Committee for Homosexual Freedom (San Francisco, Calif.)

Historical Note

The Committee for Homosexual Freedom (CHF) was a radical gay and lesbian rights organization founded in San Francisco in April 1969 by gay activists Leo E. Laurence and Gayle Whittington. Both were fired by their employers (respectively, a radio station and a freight company, State Steamship Line) after a photo of them embracing was published by the countercultural newspaper the Berkeley Barb . The CHF organized public protests in San Francisco against State Steamship Line, then went on to introduce a "declaration of policy concerning sexual freedom and homosexual employment rights" as a San Francisco municipal ballot measure that, if passed, would have banned discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation.

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