1969

Before the Stonewall riots, Gay Youth of New York is founded to combat the oppression of gay youth. Their slogan is “Youth Organized, Youth Run.” Over the next decade, the organization evolves into Gay and Lesbian Youth of New York (GLYNY). In 1992 GLYNY changes its name to Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Youth of New York (BiGLYNY), and later BiGLTYNY. It is currently the oldest independent, ongoing gay organization in New York City.

1969

Boston University Homophile Committee is established as the first university-recognized student homophile organization in Boston on December 4, 1969. Campus newsletter The Logos of Jan. 26, 1970 claims to have published the first article ever printed on homosexuals and homophile groups in Boston. The News Advocate and Logos issue of February 11 publishes article entitled "Homosexuals at Boston University." Steve Russo is first coordinator.

1969

The area-wide Student Homophile League (SHL) has its first meeting at MIT after a student placed an announcement in the MIT newspaper, The Tech. The group forms to coordinate activities of student homophile organizations, to encourage other student homophile organizations, and to provide a place where members and non-members could meet and socialize outside of a bar setting. SHL News provides information about activities and events, legal and political issues, and VD testing. The group ended in 1972.

1969

Growing American Youth (GAY) is founded in Los Angeles making it the first youth group in the country.

1970

First Liberation dance is held by the Student Homophile League (SHL) at the Free University at Harvard in Lawrence Hall, an abandoned Harvard building scheduled for demolition. The dance is attended by 400-500 people. Later the building burned down forcing SHL to seek a new venue for their second dance.

1970

MIT Student Homophile League becomes the third Boston area student homophile organization. It is established in May by Stan Tillotson, Irv Englander and others.

1970

Harvard Gay Student Association (HGSA) is formed. Harry Phillips, John Boswell, author of Homosexuality and Christianity, and others are founding members.

1970

Beacon Hill News of June 1970 publishes editors column against dances at the Charles St. Meetinghouse. The editor, who said "I don't like gay dances," threatens to publish photos he took at the dance.

1970

First gay Pride in Boston features seminars and a "gay-in" at the weekly rock concert on Cambridge Common. Flyers with the slogan "Love Is All You Need" are handed out by the Homophile Coordinating Council a collaboration of Daughters of Bilitis, Student Homophile League, Homophile Union of Boston, Council on Religion and the Homosexual, and Gay Liberation Front. A speech by Huey Newton, the Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party, on working with lesbians and gay men is also handed out.

1970

Representatives from HUB, SHL, and Harvard's homophile group speak at Brandeis University.

1970

Gay Liberation Front (GLF) forms out of Student Homophile League Political Action Committee to take part in the April Moratorium against the war in Vietnam on the Boston Common. GLF sees itself as more politically militant and to the left of HUB and criticizes the position that the primary focus of gay groups should be the reform of laws affecting homosexuals.

1970

Lesbians withdraw from the GLF and form Gay Women's Liberation, charging that GLF meetings are male-dominated. GLF collapses, folds back into SHL and the men that remain in the group form Gay Men's Liberation (GML).

1971

Politically active students from Northeastern University open a weekly drop-in clinic. The clinic is located within the Boston Center for Older Americans, in the Fenway neighborhood. The vision for the clinic is to provide health care for all and not to turn anyone away without services. The clinic serves gays, the elderly, students and poor people. It later becomes the Fenway Community Health Center.

1971

First official Gay Pride march in Boston is held. Reverend Magora Kennedy, an African American woman, presents demands at four institutions symbolic of lesbian and gay oppression: Jacques bar in Bay Village; the Boston Police headquarters; the State House; and Saint Paul's Cathedral. Elaine Noble gives speech on the steps of the State House followed by a poetry reading, a “book dumping” of anti-homosexual writing, and a “closet smashing” ceremony at the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common. Over two hundred people march through the streets of downtown Boston and attend a dance that night at the Charles St. Meetinghouse.

1972

Time magazine publishes the cover story, “Sex and the Teenager.” In it experts state that the new sexual freedom enjoyed by teenagers will lead to a decrease in homosexuality, "because there are fewer sexual taboos today, the teenager is more likely to find the heterosexual pathway."

1972

High School Gays United forms in Boston to bring together "all Homosexual high school students, and gay people under 18 years of age, female and male." The group forms to give "homosexuals under the age of 18 a way to socialize with people their own ages, ... and most of all to give them the security they need and the assurance that there ARE others like themselves who are fighting the same battles."

1972

University of Massachusetts Boston (Park Square campus) Gay People's Group forms out of the student drop-in center, Center for Alternatives. The group is founded by James Arsenault and co-founder Fernando Miranda.

1974

The Tufts University gay group is officially recognized by the University.

1974

The Youth Advocacy Commission of Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime-Juvenile grants the Charles St. Meetinghouse $52,371 for a Gay Youth Advocacy program. The program, is the first government funded program in the nation directed at youth who are gay or questioning their sexual identity. It is also the first proposal for gay youth ever received by the Commission. The program, focused on diverting street crime by providing support to underage runaways and street hustlers, will provide advocates for gay youth, refer them to basic services, and provide a place for all gay youth to socialize.

1975

Gay youth meet and socialize at the Charles St. Meetinghouse Coffee House and the Sword and Stone Coffee House on Charles St. The Charles St. Late at night, Ken's Restaurant is a favorite place for youth to go.

1975

Larry Anderson, black transsexual and member of Boston's first gay and lesbian youth group, Project Lambda, appears on the cover of the Spring issue of Fag Rag.

1975

The Advocate publishes an article about Boston's proposed Gay Youth Advocacy Program (Project Lambda).

1975

The Homophile Community Health Service starts a support group for parents and relatives of gay people.

1975

Northeastern University students vote to form the Gay Student Organization (GSO). They launch a petition drive to get official recognition as a student activity and start a gay student center. The GSO drafts a proposal for the training of dormitory resident assistants to deal with gay issues.

1975

The Harvard-Radcliffe Gay Students Association holds its first gay film festival. Members of the Association exonerate Harvard administration of charges of instituting anti-gay police practices at the Lamont Library men’s room.

1975

Emerson College Homophile Society funding is cut.

1975

Project Lambda (Boston's Gay Youth Advocacy Center), is established in Boston to assist gay and lesbian youth to advocate for services. Funded by a grant from the City of Boston's Youth Activities Commission, the group meets at the Charles Street Unitarian Universalist Church. Young adult staff includes Larry Anderson, Stephanie Byrd, Brian Goodrich, Linda Graham, Ian Johnson, Lynn Rosen, and Ted Sanger. The group ends in 1976 after losing funding from the City.

1976

The Northeastern University GSO charges the campus ROTC program wih anti-gay discrimination.

1976

The Gay Academic Union Conference is held at Northeastern University in April, 1976.

1977

Bridge Over Troubled Waters is the only city agency to provide services to gay youth. They work with issues of housing, medical and dental, suicide prevention, prosititution, and addiction for youth who were often homeless because they are gay.

1977

Four gay youth file a formal complaint against police officers for brutality. The youths claim the beating occurred after they attempted to stop the beating of another gay man by the undercover police officers.

1977

The Committee for Gay Youth (CGY) is founded to revive Project Lambda as a "watchdog for the needs of the often neglected Boston gay youth," and to provide a place for gay youth and young adults to meet as an alternative to bars. The group meets at the Arlington St. Church. George Smith is appointed as the youth liaison to the adult-run group.

1977

A group for lesbian teenagers meets at Janus Counseling to discuss “personal growth and support.”

1977

Local lesbian bar Somewhere, owned by Ann Maguire, sponsors a series of spaghetti dinners to raise $1500 to benefit Project Lamda.

1978

Boston Area Gay and Lesbian Schoolworkers (BAGALS) is formed to provide support to LGBT schoolworkers, promote positive images in curricula, and support lesbian and gay students and parents.

1978

Growing Up Gay is published by Youth Liberation Press in Ann Arbor Michigan. The publication includes an article entitled, "Lack of Support from Adult Gays Makes Life Difficult in Boston." Interviews with Project Lambda members are featured. The youth interviewed criticize Boston's adult gay community's focus on issues such as Anita Bryant and Susan Saxe, and their lack of support for local gay youth.

1978

The Boston Committee for Gay Youth (CGY) speaks out against maximum security facilities for violent youth fearing that the abuses gay adolescents face will be intensified.

1978

Joseph Miller, of the Committee for Gay Youth (CGY), testifies before the Massachusetts legislature’s Subcommittee on Children in Need of Services about gay runaways.

1978

MIT President Wynne asserts that discrimination against gays and lesbians will not to be tolerated in the University although he refuses to sign any formal statement granting protection to gays and lesbians on the grounds that other groups would ask for inclusion in the same statement.

1978

Massachusetts Department of Social Services surveys regional offices about the number of gay youth and adolescents handled by each office to determine the need to place gay identified youth.

1978

Massachusetts Teachers Association vote at their annual meeting against a resolution that condemned the “heinous crime of using children for sex and profit.” Substitute motion condemned “all forms of exploitation of children for profit to the detriment of the children involved.”

1978

First meeting of Boston Area Lesbian and Gay Teachers (now GLSEN) is held on May 9 at the offices of Dignity in Boston.

1979

Bar owner, Gary Dotterman holds Boston's first Gay Prom in response to a Rhode Island teenager's unsuccessful attempt to take a male date to his prom. The event, held at The Bar at 252 Tremont St. is a fund raiser for the Committee for Gay Youth.

1979

CGY leaves Arlinton St. Church and begins to meet at the office of GAMIT, the MIT gay student group. Encouraged by Robin McCormack, manager of Buddies bar, CGY members hold an auction sponsored by gay business and friends that raises $1,300. Taking the money, the youth leave CGY to form their own 22 and under youth-led group.

1979

Rhode Island high school student, Paul Guilbert, is barred from attending his junior prom with his male date.

1979

Gay Community News invites CGY youth to write a regular column. "Youth Space" becomes a place for youth to discuss issues. One issue discussed is a debate with NAMBLA about intergenerational sex.

1979

The Committee for Gay Youth (CGY) attends the March on Washington and marches in Boston’s Gay and Lesbian Pride celebration.

1979

Gay youth advocate, Father Shanley is dismissed by Cardinal Medeiros as Minister to Alienated Youth because of letters of complaint about Shanley’s educational tape, “Homosexuality: It’s Debatable.”

1979

Boston University law students organize a gay student group.

1979

1270 bar creates a seven nite-a-week, non-alcoholic disco on the 2d floor after Massachusetts legislature raises drinking age to 20.

1980

Gay activist Eric E. Rofes is appointed to the Massachusetts Dept. of Social Services Citizens Board. As an openly gay teacher, Rofes hoped his appointment would initiate the acknowledgement of the needs of gay and lesbian youth.

1980

After disputes with the adult leadership of the Committee for Gay Youth (CGY), the youths leave to form the Boston Area Gay and Lesbian Youth (BAGLY). It is the first youth run organization in Boston. Its office at 128a Tremont St. is funded by youth sponsored fundraisers. BAGLY continues today as the second oldest continuously running youth organization in the country.

1980

BAGLY secures an office on Tremont St. and raises money to support the group through auctions, carnivals, and bake sales. Somewhere (lesbian bar) helps with fundraising and Chaps occasionally donates the evenings door. Having difficulty raising money from the adult gay population, BAGLY files papers to do business as "Boston Youth Alliance."

1980

BAGLY launches GLBT youth speakers bureau. Their early speaking engagements include local television and radio programs, area community organizations, and Boston Pride day. The first semiannual parents, family and friends night draws over 80 youths and their families and friends. In 1980 the speakers bureau is asked to speak in Massachusetts public schools.

1980

The Massachusetts Committee for Children and Youth (MCCY) begin Project Aware to train professionals to work with gay youth. A study identifies the highest rates of youth suicide are among gay youth. At an MCCY sponsored forum, a panel on “Gay Youth” discusses their needs and the lack of services.

1980

Rhode Island high school senior, Aaron Fricke, is denied permission to attend his prom with Paul Guilbert, the student who was denied permission by the same high school the previous year. Fricke sued and won the right for them to attend. In 1981 he publishes, Reflections of a Rock Lobster: A Story About Growing Up Gay.

1980

Boston's gay youth become regulars at the Exeter St. Theater's late night showings of Rock Horror Picture show. The showing of the cult classic provides a place for kids to dress up, be outrageous, and be appreciated for it.

1981

The City of Boston refuses to grant a permit for the annual Pride day march. BAGLY joins GLBT activists in successfully fighting City Hall.

1981

The nation's first prom by and for GLBT youth is sponsored by BAGLY. More than 100 youth attend.

1982

WGBH-TV airs groundbreaking public television documentary focusing on BAGLY and GLBT youth. Art Cohen is director, producer, and writer of this program.

1982

BAGLY moves from their Tremont St. office after a year, and begins to meet at St. John the Evangelist Church on Bowdoin St.

1983

The Harvard-Radcliffe Gay and Lesbian Students Association calls for an end to on-campus recruiting by the Navy at Harvard. A Dept. of Defense representative meets with faculty to discuss government policies regarding lesbians and gay men in the military.

1983

Early educational efforts on HIV/AIDS and safer sex for GLBT youth was initiated by BAGLY. In 1989 they establish a national toll-free voicemain number providing HIV/AIDS and other information to youth.

1983

After lobbying by the Babson Gay and Lesbian Alliance (BGLA) Babson College adopts a non-discrimination statement pertaining to sexual orientation. Northeastern University also agrees to include sexual orientation in the University's non-discrimination statement. Boston University ratifies union's contract without a non-discrimination clause.

1983

Boston Intercollegiate Lesbian and Gay Alliance (BILGA) is formed as an umbrella organization for college glbt student groups.

1984

The first meeting of the Gay and Lesbian Liberated Youth of the North Shore (GALLYNS) is held on Sept. 20. The youth-run rap, support, educational, and social group is designed for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and undecided youth who are twenty-two or under.

1984

Project 10, the nation's first school based support program, was founded in Los Angeles as a safe place for gay and lesbian students in the school district.

1985

BAGLY (Boston Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Youth) and GALLYNS (Gay and Lesbian Liberated Youth of the North Shore) collaborate on a survey of LGBT youth. Results of the survey are published in a feature article in the July 20 issue of GCN.

1986

The paper,“Gay and Lesbian Youth Suicide” is presented by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, D.C. The report is shelved by the Reagan Administration, but eventually released to the public in 1989 as a chapter in a report on youth suicide.

1987

High School students at Brookline High School write a Gay Rights Amendement for their school handbook that is approved by the school committee. It states, “it is now illegal for anyone (student, teacher, administrator) to be discriminated against on the basis of sexual preference…”

1987

Virginia Uribe, founder of Project 10 in Los Angeles, speaks at Harvard University in a co-sponsored event with BAGLY. Representatives from Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in Cambridge go on to found Project 10 East.

1988

SWAGLY is formed in Worcester with support from BAGLY.

1988

Project 10 East is founded at Cambridge Ringe and Latin High School as a the first public school based support group for gay and lesbian students in Massachusetts.

1989

The Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center launches a youth program, Youth Enrichment Services (YES), a creative arts based substance and alcohol abuse prevention and intervention program. A theater component, Alternate Visions Theater Group is founded by one of its directors.

1989

The Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights (CLGCR) files legislation for a gay student bill of rights. The Legislation is refiled for the 1991 legislative session. The bill passes the Massachusetts House in December, 1991 but dies in the State Senate.

1990

GLSEN/Boston is founded by a small group of gay and lesbian teachers to support each other as they deal with their own fear and isolation and that of the students they teach.

1990

Over 250 youth and alumni attend BAGLY's 10th anniversary party and alumni reunion.

1991

BAGLY is chosen as the state's first GLBT youth-specific site to participate in Project Teen Health, the pioneering peer leadership HIV/AIDS and safer sex education program. It is also a founding member of Healthy Boston Coalition for GLBT youth.

1991

Sidney Borum clinic is established by Justice Resource Institute as the first clinic in Boston devoted primarily to the health issues of LGBT youth.

1992

Healthy Boston Coalition for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and transgender Youth is founded to provide medical services to gay youth.

1992

BiGLYNY in New York and YES begin publication of OutYouth Newsmagazine. It is distributed across the US and to gay groups abroad.

1992

The first Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth in the country is founded in Massachusetts to address issues such as gay and lesbian youth suicide, high school drop outs, homelessness and drug use. Youths testify at the first ever public hearings on GLBT youth.

1993

Troix Bettencourt, youth President of BAGLY, speaks at the 3rd national March on Washington.

1993

Collaboration between Boston Children's Services (Home for Little Wanderers) and BAGLY establishes tobacco education program for GLBT youth (TEGLY). The following year they collaborate on the HIV/AIDS prevention peer leadership program Healthy, Strong and Proud.

1993

Massachusetts passes the first legislation in the country banning discrimination against gay and lesbian students in public high schools. The Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Student Rights Law also ensures the same support to high school gay/straight alliances that is provided to other student groups or clubs. Passage of the law is due to the consolidated efforts of students across Massachusetts.

1993

The State Board of Education votes to adopt the Governor’s Commission recommendations to train teachers and staff in anti-gay violence and suicide prevention, to create gay/straight alliances, and school-based counseling for family members of gay and lesbian students.

1993

Youth leadership of BAGLY votes to establish a youth/adult board of directors to help transition the organization from a volunteer grassroots group to a more formally structured non-profit organization.

1993

The National Youth Advocacy Coalition is founded.

1994

Boston GLASS (Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services) is founded. It begins meeting in the basement of the Sidney Borum Clinic. The following year, it moves to 93 Massachusetts where it continues to meet.

1994

The Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth releases the report “Prevention of Health Problems Among Gay and Lesbian Youth: Making Health and Human Services Accessible and Effective for Gay and Lesbian Youth."

1995

First state funding is awarded to BAGLY to support its programming and to serve as lead agency for funding support to the GLBT youth group network of Massashusetts.

1995

Shades of Color, a peer education HIV/AIDS group for young men of color, starts at Boston GLASS.

1995

Boston GLASS wins Best Performance award at the first Youth Pride March. A Men's Group and Women's group is added to their regular programming.

1995

Boston’s first Gay/Straight Youth Pride march is organized by the Governor’s Commission and Gay/Straight alliances.

1995

Youth Risk Behavior Survey states that gay youth are four times more likely to commit suicide and five times more likely to miss school because of feeling unsafe.

1995

"The Shared Heart” exhibit opens at Nurses Hall in the Massachusetts State House, representing the “Affections and Images of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Young People.”

1995

OutWrite Lesbian and Gay Writer's Conference welcomed youth by adding panels, workshops, and readings by and for young people.

1996

Boston GLASS youth write, produce, and act in a play about the GLBT youth experience that is performed at Suffolk University and tours to area high schools.

1996

A Slice of Rice, a program of the Sidney Borum Clinic, is founded to fill the need for a peer support organization for Asian and Asian American GLBT youth in Boston. They meet at the offices of Boston GLASS.

1996

Boston GLASS holds its first Family and Friends Day.

1996

Slice of Rice, a program of the Sidney Borum Clinic for Asian Youth, begins meeting at Boston GLASS.

1996

Project 10 East, Inc. is incorporated as a national grassroots nonprofit organization based on the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School model of services to youth.

1996

The film, “It’s Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School,” by Oscar winning documentary director, Debra Chasnoff and co-director Helen Cohen, is released. Cambridge Friends School, featured in this film, becomes the first US school to organize a school-wide program for elementary students on gay and lesbian issues and homophobia.

1997

Polly Atwood, a teacher at Brookline High School, comes out to her students. A Christian fundamentalist family sues Brookline Public Schools, claiming that this caused harm to their daughter.

1997

Boston GLASS sponsors its first Youth Pride Week of events. College Night is added to their programming.

1997

InNewsweekly publishes writing from Boston GLASS in a special youth pages section.

1997

Theater Offensive begins Out Youth Theater, a series of collaborations with Gay youth organizations including Boston GLASS and Project 10 East.

1997

Masachusetts Lt. Governor Paul Celucci names May Gay/Straight Alliance month.

1997

Boston GLASS runs the only GLBT youth only Hate Crimes documentation project.

1998

Reflections is published by Boston GLASS.

1998

Youth of Color social support gorup begins at Boston GLASS.

1998

A poll of high school students surveyed for Who’s Who Among American High School Students, shows that 48% harbor prejudice against homosexuals.

1999

The largest event in BAGLY's history (and one of the largest events specifically for GLBT youth in the world)--BAGLY's 19th annual Prom for GLBT Youth is attended by over 1000 GLBT youth and their allies.

1999

Boston GLASS launches its website as an outreach tool for GLBT youth.

2000

BAGLY celebrates 20 years of youth leadership/empowerment through youth/adult collaborations, and service to over 10,000 youth ages 22 and under. Events include 20th Annual Prom for GLBT Youth and 20th Anniversary Party and Alumni Reunion.