaperBack Library, 1972).

Marc Rubin, “GAA Must Be Restored to History,” Gay Today, July 1999, bit.ly/3hSnKSY.

Morty Manford and Arthur Evans, “The Theory and Practice of Confrontation Tactics, Part 3: How to Zap,” GAY, March 12, 1973, 17.

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