Craig Rodwell

Craig Rodwell (1940 - 1993) was an American gay rights activist known for founding the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop on November 24, 1967 - the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors - and as the prime mover for the creation of the New York City gay pride demonstration. Rodwell, who was already an activist when he participated in the 1969 Stonewall uprising, is considered by some to be the leading gay rights activist in the early, pre-Stonewall, homophile movement of the 1960s.

Arguably one of the most consequential gay activists of the 20th century, Rodwell is known for participating in the Stonewall riots, his work in the Mattachine Society, founding the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, proposing the first annual pride march, and dating Harvey Milk in the early 1960s.

In 1954, Craig Rodwell was just 14 when he was arrested for having sex with a man. From 13 to 14 years old, Rodwell had sex with "hundreds of men" in Chicago. He would go cruising outside of gay bars to meet these men. Speaking of the experience, he said

This is what I lived for, literally. And that’s all I thought about all day long, just so I could get downtown and go cruising. Uh, it was, oh, it was just, I get thrilled now even thinking about it, those, those, those times. It had a great sense of freedom about it and adventure and, oh, I met all kinds of guys—Air Force guys, cops, you name it. I met all kinds of guys during high school.

When Rodwell was 14, he was charged and convicted by the Chicago police for the crime of juvenile delinquency, when he was caught walking home after having sex with a man in his thirties. He was ultimately sentenced to two years of probation. His lover was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for "crimes against nature".

Craig's positive experience of age-gap sex in his youth is similar to other gay icons from his era, such as Harry Hay and Edmund White.