The history of the homophile period of the gay rights movement is so new that it is currently being written—gaps filled in, new cities and regions examined, questions being revised. This, especially, is the case with Kansas City’s history of gay rights in the 1960s. Most of the material on Drew Shafer and the Phoenix Society is housed locally in the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America (GLAMA) on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus. Of GLAMA’s collections, two are of particular interest to this study. Mickey Ray, Shafer’s partner from 1968 to his passing, contributed his recollections of both Shafer, specifically, and the Phoenix Society more broadly. The other GLAMA-housed collection on this period comes from Scoop Phillips. A Phoenix member and self-described gay rights journalist, Phillips documented the homophile period of Kansas City’s history as if he knew he were the eyes and ears of later generations of historians.
One other collection that provides the clearest window into Phoenix Society and Shafer’s organizations prowess is housed in the Dodd Center at the University of Connecticut. Shafer met Foster Gunnison, Jr. at the NPCHO meeting in 1966 when nationwide activists met in Kansas City for the first time. Gunnison, who went on to have an influential career in gay rights activism, started a correspondence with Shafer that would continue for the life of his activism. Their letters—over ninety back-and-forth over a four year period—offer insights into how Shafer set up and ran the Phoenix Society and what advice he sought in doing so. Importantly, Shafer discussed his work with the national publishing clearinghouse with Gunnison. It is here that historians can understand the important role Phoenix Society and Shafer played in nationalizing the movement and creating the atmosphere for the gay liberation movement.
Outside of Kansas City, historians have begun the difficult work of framing the gay rights movement—one that is still continuing to evolve as they write. The first author to look at the homophile period with a historian’s eye was John D’Emilio with his book Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970. Published in 1983, D’Emilio can be viewed as the father of homophile historiography, as each successive historian has built on or responded to his seminal work. He framed the gay liberation movement as the rightful heir to the work of the homophile activists and led me to look for ways in which Kansas City fostered community among the homosexual populace and built a foundation for activism to respond to Stonewall. In the same vein, Lilian Faderman’s The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle published in 2015 is an updated synthesis similar to D’Emilio’s work. However, readers will find Faderman’s book refreshing in its continuity through the present day. Finally, two topical works influenced my research and warrant further reading from those so interested. First, Martin Meeker’s Contacts Desired: Gay and Lesbian Communications and Community, 1940s-1970s, published in 2006. Meeker, through his examination of homophile publishing, clearly demonstrates that despite their small numbers of active members, homophile groups reached thousands—if not millions—of gay men and women through their magazines and newsletters. Second, David K. Johnson’s The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government informs readers on the life of gay men and women in the homophile period and what worries they faced in a time of immense discrimination. Johnson’s book frames what homophile activists were up against—threat of being fired, denial of governmental service, and fear of blackmail.
While the history of Kansas City’s gay community is only now being written, understanding how the national homophile movement formed and proliferated goes a long way in determining how various locales fit in to the wider movement. Interested readers are in good hands with D’Emilio and Faderman and will understand the overarching growth of activists and the progress that has been made in just fifty years of national organizing. I encourage all readers to visit GLAMA, to see original documents, to hold copies of The Phoenix magazine. Kansas City played an important role in getting the gay community to where they are today and Drew Shafer—among others—deserve recognition for that progress. But until Kansas City’s efforts receive as much attention as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York, his work and that of the Phoenix Society will continue to be our hidden treasure.