After high school he was accepted into Harvard University but could not attend for financial reasons, instead he began studies at St. Peter's Seminary in Baltimore.
[2][3] Fouratt took up political activism more seriously in 1965, after being arrested in Times Square at America's first Anti-Vietnam war demonstration.
That same year he cofounded the Yippies, a youth-oriented countercultural movement, alongside Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Paul Krassner.
In November 1980, Pieper and Fouratt had prepared to open the New Peppermint Lounge night club, but were pushed out by Frank Roccio and Tom Goodkind.
[16] Fouratt has been pop culture critic for Billboard and Rolling Stone[1][17] and a contributing editor at Spin.
Additionally, he has written for The Village Voice,[18] The Advocate, Bay Area Reporter, Gay City News and Come Out!.
In 1969, Fouratt asked his lover Peter Hujar to take a photograph for a Gay Liberation Front recruitment poster.
[21][22] Hujar's boyfriend at the time, Jim Fouratt, arrived on the scene to organize for the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), the first political group to cite homosexuality in its name.
"[23] He believes that transgender identity reinforces gender stereotypes[24] and that trans discourse is marginalizing the experiences of gays and lesbians.
"[27] Fouratt previously lived with Carl Miller, Allen Young, and Giles Kotcher in the Seventeenth Street commune.