1971: Kameny for Congress

The Rainbow History Project
Preserving Our Community's Memories

KAMENY FOR CONGRESS

Lilli Vincenz, volunteer coordinator for the campaign, recalled the Kameny for Congress campaign in a message to Rainbow History:

"In 1971, when Washington became eligible for the first time for any kind of representation in Congress, Paul Kuntzler and Alan Hoffard came up with the idea of running Frank Kameny for DC non-voting delegate to Congress. They asked me to join them, and I thought it was a great move, and enthusiastically told my friend Tony Jackubosky about it. The two of us joined Alan and Paul in pushing Frank to become a DC non-voting delegate for Congress -- which he was initially reluctant to do. We knew the publicity for the Mattachine Society of Washington (MSW) would be priceless!
Of course we needed 5000 signatures to get Frank on the ballot, not a small challenge. Fortunately it was quickly solved by MSW members and the Gay Activists Alliance of New York and another group (who came down in buses) to help us canvas the DC area for signatures. We had a great human rights platform! The Personal Freedom Party was dedicated to "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness," and listed a number of desirable freedoms, protections, and promises, which almost no one could object to. We got 7,500 signatures and didn't need to be subjected to a recount because of this large number. We found a very nice, large space for our headquarters right next to the National Theater on Pennsylvania Avenue, and we had several events that drew crowds. Actors from "Hair," the acclaimed musical at the National Theater, came over and partied with us. My 16 mm documentaries were shown there: "Second-Largest Minority" (1968) and "Gay and Proud" (1970), the latter having just been completed to document the first anniversary of Stonewall in 1969).
We had a limousine, driving slowly from Pennsylvania Avenue through Georgetown, festooned with balloons, talking to the public by loudspeaker about the benefits of the Personal Freedom Party. MSW received tons of phone calls, many of whom were women wanting to meet other women. MSW gave them my unrestricted telephone number. My partner, Marcelle, and I were deluged with calls. We decided to open our home every Wednesday to provide a safe social setting and alternative to the unsavory bars for all gay and bisexual women and women who thought they might be gay. The Gay Women's Open House (GWOH) lasted till 1979." For more information about GWOH, click here.

IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF THE CAMPAIGN
In the end, Dr. Kameny finished fourth, ahead of James Harris, the socialist candidate and of Rev. Douglas Moore, a black nationalist candidate. The non-voting seat in Congress was won by veteran politician Walter Fauntroy.

"Anyway, we had an election on or about, I think it was the 25th or it was close to it of March 1971. I ran, with the exception of someone who had run for
the San Francisco Board of Supervisors a decade before, as
the first openly gay candidate for anything anywhere!"

Listen to Dr. Kameny

-Dr. Franklin E. Kameny,
in a February 2002 Talking History Chat

"He [Kameny] got 11% on Capitol Hill, precinct 89 … and the other was Foggy Bottom where he got 8%. In Dupont Circle we got 5%. So the biggest area was on Capitol Hill."

--Paul Kuntzler

**The Kameny Vote: Returns by Ward**
WARD	Votes for Kameny	Rank among six candidates in ward vote
1	174	fourth
2	325	fourth
3	588	fourth
4	156	fourth
5	106	fifth
6	325	fourth
7	105	fifth
8	62	fifth

The Gay Blade had chronicled the campaign from its beginnings. The April 1971 edition remarked on the thousands of local gay and lesbian voters who had not voted for Kameny as well as on his poor showing in the black community, without reflecting on the fact that the field of candidates was primarily African-American.

Kameny's campaign was a revolution in the gay community, bringing out hundreds of closeted gays to work in the campaign and asserting for all to see the potential power of an organized and politically savvy gay and lesbian community. In the following year, several candidates for the newly elected city school board went out of their way to court gay and lesbian voters.
Although many in the gay community already perceived themselves as a 'community', it was the Kameny campaign itself that took that awareness to the general public and media. Paul Kuntzler reflected in 2001 that

"I realized later that it was helping us develop the environment for the progress that we would make. But I didn't realize at the time what was happening then was going to lay the foundation for this great social change that was going to impact the straight people. And it was happening ... "

Two immediate effects of the campaign within Washington, DC's gay and lesbian community were

the creation of the Gay Women's Open House, the first regularly scheduled non-bar social event for area lesbians, organized by Mattachine member Lilli Vincenz even before the campaign had ended, and

the creation of a new gay activist organization, the Gay Activists Alliance of Washington, DC on April 20, 1971, exactly four weeks after the election (to this day, GLAA - as GAA was renamed in 1986 - meets on Tuesdays).

The campaign's media attention gave closeted gay men and lesbians a new contact, the Mattachine phone number and those of the campaign committee, for information and support. In a way that Mattachine had never seen previously, the post-Stonewall climate and the Kameny campaign drew people out of the closet, creating a new grassroots population looking for activities and support. Lilli Vincenz, a prominent member of Mattachine and the Kameny campaign, recalled in a 1973 radio interview that she created the Gay Women's Open House in response to these many calls.
Similarly, the local activist community's contacts and experience of support from New York City's Gay Activists Alliance led Kuntzler, Martin, and others from the campaign to investigate the possibility of creating a similar organization in Washington, DC. Following the March 23rd election, members of the campaign committee went to New York City and Fire Island for discussions with New York GAA. Four weeks after the election, the Gay Activists Alliance of Washington, DC announced its existence.

CAMPAIGN DOCUMENT RESOURCES
Courtesy of Paul Kuntzler

Speech to the Southeast Neighbors Association on urban minorities, March 17, 1971.
Press release on the draft and the war in Southeast Asia, March 19, 1971.

Courtesy of Lilli Vincenz

Campaign announcement, February 3, 1971
Flyer calling for help with the petition signature drive, February 13, 1971
Petition campaign guide/rules, February 1971
Petition filing press release, February 22, 1971
Fundraising letter, February/March 1971
Campaign flyer 1, March 1971
Campaign flyer 2, March 1971
Kameny platform 1, March 1971
Kameny platform 2, March 1971
Kameny poster
Kameny campaign volunteers
Consumer Protection speech, March 2, 1971
Civil Service Commission press release, March 9, 1971
Education speech, March 10, 1971
Metropolitan Police Department speech, March 16, 1971 (delivered outside MPD because the Chief refused to meet with Kameny)

OTHER SOURCES ON THE CAMPAIGN:

Clendenning, Dudley and Adam Nagourney, Out for Good, NY: 1999, pp. 110 - 124.
Johnson, David, Franklin E. Kameny, in Before Stonewall, ed. Vern L. Bullough, NY: 2002, pp. 215 - 216.
Tobin, Kay and Randy Wicker, The Gay Crusaders, NY: 1972, pp. 127 - 130

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