JOHN KYPER

BOSTON GAY LIBERATION FRONT

John Kyper by unknown, 1970.

John Kyper is a longtime LGBTQ+ activist who played a pivotal role in the early gay liberation movement in Boston, Massachusetts. Born in Bellows Falls, Vermont, and raised in small towns across New England as the son of a rigid Unitarian minister, John faced profound challenges in coming to terms with his identity. After facing bullying, family conflict, and a psychiatric hospitalization during his youth, he found the strength to accept himself in his early twenties. Moving to Boston in 1969, he became a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War and soon became involved in political activism. John attended early meetings of the Boston University Student Homophile League, a precursor to broader organizing efforts, and helped found the Boston Gay Liberation Front in 1970, participating in Boston’s first public LGBTQ+ demonstrations and Pride events.

Throughout the 1970s, John remained active in various overlapping groups, from Gay Men’s Liberation to community study groups that explored LGBTQ+ themes. He worked to create spaces where queer people could connect openly and challenge discrimination, including testifying for anti-discrimination legislation after experiencing job bias firsthand. John’s efforts helped lay the groundwork for Boston’s LGBTQ+ rights movement, and his commitment to visibility, political activism, and community building continues to inspire.

— August Bernadicou, Executive Director of The LGBTQ History Project

“I was a preacher’s kid. My father was a Unitarian minister, and we moved around Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. I had a somewhat difficult time growing up between my mother and a very rigid father. He was also a Calvinist. He started as a Presbyterian in central Pennsylvania and became a Unitarian minister while he was in college. I understood the theology but not the psychology. He was also homophobic.

I consider Rutland, Vermont, my hometown. I suffered horrific bullying. Kids sensed I was different. I was. Although I sensed I was different, I was totally clueless. In Rutland, I felt like I had moved out of the Iron Curtain and into the free world. After graduating from high school in 1966, I attended the University of Vermont. I was there for three years.

I had a conflict with my parents. I came home for Christmas when I was 20 years old. I began discussions about opposing the Vietnam War. They treated me like I was a baby. Shortly after this, I dropped out of the University of Vermont. My father had been forced out of the ministry due to a recalcitrant congregation and repeated heart attacks. I had a nervous breakdown on Christmas. At that point, I began to realize I was gay. I remember being with doctors and describing my sexual fantasy. This put me over the edge, and a light came on. I said, ‘Oh God, these are homosexual fantasies.’

Once I got out, I worked at the Vermont State Hospital, where I had the privilege of meeting several openly gay staff members who, in some cases, became role models for accepting who I was. I also met a couple of closet cases who were anti-role models. I didn’t want to become them. One was an alcoholic, and another was a very bitter man. In the summer of 1969, I moved down to Boston. As a conscientious objector during the Vietnam draft, I was granted permission to start working in a Boston hospital as an orderly. It was at this time that I fully came out.

John Kyper by unknown, 1977.

Stonewall was a revelation. I was also very active against the Vietnam War. The logical next step was to go to a gay bar. In January of 1970, I saw in the personals in Boston After Dark advertising for a group called the Student Homophile League. I was very interested, so I called the number. The first meeting I went to was at Boston University. From that point on, my activity as a gay person snowballed.

Out of the Student Homophile League, we formed the Gay Liberation Front. We met in a conference room in the George Sherman Union at Boston University. I remember we were sitting around on a Sunday evening in a room with fluorescent lights. It was a little awkward. A man named Stan Tillotson, who was organizing the group, came in and we had a very productive meeting. We decided to start holding socials, and we had our very first one just a week later. From there, it grew. It was a very positive experience.

Our first action was when we coordinated a contingent, a gay and lesbian contingent, at the April 15 moratorium against the Vietnam War at the Boston Common. We were involved with Boston University, MIT, and Harvard. After the April moratorium, we decided to host a dance. It was at an abandoned lecture hall at Harvard. We were liberated. It was the very first gay dance in Boston.

A couple of weeks later, we scheduled another dance. It was canceled because people in Beacon Hill were objecting to us being so open in their neighborhood. We were looking for other venues but couldn’t find a place.

And then, a year later—on June 26, 1971—the first Pride March was held. It was basically a sidewalk march. It started in Bay Village, just south of downtown, at a bar called the Other Side. We started by reading our demands. We then went to a lesbian bar called the Hangout. The management there treated the women rather shabbily. Women were upset for good reason. We marched maybe three or four blocks to Berkeley Street, where the Boston police headquarters were. We read demands that called for the police to stop harassing gay men who were cruising. Next, we marched to the Boston Common State House, where we read our demands for legislation to decriminalize gay sex in Massachusetts, which was illegal then. We continued to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where we read our demands against the church. Now the cathedral has become very pro gay. We went to the Parkman Bandstand, where we ended the march, where we smashed books by anti gay shrinks. These books were used to oppress people. People thought we were sick.”