To Hear and to Respond

Despite the prevailing assumption that religious groups are antagonistic towards LGBTQIA+ people, in the mid-twentieth century Quakers established the first social service organization for gay people in the United States, wrote the first public and positive evaluation of homosexuality from a religious perspective, and composed the first public statement in support of bisexuality from a religious assembly. In the 1960s and 1970s, many gay rights activists were trained by Quakers in nonviolent resistance, some influential gay rights leaders were Quakers themselves, and a few important gay rights organizations operated out of Quaker-owned properties. Eye-witness reports state that Quakers were present at the Stonewall riots. They were also the only religious group to march in the first gay pride parade. This book tells the story of Quaker support for gay liberation between 1946-1973 as demonstrated through Quaker experiments in criminal justice reform, challenges to Christian moral codes, and advocacy for attitudinal change within the Religious Society of Friends.