Brad Keistler was a 75-year-old man at the time of the interview, which took place at J. Murrey Atkins Library in Charlotte, NC. He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was educated at Charlotte College and UNC Chapel Hill and was employed as the owner of a retail business called Asterisk in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a laboratory technician for Celanese Fibre Industries, Papermate, and American Cyanamid, and as a coin repair technician for Pacific Bell/ Southwestern Bell. He was a co-founder of the Charlotte chapter of the Gay Liberation Front.
In this second of two interviews Brad Keistler, the co-founder of the Charlotte chapter of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in the early 70s, discusses the background to various documents that he donated to the J. Murrey Atkins Library archive. [All times are approximate]. [00:00-04:50] Mr. Keistler discusses what he recalls about the journal "Inquisition", which was produced in Charlotte in the "Big House" on Kingston Av. in the Dilworth neighborhood. The house had been invaded by local police several times. [04:50-15:12] He describes his involvement with the journal, the "Carolina Plain Dealer", of which he donated all but one (number eight) of the first nine issues to the archive. He learned about the publication through people who lived in the Red Worms commune where he lived in Dilworth, and also through his association with Crazy Horse Books, which was located next to his head shop on Sixth St. in downtown Charlotte. He describes the general content as including information about women's liberation, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and police brutality. His own interest was in contributing to a central spread with a focus on the gay rights movement. He details how he travelled to the Chapel Hill area to work with Clint Pyne on the centerfold of the December 3 1971 issue, which included advertising for a gay dance in Charlotte to be held at the Unitarian Church on January 28, 1972. Part of his donation was the mock up for this centerfold. [15:12-18:07] Mr. Keistler notes that there was also information in the Carolina Plain Dealer about the Red Worms Commune, the Charlotte Women's Center, and the Crazy Horse bookstore. [18:07-25:50] He discusses the October 1971 edition of the Carolina Plain Dealer, which contains an article about a protest he took part in as a member of the Red Hornets May Day Tribe in Charlotte. The group was united in opposition to the Vietnam War and he describes their protest at the Charlotte Coliseum during Billy Graham Day, when President Nixon was a key speaker. He discusses how they organized themselves and how all but one of the group was refused entry due to their appearance. The organizer of the protest was able to get entry and distributed leaflets after which she was also expelled from the building and joined the others protesting outside where some were arrested. [25:50-32:49] The interview concludes with a discussion about Christianity and Mr. Keistler's personal experience with the church. He describes one particular event when his mother took him to a Billy Graham crusade when he was a teenager and how this significantly changed his outlook on Christianity. He continues with his reflections on a newspaper article by columnist Polly Paddock of the Charlotte Observer which described the activities of the GLF chapter he co-founded.
