The Battle for Intro. 2: The New York City Gay Rights Bill, 1971 – 1986
Initially proposed in 1971, the Gay Rights Bill in New York City was the first of its kind in the nation, meant to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, and public accommodations. After 15 years of grassroots activism and strident opposition, the bill, known as local law Intro. 2, passed in City Council in 1986 by a vote of 21 to 14, making New York the 51st city in the country to pass such a measure.
Join us as we revisit the heated debates about gay and lesbian rights during the mayoralties of John Lindsay, Abe Beame, and Ed Koch—and consider the question of why it took so long for the bill to pass. Stephen Petrus, Director of Public History Programs at LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College, in conversation with Village Preservation’s Executive Director Andrew Berman, will discuss his work as curator of a new exhibit on the Gay Rights Bill. He will focus on the roles of advocates like the Gay Activists Alliance and opponents including the Catholic Church, the Police Department, and the Fire Department, as well as look at the special role that downtown residents and communities played in this defining civil rights battle.
Stephen Petrus is Director of Public History Programs at LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College. Petrus received his Ph.D. in history from the CUNY Graduate Center and specializes in New York City history. Since 2017, he has co-curated six LGBTQ exhibits at LaGuardia, including A Seat at the Table, on LGBTQ elected officials in the New York City Council and the State Legislature. Prior to his work at LaGuardia, he held Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships at the New-York Historical Society and at the Museum of the City of New York, where, in 2015, he curated the exhibition Folk City: New York and the Folk Music Revival and co-authored the accompanying book, published by Oxford University Press. His next public history project at LaGuardia will examine AIDS policy in New York City from 1981 to 1996.
Andrew Berman has served as Executive Director of Village Preservation, a community-based 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to preserving the special architectural and cultural heritage of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, since 2002. In that time he has led the organization in successful efforts to secure landmark designation of over 1,250 buildings, including groundbreaking designations honoring LGBTQ+, African-American, immigrant, and artistic and countercultural history. An architectural historian, he has also worked extensively in the fields of tenant and housing advocacy as well as cultural preservation particularly for underrepresented groups.
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