Town Meeting I
June 25, 1978

Town Meeting I was the centerpiece of Houston's first formal celebration of Gay Pride Week.
Prior to the Anita Bryant protest the homosexual community was found at bars and house parties
but was largely silent in the greater community; at the end of that protest, there was a community
that had found common goals and aspirations and was ready to voice them.

Ray Hill, with others, conceptualized a Town Meeting that would begin a community dialogue and
motivate gay people into a viable political force working for equal rights and privileges. The event
was coordinated by the Gay Political Caucus. It was the first politically oriented homosexual meeting
in the United States (Houston Chronicle). Four-thousand people attended the meeting at the
Astro Arena and it made the news on the front pages of both Sunday papers and on television.

Former Texas State Representative, gubernatorial candidate, and later vice-presidential nominee,
Sissy Farenthold was the keynote speaker. Her words spoke directly to the meeting's resolutions
regarding civil rights, health, and safety: "We are none of us free unless we all are free. We cannot
open the door to some minorities while denying access to others."

Ginny Apuzzo, of the National Gay Task Force, chaired the meeting. The concerns of Houston's
gay community were outlined in 13 propositions addressing job security, police action against
gays, health care, and the repeal of the Texas sodomy statute.

Town Meeting I resulted in the creation of: the Montrose Counseling Center, the Montrose Activity
Center, the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard, the Hispanic Caucus, the Montrose Sports Association.
A resolution was passed to form an alliance with Transgender individuals.

The closing speaker, Donald Embinder, publisher of Blueboy magazine emphasized that the vast
majority of non-gay people are supportive of human rights, including full equal rights for Gay people.
(LXIX: Volume 1 No. 22, June 30 - July 7)

Phyllis Frye

Clip from the meeting
the tape starts already several hours into the day. It is likely
mid-afternoon. They are in the area of Topics of Resolutions, so...the keynote by Sissy Farenthold had already happened

Moderator is Ginny Apuzzo

This clip picks up after Section III Health

00:00 unknown speaker, about a missed amendment
to the Health resolution

[ apparently Section IV, Internal Affairs was
discussed earlier ]

03:00 Ginny Apuzzo, event moderator, moves on to
Section V, Law Enforcement

03:23 Bill Whiting
07:30 Alice Shrader [GPC Board member]
08:10 Norman Guttman [was GPC President, 1984]
14:26 Mike Barron [spelling?]
17:16 Alan Vogel [had run for Mayor]
18:30 Joan Glanz [ACLU]
20:10 Larry Bagneris, Chicanos on Civil Review Board
22:50 Patty O'Kane, Attorney

Legal Reform Section VI

31:10 Sally Smith
32:00 Warren Caldwell [Socialist Workers Party]
33:00 Lee, on parole rules
34:00 Rex Wood, on entrapment
35:30 Ann Mayes, proposing an amendment

39:00 Eli Zal, TM1 Committee
At this point there was a lengthy discussion on ways to shorten the conference, by eliminating parts of the discussion being read, many speakers and it was decided they would need about 15 minutes to prepare and pass out new resolutions not in the booklet

To allow this to happen a later guest Speaker was moved up.

101:45 Don Embinder, GRNL Board and Blueboy Publisher

talk over, back to resolutions
115:00 Ann Mayes, [aka Toni Mayes] proposing amendment on Legal Reform, regarding name and sex identification.
115:45 Phyllis Frye, amendment to city tax deductions
118:30 Tom Porter, on Israel, etc
122:45 David Ward, on Native American rights
124:05 Chuck Hickman [GPC Board, Political Action Com.]
political parties should recognize LGBT people as groups
within them
125:25 Craig (?) wants people to join non-gay churches, to develop influence in them (motion failed)
127:14 Maggie Young, wants amendment on supporting 'street kids,' in housing, drugs areas (motion failed)

It appears this clip really did not get past the Legal Reform section. It was difficult to tell, as so many resolution additions were for prior topics.