Stonewall Nation - Wikipedia
Stonewall Nation was the informal name given to a proposition by gay activists to establish a separatist community in Alpine County, California in 1970. The small population of the county and the election rules for California counties at the time suggested to these activists that if they could induce a relatively small number of gay people to move to the county, they could recall the county government and replace it with an all-gay slate.
The plan did not gain traction in the LGBT community and a right-wing Christian minister announced plans to move large numbers of Christians to the county to counteract any attempt by gay people to take over the county government. The plan was abandoned about a year after it was conceived and the idea has come to be seen as a practical joke.
In 1970, Alpine County had a population of about 430 people,[1] with 367 registered voters. Under a recent California Supreme Court ruling, new county residents could register to vote after 90 days in residence.[2] Activist Don Jackson presented his idea for taking over the county at a December 28, 1969 gay liberation conference in Berkeley, California. He was inspired by gay activist and writer Carl Wittman, who wrote in his "Gay Manifesto", "To be a free territory, we must govern ourselves, set up our own institutions, defend ourselves....Rural retreats, political action offices...they must be developed if we are to have even the shadow of a free territory."[3][note 1] He (incorrectly) suggested that if as few as 200 gay people moved to Alpine County, they would constitute a majority of registered voters. Taking over the county government, he said, would result in:
