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Wagaman recording of 2nd Annual Gay Rights Speakers

Lisa Wagaman was a lesbian trans woman who gave over three decades of dedicated service to the LGBTQ community in St. Louis, starting around 1974. I had the privilege of being good friends with her in the 1970s, and worked with her in MCC, speaking engagements and later the Gay Academic Union. Lisa made reel-to-reel tapes of important meetings in earlier days. According to one story I have heard, it was Lisa Wagaman who made recordings of all the speakers at the 2nd Annual Gay Rights Rally held on June 9, 1977 at Metropolitan Community Church St. Louis at 5108 Waterman. This event was arguably one of the most pivotal moments in the history of the St. Louis LGBTQ community. Rodney Wilson has given the most complete analysis of the local 1970s events leading up to this event and subsequent to it in his 1994 article The Seed Time of Gay Rights, which describes and documents the history of MCC and its secular offspring MLSC (Mid-continent Life Services Center). Wilson had access to a copy of the Wagaman tapes as he wrote, and the article includes salient quotes from it in his account of that event. Indeed, the title of his article is taken from a line in the Jim Alexander remarks.

I was fortunate to acquire another copy of the Wagaman tapes in Dignity materials loaned me by John Hilgeman. I was intrigued that such a large window into the middle of the 1970s community in St. Louis existed. (We would have called it then the "gay" or the "gay and lesbian" community at that time, and we're still trying to figure out the proper nomenclature as I write this article.) After listening to the tape in amazement, I decided that I would digitize and transcribe these speakers' remarks and make them available on the internet. It is especially meaningful to me, because I knew these people and these times. But there is something here for everyone who would read and listen, and dramatic insights into these lives and times are possible.

In starkest, shortest terms the period 1970-1976 was a time of expansion and victory for the gay male and lesbian community of the times. That was the focus; time and experience was needed to later sort out and include the varieties of alternative sexual and gender identities. The fields of expansion of the era were public identification or coming out, recognition of gay groups and individuals on college campuses, religious groups such as Dignity and Integrity for gay men and lesbians, decriminalizing sodomy laws, getting medical professions to redefine gay men and lesbians as well, not sick, local bans on workplace and livingspace discrimination, gay voter registration, communicating our existence and our needs to our elected representatives, electing gay-friendly and even gay legislators, decreasing police harrassment, a growing vision of the good gay life, and for lesbians, the hope of 2nd wave feminism and the ERA movement. Marriage equality was not even thought of, and its mention frightened most activists.

Of course, many were unhappy or outraged by these social changes, but the systematic pushback against them only coalesced and became an organized competing expanding social field during the year 1977. In effect, they had found their unifying theme: they were uniformly frightened of, disgusted with, and determined to get rid of all people of alternative sexuality to heterosexuality. Accustomed to more than half a decade of hope and even partial victory, lesbians and gay men were shocked and unprepared for the flood of vitriol and lies that emerged from the lips and pen of Anita Bryant and her followers. If one can learn anything from history, then understanding how our community came together to fight back for our human rights during the year 1977 promises great dividends.

Here then are digital audio copies and English transcriptions of this entire event. Those people who spoke at the event were leaders of that time recognized by their own community. Troy Perry was a national leader, Larry Eggleston had regional recognition, especially in Missouri, and the rest were leaders in the St. Louis area. It should be noted that important segments of the LGBTQ community were not represented in these proceedings. Women who were lesbian separatists or 2nd wave feminists joined together with this coalition only later in the summer. Lisa Wagaman, a trans woman, though she considered herself as a a part of the gay movement, did not speak, but she did have the presence and foresight to record the proceedings. Queer people of color were present but did not speak. These and other histories remain to be written.

• Carol Cureton was one of the most charismatic and transforming women of our community, and as pastor of Metropolitan Community Church St. Louis, she literally provided access for hundreds of people to their salvation, seen from Christian eyes. In addition she became a foremost political leader in the community. She is the host of this rally and introduces every speaker. Prior to her introduction of Rev. Perry, later in the rally, she tells the story of her own coming out, and here you can appreciate her clear, crisp speech, her quick, delightful humor, and her disarming honesty.
• Larry Eggleston is a true founding member of gay rights in Missouri. He is the plaintiff in the 1971-78 Supreme Court case that granted the group, Gay Lib recognition by University of Missouri Columbia after seven years of court battle. He's funny and dedicated in this talk—he's representing the Missouri Gay Caucus here. Unfortunately, I simply have not been able to understand several comments of this talk, even after many multiple re-listenings. Please let me know of you can understand him where I have failed. He deserves better.
• A very young Rick Garcia and his friends took the town by storm as they formed the Task Force for Human Rights and raised hundreds of dollars for the Dade County Coalition through beer blasts and the film A Very Natural Thing. Now you can hear him talk about these accomplishments in his own voice. This is another of our leaders who has given his life in service of LGBTQ rights, including people of color, especially Latinos.
• Something fascinating about Jim Alexander's talk is his raw struggle with pride and his recognition that while for many, life in the bars of the time has provided real nurture and community, it should be possible to create community venues that are integrated with the whole of a person's life. His conclusion is inspiring. He is representing Dignity.
• Marvin Kabakoff is one of our leaders who gave steady and dedicated service to the community during the 1970s. He particularly gave vision and focus to the Midcontinent Life Services Center during the middle 1970s. Here he talks of several working aspects of the Center, as usual, focused on work, action and accomplishment.
• My admiration for Galen Moon is right up there with Harry Hay, and Moon's accomplishments are best understood in that context. Galen was a self-made man and leader because of his vision for our equality. He was the force behind the Midcontinent Life Services Center, the Hotline, and later for a brief time, The Gay Academic Union STL. In this talk he reads Anita Bryant's beads, and they aren't pretty.
• Yes, Rev. L. Troy is a founding father of LGBTQ rights in this country, even if in this talk he indiscriminantly canopys the group under "gay," even the women. He is exuberant, he is outrageous, he is deeply compassionate, he is creative, he is a path-lighter and way-shower. Here are 35 glorious break-neck speed minutes of him from 1977.

References

Wilson, Rodney C. "The Seed Time of Gay Rights: Rev. Carol Cureton, the Metropolitan Community Church and Gay St. Louis, 1969-1980." Gateway Heritage, Fall 1994, pp. 34-47.