JIM FOURATT is a gay rights activist, actor, and former nightclub impresario born on this date. He is best known for his involvement with the Stonewall riots and as co-founder of the Danceteria.

Fouratt was raised in a working class Catholic home in Riverside, Rhode Island. He attended the La Salle Academy in Providence. After high school he was accepted into Harvard University but could not attend for financial reasons, instead he began studies at St. Peter’s Seminary in Baltimore. In 1960, he was kicked out for homosexuality and moved to New York City.

Fouratt took up political activism more seriously in 1965, after being arrested in Times Square at America’s first Anti-Vietnam War demonstration. In 1967 he was one of the organizers of the famous Central Park Be In. That same year he cofounded the Yippies, a youth-oriented countercultural movement, alongside Abbie Hoffman and Paul Krasner.

Fouratt was at the first night of what he calls the Stonewall ‘Rebellion’, a term he prefers over “Stonewall Riots.” On the third night of the rebellion, Fouratt co-founded the Gay Liberation Front, the first of many lesbian and gay liberation movements that sprouted across the country in the following months.

Fouratt was a founding member of the Lesbian and Gay Community Service Center, the Gay Community Service Center, and Wipe Out AIDS (now known as H.E.A.L). He was active in ACT UP, serving on the media committee with Michael Signorile and Jay Blotcher.

In 2009, Fouratt took part in the Democratic primary against City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, but later withdrew. In 2016, Fouratt ran for State Assembly but lost to Deborah Glick. He is a member of the Village Independent Democrats club.

In 1969 Fouratt worked as an assistant to producer Clive Davis. In 1978, Fourrat became the manager for the club Hurrah where he brought in DJs to create the first “rock disco,” with music videos playing as well as live music acts. He also worked at Pop Front, and Studio 54. In 1980, he opened the nightclub Danceteria with Rudolf Pieper. In November 1980, Pieper and Fouratt had prepared to open the New Peppermint Lounge night club, but were pushed out by Frank Roccio and Tom Goodkind. In June 1982, Pieper and Fouratt became embroiled in a legal battle, and Fouratt was pushed out.

In the early 1990s, Fouratt served as director of national publicity at Rhino Records, and from 1995 to 1999, Fouratt was a vice president of A&R at Mercury Records. In the late 1990s, Fouratt attempted to launch the sub-imprint Beauty Records, but that project ended when PolyGram, Mercury’s parent corporation, was bought by Seagram’s, and Fouratt’s acts were let go.

Fouratt has faced criticism for his comments on transgender  identities and transsexualism, which he views as a method “to make gay men and lesbians straight.” He believes that transgender identity reinforces gender stereotypes and that trans discourse is marginalizing the experiences of gays and lesbians. However, in a 2015 Facebook post, he wrote “I support the right of each person to control their body. Period. Fighting the conscription of socially policed gender behavior is an essential fight.”