Timeline is a regular feature in each issue looking back to events and milestones that have helped us evolve into the community we are today.

October/November, 1972

Taken from The Griffin, Connecticut’s first gay publication also co-founded by Metroline’s Publisher John Crowley and which preceded Metroline by three years.

This issue featured many small editorials written by members of the Kalos/Gay Liberation Front (GLF) Society. “The achievement of the unqualified acceptance of society of homosexuality as a wholly natural personal trait, and a highly valued expression of human love,” reads their statement of purpose.

Some of the more interesting editorials included:

“No Good Homosexual” - Ken Bland discusses how some guys seem to be making the mistake of assuming that there is, somehow, on one side , the “good” homosexual,” and, on the other side, a less respected “bad” homosexual. He talked about how we seem to create our own cliqueness and provinciality. Too many of us travel in a very small circle of friends, whose common backgrounds and interests are close to the same. This same politic seems to exist in today’s community also. We segregate each other, but organize groups and activities geared towards a smaller minority within our own. Strange how, thirty seven years later, we seem to be doing the same.

Writer Carol Jones recalled her day in court in a piece entitled “I’m Not Oppressed!” Jones recalled how a group of eleven were arrested for picketing for a “labor” dispute. But was it a labor dispute? The court records were an out and out lie. “We protested as gay people. The court couldn’t let that be known. They tried to hide the fact that gay people live and work in Hartford, and we have the right to socialize,” Jones said.

Attorney at Law Vance Gary Prutsman offered some friendly law advice on the advantages of having a will. Medical news reported that there was an outbreak of nearly 2 1/2 million new cases of the “clap” last year and 100,000 of syph. Remember, VD is the gift that keeps on giving. Also, a small piece on ten ways to help in coming out was printed. Popular clubs of the day were: in Hartford: Romano’s, Hofbreau House, Nick’s Cafe, The Park West, in Springfield: The Arbor, The Arch and The Pub, New Haven.