[2] The group members wanted to form a "single issue, politically neutral [organization], whose goal would be to "secure basic human rights, dignity and freedom for all gay people.

"[3] The political neutrality and single-themedness stood in contrast to the Gay Liberation Front, which allied itself with the radical Black Panther Party, criticized the Vietnam War and had a hard left-wing, anti-capitalistic stance.

In one action in March 1970, the GAA organized protests against the police raid on the Snake Pit bar in Greenwich Village and the injuries suffered by Diego Viñales in the resulting chaos.

These protests helped spark interest in the upcoming Christopher Street Liberation Day events already planned for 28 June.

[5][6] In 1973 three GAA members, Tom Wilson Weinberg, Dan Sherbo and Bern Boyle, opened the gay bookstore Giovanni's Room at 232 South Street.

GAA first met at the Church of the Holy Apostles (9th Ave. & 28th St.) Their next New York City headquarters, the Firehouse at 99 Wooster Street in Soho, was occupied in May 1971 and burned down by arsonists on October 15, 1974.

GAA co-founder Morty Manford got into scuffles with security and administration during his successful effort to found the student club Gay People at Columbia University in 1971, as well as at a famous protest against homophobia at the elite Inner Circle event in 1972.

[14][15] The GAA Firehouse on Wooster Street also served as a community center and had extremely popular dances that helped fund the organization.

The stairwell was decorated with a photomontage agitprop mural created by the British artist Mario Dubsky (1939–85) and the American painter John Button (1929–82) both of whom were early victims of AIDS.

"[18] While the majority demographic of the Gay Activist Alliance were men, this sub-committee was important because it was devoted to planning events in order, "to support a sense of community among all lesbians.