Craig Rodwell

Craig L. Rodwell (October 31, 1940 – June 18, 1993) was an American gay rights activist known for founding the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop on November 24, 1967 - the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors - and as the prime mover for the creation of the New York City gay pride demonstration.

He later studied ballet in Boston before finally moving to New York City in 1958.

It was in New York that he first volunteered for a gay rights organization, The Mattachine Society of New York.

Rodwell settled in Greenwich Village in New York after someone, intending to discourage him from going to the area, told him "that's where all the queers are!"

He got a job at a popular gay restaurant in Greenwich Village, but later quit and got a clerical job.

Although he was active with the Mattachine Society, he eventually became disillusioned with them as he felt they were too conservative and fearful.

In 1962, Rodwell had a romantic relationship with Harvey Milk, who went on later to become one of the first openly gay politicians elected to high office.

It was Rodwell's first serious relationship.

Rodwell's relationship with Milk ended in part due to Milk's conflicted reaction to Rodwell's early activism and his introduction to Milk of "strange new ideas that tied homosexuality to politics, ideas that both repelled and attracted the thirty-two-year-old Milk."

Milk believed that Rodwell had been responsible for Milk contracting an STD.

After Rodwell's arrest and incarceration when picked up cruising in Washington Square Park, Milk ended their romantic involvement.

Shortly after, Rodwell attempted suicide.

In early 1964 Rodwell, a Mattachine Society of New York volunteer and vice president, organized Mattachine Young Adults and was also an early member of Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ECRHO) and the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO).

On September 19, 1964, Rodwell, along with Randy Wicker, Jefferson Poland, Renee Cafiero, and several others picketed New York's Whitehall Street Induction Center to protest the military's practice of excluding gays from serving and, when discovered serving, dishonorably discharging them.

Rodwell conceived of the first yearly gay rights protest, the Annual Reminder picketing of Independence Hall held from 1965 to 1969; Homophile Youth Movement rallies in 1967, and was present at the Stonewall Riots in 1969.

On April 18, 1965, Rodwell led picketing at the United Nations Plaza in New York to protest Cuban detention and placement into workcamps of gays, along with Wicker, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky and about 25 others.

He was active in the Mattachine Society until April 1966 and in several other early homophile rights organizations.

At the Mattachine Society, where most members chose pseudonyms to protect themselves from law enforcement surveillance, Rodwell did not.

Rodwell was a radical in the generally cautious homophile movement.

On April 21, 1966, Rodwell, along with Mattachine President Dick Leitsch and John Timmons engaged in a demonstration then called a "Sip-In" at Julius, a bar in Greenwich Village, to protest the New York State Liquor Authority rule against the congregation of gays in establishments that served alcohol.

Rodwell had at an earlier date been thrown out of Julius for wearing an "Equality for Homosexuals" button.

When Rodwell opened the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop in 1967, Milk dropped by frequently, and after moving to San Francisco Milk expressed his intention to Rodwell of opening a similar store "as a way of getting involved in community work."

Milk eventually opened a camera store that also functioned as a community center, much like Rodwell's bookshop had as a community gathering place.

Also in 1967, Rodwell began the group Homophile Youth Movement in Neighborhood (HYMN) and began to publish its periodical, HYMNAL.

In 1968, Rodwell and noted gay rights activist Frank Kameny began to promote a slogan, based on Black is Beautiful, but instead as Gay is Good.

Rodwell promoted the slogan in advertising for the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, his publication Hymnal, posting the slogan in the bookshop window, and selling buttons, patches and stickers in his bookshop.

The slogan, denoting pride, was an early step toward gay visibility.

Rodwell, who was already an activist when he participated in the 1969 Stonewall uprising, is considered by some to be the leading gay rights activist in the early, pre-Stonewall, homophile movement of the 1960s.

Rodwell was born in Chicago, Illinois.

His parents separated prior to his first birthday and for the next few years he was boarded out for day care where he was required to do kitchen labor and laundry to supplement his board and care.

When he was six years old, Rodwell's mother, Marion Kastman, fearing that the child care set up could cause her to lose custody of her son, arranged for his admission to the Christian Scientist affiliated Chicago Junior School (later called the Fox River Country Day School ) for "problem" boys, in Elgin, Illinois.

Although same-sex relationships were highly discouraged at the all-boys school, they were quite common.

Rodwell got a reputation for being a rebellious child during his seven years at the school, but had good memories from the school despite its sometimes "Dickensian" aspects such as corporal punishment.

It was at Chicago Junior School that Rodwell first experienced same-sex relationships and also came to internalize Christian Science ideals.

He realized there that "telling the truth" was "always the best policy."

From 13 to 14 years old, Rodwell had sex with hundreds of men in Chicago whom he met while cruising outside of gay bars.

He later said, “This is what I lived for, literally.” When Rodwell was 14, he was charged and convicted by the Chicago police for juvenile delinquency when he was caught walking home after having sex with a man in his thirties.

He was sentenced to two years of probation.

After graduating from the Chicago Junior School, Rodwell attended Sullivan High School in Chicago, IL.

Rodwell continued studying Christian Science by enrolling in Sunday school at the 16th Church of Christ, Scientist.