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And thank you so much.

I'm Eric Marcus and this is Making Gay History.

If you're a regular listener, you've already heard Craig Rodwell's name and voice in several

past episodes. That's because he was one of the most consequential, fearless, and visionary

activists of the 1960s and early 70s. The country's first gay rights protest on record in 1964

in front of New York City's Whitehall Army induction center. Craig was there. The landmark

1966 sip in at Julius's legendary gay bar in Greenwich Village. Check. The annual reminder

day protests in Philadelphia? Check.

Then in 1967, Craig opened the Oscar Wild Memorial Bookshop, one of the first gay bookstores

in the world. It quickly became a hub for gay rights organizing in New York City. And

to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, he co-organized the inaugural Christopher

Street liberation day march in 1970. The blueprint for the Pride marches and celebrations now attended

by millions of people around the world each year. And all of that before he celebrated

his 30th birthday. But then Craig's radicalization had begun very early. As you're about to hear,

he traced back its roots to a night of cruising in downtown Chicago when he was 14 years old.

...