A European Informational Website
learn more
Gay Liberation (or Gay Lib) is the name used to describe the radical lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered movement of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s in North America, Western Europe, and Australia and New Zealand. The phrase is somewhat synonymous with the contemporary "gay rights movement" and broader LGBT movements, but following the academic use, this article is about movements of a particular historical period in the that shared similar goals and strategies. Gay Lib is also known for its links to the counterculture of the time, and for the Gay Liberationists' intent to transform fundamental institutions of society such as gender and the family. In order to achieve such liberation, consciousness raising and direct action were employed. By the late 1970s, the radicalism of Gay Liberation was eclipsed by a return to a more formal movement that espoused gay and lesbian civil rights.