JON PLATANIA: QUEERCORE PODCAST

LOS ANGELES GAY LIBERATION FRONT

Jon Platania by August Bernadicou, 2026.

This episode takes us through the life of Jon Platania, a key member of the Los Angeles Gay Liberation Front. Jon helped create concrete ways for LGBTQ+ people to support one another through radical ideas. After joining the GLF in 1970, Jon became an active member of a movement focused not only on encouraging queer people to organize and fight back against their oppression, but also to care for one another on an unprecedented level. In 1971, Jon helped establish what we know today as the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the world’s largest LGBTQ center, with over 800 employees. He also helped co-found the Liberation Houses, which were homes created to provide shelter and community for LGBTQ+ people who were kicked out of their families or left without a place to call home. This episode recounts how Jon and other GLF activists set in motion many of today’s LGBTQ support systems and how their legacy continues to shape our experience today.

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About The LGBTQ History Project

The LGBTQ History Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit preserving the lives and legacies of LGBTQ+ activists from the first wave of gay liberation through oral histories, archives, and the QueerCore Podcast.