The North American Conference of Homophile Organizations was held in San Francisco in late August 1970. The meeting was attended by all of the major gay movements in the area, and in an already tense environment, the event demonstrated the contradictory goals and methods of the “Gay Establishment” and the new radical Gay Liberation movements.
The event erupted in conflict because of already existing tensions between the two strains of organizations. The ongoing strike at Macy’s, led by GayLib groups, was promised support from SIR and the Tavern Guild, but they failed to mobilize.
The conference had a forty-five dollar voting fee, which angered the various GayLib groups, because it meant that the majority of their members couldn’t vote. They demanded voting rights for everyone in attendance. The conference, in the eyes of the gay liberationists, the event represented the interests of the Gay establishment, in their words,
It was Gay Pig Nation. White, racist, rich, and male chauvinist. (1)
A coalition from the Women’s Gay Liberation movement lambasted the conference and called for radical change, including a resolution supporting Women’s Liberation and the Black Panther Party.
All hell broke loose when Women’s Gay-Lib blasted NACHO for being a “do nothing” convention of “polite reformists.” “You cannot ask for your rights, you have to take them,” charged Cherie Matise of LosAngeles GayLib, who proudly said she was “left, radical, and gay.” (2)
That month, Huey P. Newton, upon release from prison, wrote an open letter to the Black Panther Party in support of the Gay Liberation and the Women’s Rights Movement, a meaningful act of solidarity and a call to action.
However, the leaders of the NACHO Conference, passed a resolution in support of Women’s Liberation, but erased all mention of the Black Panther Party, angering the Gay Lib groups.