National Coalition of Black Gays

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The National Coalition of Black Gays was the United States' first national organization for African American and Third World gay rights.

The National Coalition of Black Gays (NCBG) was organized by A Billy S Jones and Delores Berry in Columbia, Maryland in the Spring of 1978 to provide a national advocacy forum for African American gay men and lesbians at a time when no other organization existed to express their views. The organizers were motivated in part by the belief that existing gay and lesbian organizations did not represent the views and experience of African Americans.

The new organization quickly gave rise to local organizations in Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD. NCBG's creation was contemporaneous with new visibility and activism on the part of African American gay men and lesbians. In 1979, NCBG was the primary organizer of the Third World Conference held simultaneously with the first March on Washington for gay rights (October 12 - 14, 1979). In contrast to other Washington, DC-based gay rights organizations' opposition to the March, NCBG's support for the 1979 March on Washington smoothed the way for the event in Washington. Jones served as logistical director of the organizing committee for the March until the month before the event when he turned his attention to organizing the Third World Conference.

NCBG added Lesbian to its name in the 1980s to become the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays. The organization's headquarters moved to Detroit, Michigan briefly in the mid-80s.

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