Allen Young (born June 30, 1941) is an American journalist, author, editor and publisher who is also a social, political and environmental activist.

Early life

Allen Young, born in

Liberty, New York Liberty is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Sullivan County, New York, Sullivan County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 10,159 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report QuickFacts, ...

, on June 30, 1941, to Rae (Goldfarb) Young and Louis Young. His parents, both secular Jews, spent their youth in New York City, then relocated to the hamlet of Glen Wild (estimated pop. 100) in

Fallsburg Fallsburg is a town in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The town is in the eastern part of the county. The population was 14,192 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report Fallsburg, New York QuickFacts https://www.census. ...

in the foothills of the Catskills, and started a poultry farm, also providing accommodations for summer tourists in this region known as the

Borscht Belt The Borscht Belt, or Yiddish Alps, is a region which was noted for its summer resorts that catered to Jewish vacationers, especially residents of New York City. The resorts, now mostly defunct, were located in the southern foothills of the Catski ...

. He was a red diaper baby. He graduated from Fallsburg Central High School and received his undergraduate degree in 1962 from

Columbia College, Columbia University Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college of Columbia University, a private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan, it is the oldest instit ...

. Following an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 1963 from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in Hispanic American and

Luso-Brazilian Portuguese Brazilians () are Brazilian citizens whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Portugal. Most of the Portuguese who arrived throughout the centuries in Brazil sought economic opportunities. Although present since the onset of t ...

Studies, he earned an

M.S. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

in 1964 from the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sch ...

. After receiving a

Fulbright Award The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

in 1964, Young spent three years in Brazil, Chile and other Latin American countries, contributing numerous articles to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...

'' and other periodicals.

Activism

Liberation News Service and protest

Young returned to the United States in June 1967 and worked briefly for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' before resigning in the fall of that year to become a full-time

anti-Vietnam War movement Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War began in 1965 with demonstrations against the escalating role of the United States in the war. Over the next several years, these demonstrations grew into a social movement which was ...

activist and staff member of the

Liberation News Service Liberation News Service (LNS) was a New Left, anti-war underground press news agency that distributed news bulletins and photographs to hundreds of subscribing underground, alternative and radical newspapers from 1967 to 1981. Considered the "Asso ...

. Young,

Marshall Bloom Marshall Irving Bloom (July 16, 1944 – November 1, 1969) was an American journalist and activist, best known as co-founder in 1967 of the Liberation News Service, the "Associated Press" of the underground press. Early life and education Marsh ...

Ray Mungo Raymond A. Mungo (born 1946) is an American author, co-author, or editor of more than a dozen books. He writes about business, economics, and financial matters as well as cultural issues. In the 1960s, he attended Boston University, where he ser ...

and others worked in the office at 3

Thomas Circle Thomas Circle is a traffic circle in Northwest Washington, D.C., United States. It is located at the intersection of 14th Street, M Street, Massachusetts Avenue, and Vermont Avenue NW. A portion of Massachusetts Avenue travels through a tunne ...

producing the news packets that were sent to the hundreds of underground newspapers bi-weekly or tri-weekly. A member of the

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships a ...

he was part of the

Columbia University protests of 1968 In 1968, a series of protests at Columbia University in New York City were one among the various student demonstrations that Protests of 1968, occurred around the globe in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year aft ...

and was among more than 700 arrested. When the Liberation News Service split in two in August 1968 Young became a recognized leader of the New York office.

Venceremos Brigade

In February and March 1969 Young went to Cuba, where he was instrumental in the organization of the

Venceremos Brigade The Venceremos Brigade is an international organization founded in 1969 by members of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and officials of the Republic of Cuba. It was formed as a coalition of young people to show solidarity with the Cub ...

. Young became disillusioned with the

Castro regime The political career of Fidel Castro saw Cuba undergo significant economic, political, and social changes. In the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro and an associated group of revolutionaries toppled the ruling government of Fulgencio Batista, forcin ...

after observing the lack of civil liberties and other freedoms, and especially the government's anti-gay policies. After the

Mariel Boatlift The Mariel boatlift () was a mass emigration of Cubans who traveled from Cuba's Mariel Harbor to the United States between April 15 and October 31, 1980. The term "" is used to refer to these refugees in both Spanish and English. While the ex ...

he wrote ''Gays Under the Cuban Revolution'', breaking with those New Leftists who continued to defend the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

Gay Liberation movement

After the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

in New York City, Young became involved in the

Gay Liberation Front Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK, Australia and Canada. The GLF p ...

. During the second half of 1970 he lived in the Seventeenth Street collective with Carl Miller,

Jim Fouratt Jim Fouratt (born June 23, 1941) is a gay-rights activist, actor, and former nightclub impresario. He is best known for his involvement with the Stonewall riots and as co-founder of Danceteria in New York City. Early life Fouratt was raised in ...

, and Giles Kotcher where he was involved in producing ''Gay flames''. Young wrote frequently for the gay press, including ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

'', ''

Come Out! ''Come Out!'' was an American LGBT newspaper that ran from 1969 to 1972. It was published by the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), a gay liberation group established in New York City in 1969, immediately following the Stonewall riots. The first issue ...

'', '' Fag Rag'', and Gay Community News among others. His 1972 interview with

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

, which first appeared in ''Gay Sunshine'' is often reprinted and translated. Young has edited four books with

Karla Jay Karla Jay (born February 22, 1947) is an American retired academic. She is a professor emerita at Pace University, where she taught English and directed the women's and gender studies program between 1974 and 2009. A pioneer in the field of l ...

including the ground breaking anthology ''Out of the Closets''.

Continuing activism

Young moved to rural Massachusetts in 1973 to an 'intentional community'. Carrying a sign which read ''Royalston, Mass. population 973'' he attended the

National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights The first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C., on October 14, 1979. The first such march on Washington, it drew between 75,000 and 125,000Ghaziani, Amin. 2008. ...

. He was a reporter and assistant editor for the ''Athol Daily News'' from 1979 to 1989, and Director of Community Relations for the

Athol, Massachusetts Athol (, ) is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,945 at the 2020 census. History Originally called Pequoiag when settled by Native Americans, the area was subsequently settled by five families in ...

Memorial Hospital, 1989 to 1999. He joined the

Montague Nuclear Power Plant The Montague Nuclear Power Plant was a proposed nuclear power plant to be located in Montague, Massachusetts. The plant was to consist of two 1150 MWe General Electric boiling water reactors. The project was proposed in 1973 and canceled in 1980, ...

protests shortly after Sam Lovejoy's toppling of the weather tower in 1974. He has served on the board of directors of the

Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, incorporated in 1986, is a non-profit organization whose mission is the conservation of woodland and agricultural land in north central and western Massachusetts. Based out of Athol, Massachusetts, the MGLCT is ...

, and in 2004 received the Writing and Society Award from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

English Department "honoring a distinguished career of commitment to the work of writing in the world." Since 2009, he has been writing a weekly column, entitled Inside/Outside, for the Athol Daily News.

Works and publications

* * * * * * * * *

Edited anthologies

* With Karla Jay. * With Karla Jay. * With Karla Jay. * *

References

External links

Young, Allen (1990) "Liberation News Service: A History"

Land protection

''Gay Sunshine interview with Allen Ginsberg''

Pride 2008 Gay Spirit Radio broadcast

Allen Young papers

with

Jonah Raskin Jonah Raskin (born January 3, 1942) is an American writer who left an East Coast university teaching position to participate in the 1970s radical counterculture as a freelance journalist, then returned to the academy in California in the 1980s to ...

Program of the 1979 National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights

Rainbow History oral history

Liberation News Service archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Allen 1941 births Living people American anti–Vietnam War activists American male journalists People from Fallsburg, New York American LGBTQ rights activists Gay Liberation Front members American gay writers Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Gay Jews People from Liberty, New York Columbia College (New York) alumni Stanford University alumni 21st-century American LGBTQ people