0:01

Before we get started, a quick warning. This

0:04

episode contains descriptions of violence and gay

0:06

slurs. It may not be appropriate for

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all listeners. It's

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election night. Did you have any nerves?

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I wanted to vomit. Nerves

0:19

doesn't even begin to cover it. On

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November 7, 1978,

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David Mixner was in Los Angeles at

0:26

the Beverly Hilton Hotel with thousands of

0:28

other gay activists. They'd been

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working tirelessly for months, fundraising and

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door knocking, all in the hope

0:34

that this night would be a

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celebration, the moment they defeated John

0:39

Briggs and stopped the anti-gay backlash

0:41

that was sweeping the country. Now,

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all they could do was wait for the polls to

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close and the results to come in. It

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was still kind of primitive back then.

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We sat in a back room with

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a bank of phones getting returns from

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around the state. They'd

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identified 10 districts as bellwethers,

0:59

conservative or progressive areas where a

1:01

swing in an unexpected direction might

1:04

help predict the broader outcome. Every

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time a vote total came in, their

1:09

1970s version of Steve Kornacki would take

1:11

over. He had the central board

1:13

where we would analyze it and

1:17

decide whether that was a good sign or a bad

1:19

sign. We were always looking

1:21

for things for volunteers to do. Well,

1:25

I was so happy we had these volunteers that I could

1:27

say, you know what I really need you to

1:29

do is blow up balloons. Activist

1:32

Gwen Craig was at the headquarters of the

1:34

group she helped lead, Harvey Milk's San Franciscans

1:36

Against Prop 6. And

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so the place was just festooned

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with balloons and everything. And

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we had a big thing of

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them ready to drop if the

1:48

results were good. The

1:51

party's decorative centerpiece was a big poster

1:53

of the Statue of Liberty holding a

1:55

no-on-six sign over her groin. Someone

1:58

told a reporter that the sign was... strategically

2:00

placed to cover the jockstrap Lady Liberty

2:02

was wearing. People were just

2:04

there waiting for results and hearing them

2:07

and either getting excited

2:09

or getting nervous or whatever throughout

2:11

the night. So they had a

2:13

big blackboard, the

2:15

kind that you could move around and chalk.

2:18

Sweet, sweet, sweet. The teacher and

2:20

activist, Tom Amiano, was at the same party

2:22

as Gwen. Then they had the counties,

2:24

so you'd be there. Siskiyou County, 55

2:27

to 40 something. This

2:30

has to happen. We cannot lose. Sue

2:33

Englander was at the San Francisco headquarters

2:35

of the leftist anti-breaks group, Bacabi. It

2:39

was packed. There were television

2:41

cameras. I wouldn't say we were

2:43

fearful, but we were apprehensive.

2:46

I just did. I was on pins and needles.

2:49

This wasn't just another

2:51

campaign. This was literally a

2:53

referendum on if I had a right

2:55

to be an American. Some

2:58

of the early returns weren't looking good. And

3:01

we were very despondent. I

3:03

remember one guy started to cry. You

3:06

know, you put your whole soul into it. What

3:08

the fuck is wrong with California? The

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tension was was immense. So

3:15

tense, emotional. And

3:20

then, in come L.A. And

3:24

L.A. was like two to one in our favor. Within

3:27

an hour, it was clear that we

3:29

were winning. And when we

3:31

saw that John Briggs was losing his

3:33

own district, that's when we went

3:35

out and proclaimed the victory. State

3:38

Senator John Briggs has

3:40

just completed the election.

3:44

Oh, my goodness. The place

3:47

went mad. The crowd

3:49

went crazy. Just over the

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top. Over the top.

3:53

There was such jubilation. Brown

3:56

men cried. Hugging

3:58

and kissing. dancing. They

4:00

had to shut down Santa Monica Boulevard

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because people were dancing in the streets.

4:05

They say happiness happens

4:08

in moments. That was

4:10

truly a happy, happy moment. At

4:12

the San Franciscans Against Prop Six party, Gwen

4:15

Craig had helped plan a victory surprise. So

4:19

what we had done was had the San

4:24

Francisco gay marching band hidden

4:27

down in the basement.

4:30

And when they called it

4:32

that we had won, they

4:34

came marching up the stairs.

4:38

Horns, drum.

4:41

It was phenomenal. And

4:43

the TV cameras, which were

4:45

all there, loved it.

4:49

Loved it. Said

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one cheering celebrant, it's obvious gays have

4:55

a lot of friends in California. Barry

4:58

Peterson, CBS News, San Francisco.

5:03

Wait, so if you had lost,

5:05

the band would have just stayed down there? You

5:08

know, I thought about that later now.

5:10

What were we gonna do if we had

5:13

lost? I guess we would have just opened

5:15

the back doors and said, go go go. That

5:20

night, there was no need for a

5:23

backup plan and the parties kept growing.

5:26

We were out in the street too. You

5:29

know, we went up to Castro Street. There

5:31

was a big celebration. I

5:37

remember shouting. I remember

5:39

speeches. I mean, it was like

5:42

New Year's Eve. Buoyancy, a

5:44

fusion, and clapping, and can

5:47

you believe it? Pass the bong. I

5:53

remember a new day. A

5:56

new day. For the first

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time in our lives, we Felt

6:00

like winners. What

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did you do that night? Did you

6:04

go to a party or? I had sex. Victory

6:07

sex. Good

6:10

sex. This

6:14

is Slow Burn, Gaze Against Briggs. I'm

6:17

your host, Christina Kottirucci. For

6:21

gay Californians, November 7, 1978 was

6:25

a moment of triumph and validation. After

6:28

a year of fear and anxiety

6:30

and relentless hard work, they crushed

6:32

the Briggs Initiative by more than

6:34

a million votes. The

6:37

final margin was 58% to 42%, a

6:41

stunning reversal of the early polls. Gay

6:44

activists pulled off a victory that

6:46

once seemed impossible, and now

6:48

they could start dreaming bigger about what

6:50

gay life could look like in a country

6:52

that recognized their strength. But

6:57

the promise of November 7 wouldn't

6:59

last, because everyone who

7:01

spent that night celebrating their win

7:04

was about to suffer a devastating

7:06

loss. He gave everything

7:08

to the campaign, including

7:12

it turned out his life. This

7:16

is episode six, The Murders at

7:19

City Hall. This

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