10/08/2026
Mere months after the Stonewall Uprising, students across Wisconsin -- from the Madison Alliance for Homosexual Equality to underground groups at Marquette University -- began mobilizing a movement. Throughout the country, an emerging spirit of liberation was colliding with oppressive and bureaucratic policies that effectively prevented LGBTQ people from being seen.
In early 1970, UW-Milwaukee students gathered to form the Homosexual Freedom League. But their request was denied: all UW student groups needed to be led by a faculty advisor. The university knew that no professor would ever step forward to sponsor this cause. Being a known or suspected homosexual was unthinkable in academia. It meant the end of a reputation, a career, a way of life.
But times were changing.
In February 1970, Barbara Gibson, a much-beloved English instructor, author, activist, and arts lover, bravely stepped forward to lead the League. At first, she declined, saying it was wrong to appropriate a gay person's role. FInally, she agreed, saying she would only lead the group "until a time when faculty are free to live without persectuion." She was a woman, married to a man at the time, and had children. She knew she could use the privilege of public perception to make a difference.
UWM leadership was not happy with Barbara -- and it wouldn't be the first or last time. They knew no man would step forward to lead this group, but they never suspected a woman might. Now, they had no choice but to allow the group to move forward.
Barbara was no armchair ally. She was a fierce civil rights activist who marched with Father Groppi, co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality, organized the first local chapter of the National Organization of Women, and co-founded the Milwaukee Free University. She protested the Vietnam War with her whole heart, supporting a UWM student strike on May 6, 1970 and numerous public demonstrations. She fought for everything from free speech, to women's liberation, to genderfluid expression, to the rights of the incarcerated. She was known for an outspoken personality, a magnetic aura, and bringing people together for a cause. She also had a tremendous lust for life and seemingly limitless energy. She was a firebrand decades ahead of her time.
"Think about your most favorite teacher ever multiplied by a million," said Chuckie Betz in 2020. "That was Barbara."
Gibson recommended the group rebrand as Gay Liberation Organization to align with the national movement. She had a tough job ahead of her: some members wanted to "fit in" with mainstream society by being as "normal" as possible, other members wanted to explode mainstream society with a q***r cultural revolution. By the second meeting, these conflicting viewpoints were already unmanageable. And then, the movement radicalized further after some students attended the Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention of 1970.
By the end of 1970, Gay Liberation Organization had shattered into two separate groups: the more radical Gay Liberation Front, and the more "establishment" Gay Peoples Union. On January 2, 1971, GLF led the first Gay Pride March in Wisconsin history.
While GLF would dissolve within a few years, GPU became one the nation's leading gay rights organizations of the 1970s, achieving unthinkable "Wisconsin firsts" that put the state on the leading edge of liberation. Today, most Milwaukee LGBTQ organizations -- including ours -- can trace their roots back to Gay Peoples Union.
None of this would have ever happened without Barbara Gibson, a fearless woman who stepped forward to support her students, inspire action, lead change, and pursue justice. She has long been overlooked for the butterfly effect she created at exactly the right moment in history.
After nine years at UWM, Gibson eventually relocated to Olympia, Washington, where she continued a long career as poet, playwright, faith leader, mental health counselor, animal lover, and environmental activist. She and her wife, Carol, enjoyed their time with children, grandchildren, and pets after retirement. She passed away in April 2017 at age 86. 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
