Out of the 1950s' repressive shadows, the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis emerge. Founded in Los Angeles by Harry Hay, Mattachine is galvanized by Hay's gay rights manifesto "The Call" - and by the arrest and trial of member Dale Jennings. Meanwhile, tired of lesbian bars constantly being raided by police, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon create the Daughters of Bilitis as a support system for their San Francisco sisters. As these two groups shift from secret societies to national organizations demanding political and social change, they pave the way for a new generation of activists.

At the height of the 1960s civil rights movement, three activists' complex lives epitomize the intersection of the personal and political. Lorraine Hansberry - a lesbian revolutionary hiding in plain sight, radical voice for civil rights, and author of "A Raisin in the Sun" - wrote extensively about her sexuality under pseudonyms. The March on Washington's intrepid organizer Bayard Rustin worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King and lived openly and proudly as a gay man, even though his sexuality was viewed as a threat to the movement. And in San Francisco, José Sarria, best known for performing comic operas in drag at The Black Cat, made a run for county supervisor years before Harvey Milk would eventually hold the seat.