Once upon a time, in the late 1970’s, there was a small blue-collar bar in South Buffalo (Lackawanna) called The Red Spot. It was something of an oddity. It was a bar for steel mill workers during the day and a gay bar at night. You would hardly know this because the décor never changed, only the patrons. On one particular night, two day workers came in and started a fight. An hour later, ten steelworkers were parked outside and attacked anyone who came in or out. Meanwhile the police were planning a raid. The Red Spot Rebellion is the story of the people inside the bar that night.

The patrons include Pat, a lesbian bartender who was once a college professor; Craig, a gay Black computer programmer on an extended assignment in Buffalo; Alvin, a local hairdresser and supposedly reformed drag queen; Gene, a would-be actor with a give-a-damn attitude; and Don, a married local sports promoter who still finds time for Gene on the side. Finally, there is Mark, a young man who has recently come out and blames the person who “made him gay.”

The Red Spot Rebellion is set in 1978 when many gay men felt totally liberated. People were coming out of the closet with flower child enthusiasm and an appetite for sex in line with the love generation. Some thought it was a brand-new day. Some were in for a rude awakening. Meanwhile, raids on bars were still being planned and gay men were beaten up in the streets. And this was still three years before the advent of AIDS.

The Red Spot Rebellion is a look back at that golden age of sexual liberation, the choices the community was forced to make, and the birth of a sense of purpose and identity that was still taking its baby steps.