May 29: “Gay Is Good”

On this date in 1965, East Coast Homophile Organizations, or ECHO, set up picket lines in Washington, DC in front of the Civil Service building, the State Department, the Pentagon, and the White House. Their demands focused on employment discrimination against gay people. ECHO was founded by Frank Kameny with representatives from the Mattachine Society, the Janus Society, and the Daughters of Bilitis. While the tenor of ECHO’s protest was sedate compared to the fury of post-Stonewall (1969) LGBTQ activism, ECHO did mark the emergence of so-called “homophile” organizations from secrecy and from the highly repressive 1950s. Kameny, born in 1925, co-founded the Mattachine Society of Washington DC and sued all the way to the Supreme Court after he was dismissed as an astronomer by the Army Map Service for being gay. He is a highly honored activist who brought a new level of militancy to the gay movement. Last year, 17th Street between P and R streets, N.W. in D.C. was named “Frank Kameny Way.”

“Gay is good.” —Frank Kameny