Gay Peoples Union (GPU)

Gay Peoples Union (GPU) became one of the most important gay and lesbian organizations in Milwaukee during the 1970s. It began as a student organization at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and evolved into a community-wide organization focused on education, social services, legal reform, and building a stronger local gay and lesbian community.

GPU grew out of the Gay Liberation Organization at UWM (formerly known as the Homosexual Freedom League,) which held its first meeting on March 5, 1970. From the beginning, GLO was divided between members who favored a broad, revolutionary approach to social change and those who wanted to focus more specifically on homosexual liberation through education, advocacy, and nonmilitant activism. In fall 1970, the more radical members left to form the Milwaukee Gay Liberation Front. The remaining members reorganized as the Gay Peoples Union and increasingly emphasized education, social activities, and practical services for the community.

By fall 1971, GPU had largely moved beyond its university origins and established itself as a community organization. When Louis Stimac sought to incorporate the organization, he ran into two challenges:  1) most local attorneys would not serve gay organizations, as they were seen as shameful, radical, and/or questionably legal, and 2) he struggled to find the required number of individuals willing to sign off on the articles of incorporation, because they feared their signature might be used against them. As a result, the incorporation process took a full year.

Fortunately, Louis found his people. The founding members of Gay People's Union were Louis Stimac, Eldon Murray, Judith "Jay" Garland, Donna Uttke, and Michael Mitchell.

GPU quickly became a critical part of Milwaukee's emerging gay and lesbian infrastructure.

Education was central to GPU's mission. The organization embraced both mainstream and alternative media to challenge misconceptions about homosexuality and give gay and lesbian people a public voice. In 1971, GPU produced Gay Perspective, one of the nation's earliest regularly scheduled, scripted gay and lesbian radio programs. The program aired on WZMF from February through June 1971 before moving to WUWM, where it continued until May 1972.

GPU launched GPU News in October 1971. Published monthly, the magazine became an important source of news, information, and community reporting for Milwaukee's gay and lesbian population. Over its decade of publication, GPU News documented the people, organizations, political battles, social events, and community institutions that shaped Milwaukee's LGBTQ history.  GPU later published the Milwaukee Update, which provided membership activity updates from January 1980 to February 1981.

GPU also worked with mainstream media, including the Milwaukee Journal on its 1972 series "The Gay Revolution" and WTMJ-TV on the 1973 series "Some Call Them Gay."

In November 1972, Gay Peoples Union became a 501c3 nonprofit organization, with Louis Stimac as incorporator, official bylaws, and a board including Jerry Meyers, Michael Mitchell, Eldon Murray, Jay Garland, and Donna Utke. Attorney Howard Brown of Shellow & Shellow handled the incorporation.  Notably, the attorney removed the word "homosexual" from the articles to navigate the legal scrutiny of the era. 

"Only the word Gay in the name of the organization is a clue to the nature of our membership," wrote Eldon Murray.

GPU filled important gaps in community services. In 1975, GPU established Milwaukee's first gay and lesbian community center at 1568 N. Farwell Ave., operated a telephone counseling service, and created a legal defense committee to help gay and lesbian people obtain legal representation. It also established the GPU Venereal Disease Clinic (originally located at 225 E. St. Paul Ave.) to provide quality sexual health services to a community that often faced discrimination or discomfort elsewhere. The clinic eventually evolved into the BESTD Clinic, which continues to serve the Milwaukee community.

GPU created a foundation for Milwaukee's modern pride movement. In 1974, it hosted the GPU Ball, drawing more than 350 people and establishing a precedent for large-scale community celebrations. 

From 1973 to 1981, GPU hosted an outreach booth at the Brady Street Festival, which was the leading gay and lesbian neighborhood event of its time. GPU was known for an infamous "kissing booth" where kisses were sold for 25 cents. It's rumored that kissers gave away more than they sold. 

"A young man, of course, was inside the kissing booth, and more men than women were the satisfied customers," said the Milwaukee Sentinel on June 11, 1973.

"Brady Street was a place you could get just about anything you wanted Sunday -- a song, a kiss, Jesus or corn on the cob. You could have gotten a smacker from the mustached young gentleman manning the Gay People's Union stand. Rik Richardi, a spokesman for GPU, said the booth was intended to make people "more conscious of the fact that gay people exist," reported the Milwaukee Sentinel on June 10, 1974.

GPU did some amazing guerrilla marketing with Sesame Street characters. Cookie Monster handed out gigantic cookies with the word GAY on one side, while Big Bird handed out brochures to parents about the falsehoods of gay stereotypes. "Of course I'm gay," said the leaflet. "What do you think gay people look like?"

In 1974, they sold t-shirts with the GPU logo, launched an annual "Queen of Brady Street Contest" drag-a-thon, and handed out 700-800 helium balloons imprinted with the word GAY.  Although the Brady Street Merchants Association banned the balloons, they just kept handing them out anyway, and deflated GAY balloons were found throughout the neighborhood for weeks afterwards. 

The last Brady Street Festival, held in 1981, attracted a record-breaking 85,000 people. (The event was resurrected in 2007.)

GPU continued sponsoring dances and other events, and by 1981, its Milwaukee Pride Week Committee was coordinating activities among multiple organizations. The committee helped organize marches, parades, rallies, and street festivals, laying important groundwork for the organized Pride celebrations that followed. Pride eventually came under the leadership of the Milwaukee Gay/Lesbian Pride Committee (MGLPC) and, later, PrideFest.

GPU's influence began to decline as Milwaukee's LGBTQ community became more diverse and increasingly organized through specialized groups. GPU News, which had served for a decade as one of the city's most important sources of gay and lesbian news, ceased publication after its January 1981 issue amid a shortage of volunteers and other organizational challenges. The Farwell Center closed on April 15, 1981, after the building was sold, GPU was evicted, and the organization failed to secure a new location.

By the mid-1980s, the organization had lost much of its national prominence. Many of GPU's earliest leaders were burnt out after a full decade of devoted activism.  Very few leaders stepped in to replace them. After the Gay Rights Bill (1982) and Consenting Adults Bill (1983) became law in Wisconsin, the liberation movement was challenged by a strange sense of complacency.  GPU, like many community service organizations, was completely unprepared for the catastrophic impact of the AIDS crisis. Instead of fighting for social progress, the community was now fighting simply to stay alive.

GPU continued into the 1990s, maintaining a crisis hotline and lending library, under the watchful eye of Louis Stimac.  After Louis's death in 1994, these functions also ended. The final disposition of the lending library is unknown.

Surprisingly, GPU remains a registered 501c3 nonprofit in Wisconsin today.  Longtime member Si Smits continues to file the required annual report with the State of Wisconsin to maintain its status. However, there has been no active membership, programming, or strategic plan for over three decades.

Despite its eventual decline, GPU's legacy is substantial. It helped transform Milwaukee's gay liberation movement from a campus-based effort into a community-wide institution, created some of the city's earliest LGBTQ social and health services, documented the community through GPU News, and helped lay the groundwork for the organized pride movement that followed.