GLFF Speakers Bureau

Martha Shelley was the public spokesperson for NY Daughters of Bilitis from 1967-1969. Immediately after the Stonewall Riots she called for a protest march and helped organize it. One of the founders of Gay Liberation Front, she wrote for and typeset the GLF newspaper, Come Out!, and hawked it on the streets. She helped organize and participated in many other actions, including the occupation of NYU’s Weinstein Hall. From 1972-1974 she produced the world’s first lesbian radio show, Lesbian Nation, for WBAI-FM. In 1974 she moved to Oakland to work with the Women’s Press Collective. Her essays, poetry, and stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. She is the author of four books of poetry (Crossing the DMZ, Lovers and Mothers, Haggadah, and Released from the Wheel) and a trilogy about Jezebel, Queen of Israel and her lesbian physician. Her most recent work is available at EbisuPublications.com.

Mark Segal speaks on his personal involvement in the Stonewall Riots, The forming of Gay Liberation Front, LGBT Seniors and Inclusion and Diversity. You can Find his lifetime of Activism and contact information at:

marksegalstonewall.com

Coming to the Gay Liberation Front from NYU Student Homophile League, Ellen has a perspective on both the pre-Stonewall and pre-GLF movement for lesbian and gay liberation. She was a prime mover behind the first march to commemorate the Stonewall rebellion, a founding member of Radicalesbiansm and part of the initial collective that created, edited, and published Come Out, the GLF newspaper. During her time in GLF and Radicalesbians, Ellen participated in many significant actions and events, including picketing the Time-Life Building to protest Time's coverage of the LGBT community, the occupation of NYU's Weinstein dorm, the Lavender Menace Action at the Second Congress to Unite Women, and the events that occurred at the first all-women's dance. Ellen can also speak to the ways in which her involvement with GLF informed, motivated and directed her later political activism.

Author and activist Perry Brass has been a long-time speaker on lgbtq history, politics, relationships, writing, and literature. He conveys the joy, excitement, and sense of discovery that marked the founding years of the movement for lgbtq equality. He has spoken often on the early years of our movement, especially about the Gay Liberation Front, the Gay Activists Alliance, and other early groups.

As a founder in 1972 of the Gay Men's Health Project Clinic (later morphed into Callen-Lorde Community Services Center), he has been active in the struggle for gay men's health, from a time when this issue was extremely taboo in the US and the world and has spoken publicly often about this struggle. He lives in New York City, but can travel.

Flavia is an art historian who teaches Lesbian, Women’s and Queer Studies. She is a coordinator of the Lesbian Herstory Archives where she inaugurated the Lesbian Studies Institute and has taught a weekly class for nine years. Other Institute projects include exhibits, most recently, By the Force of Their Presence: Highlights From the Lesbian Herstory Archives for the New York Historical Society, Marathon Readings and Lesbian Art Auctions, events that have drawn hundreds of community members.

John Knoebel joined GLF soon after moving to NYC in 1969. Badly injured in a gay bashing, he still walked two days later in the first Christopher Street Liberation Day March with stitches on his forehead. As a member of GLF’s 95th St. Men’s Collective, he participated in many GLF protests including the occupation of NYU’s Weinstein Hall and the militant August 1970 Village Riot. He co-authored the first manual for gay men in consciousness-raising and met with Huey Newton as part of GLF’s outreach to the Black Panthers. Subsequently he was an editor of Double- F, a magazine for men committed to fighting against sexism.

Moving to California in 1978, he enjoyed a 33-year career with The Advocate, the national LGBT newsmagazine. There as Sr VP of marketing, he greatly increased the readership of The Advocate, launched several additional magazines for the company and played a major role in the purchase of its chief competitor, OUT magazine. After retiring in 2012, he helped launch Outspoken-LGBT.org, an important LGBT oral history project. He has recently written his memoir: “50 Years from Stonewall: A Gay American Life.”

Mark Horn joined GLF and Gay Youth in 1970. He was the second president/chair of Gay Youth from 1971-72. He was the co-founder of the LGBT group on his college campus in NYC and can speak about his experience leafleting and speaking at schools in the 1970s.

Ron Auerbacher's discovery of the New York Gay Liberation Front in 1970 was truly life altering. He had been committed at the age of 18 to two different mental hospitals for 3 years, partially due to his depression about his homosexuality. In GLF, he lived in 2 different collectives, where friendship, consciousness raising groups and working collaboratively helped him develop more self-esteem and understand the relationship between mental health and social systems.

He is on the Speakers Bureau for GSA middle and high school groups with the San Diego Unified School District. He also mentors disadvantaged students and has read aloud to children for 30 years to promote enthusiasm for reading.

In 1969, he visited Cuba with the first Venceremos Brigade. He lived in India for 5 years studying yoga & meditation. He has over 30-years of experience as a Mindfulness practitioner and teaches classes in NonViolent Communication©.