(picture of State Hotel)
NORTH AMERICAN
CONFERENCE OF HOMOPHILE
ORGANIZATIONS
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Three years before NYC's Stonewall Riots, 40
representatives from nearly 15 organizations met on
February 19-21, 1966, at Kansas City's State Hotel--
formerly located at the northeast corner of 12th and
Wyandotte -- for the first-ever national gathering of lesbian
and gay rights activists.
Missourian Harold Leland 'Hal' Call spearheaded the event
attended by Kansas citians Drew Shafer, Al Greathouse, and Larry
Hungerford. Other national equality visionaries Barbara Gittings,
Forest Gunnison Jr, Frank Kameny, Phyllis Lyon, Del Martin, and
Don Slater joined; they soon formed the 'North American
Conference of Homophile Organizations.'
This marker commemorates the 50th anniversary of that historic
event in U.S. history, and Kansas City's pivotal role in the early
struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trangender (LGBT) rights.
Erected by the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America, 2016.