The Gay Mayday poster, based on 19th century pictures of May Day celebrations, labels the maypole ribbons with slogans that connect with issues and values of gay liberation and the radical left.  Across the top of the poster is Why Don't We Do It In the Road, the title of a Beatles' song from the White Album (1968) that was emblematic of sexual liberation and the in-your-face sexuality of out gay men.  Fully half of the poster slogans contain gay themes such as "Gay Sisterhood is Powerful," "Mayday is Gayday," and "Gay Action."  The slogan "No Revolution Without Us" encapsulates in a phrase many gay activists' quest for inclusion in the panoply of left wing causes.  "Abolition of Privilege", "Struggle with Sexism", and "Land for the People" echo economic and social goals of the new left.

Gay Mayday, the gay liberation component of the Mayday protest, was expected to help cement gay liberation's position within the  new left liberation movements.  It didn't.

Gay Mayday actually became the point at which many gay liberation activists began to turn away from the straight new left and to concentrate on building their own gay and lesbian communities.  By the time of Gay Mayday, many lesbians were already opting for separatism as they confronted patriarchal attitudes within the gay liberation groups.  At Gay Mayday and Mayday, there were separate women's and lesbian affinity groups (see Perry Brass's account of the discussion in the Peace Park).  The Gay Liberation Front by the time of Mayday was largely gay male.

As filmmaker and producer (Before Stonewall, After Stonewall, Dangerous Living) John Scagliotti remarked (phone interview)

"[MayDay] showed us we needed to separate.  It created a whole new attitude... gay men were beginning to understand what gayness was all about.  Liberation politics gave way to community building, to the idea 'let's create our own space'."

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