Listen to Charles Francis, President of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., talk with activist Mike Rogers on The Michelangelo Signorile Show about how MSDC is at the center of the past, present, and future of the LGBT civil rights movement.

“History must never be erased,” Francis tells Rogers. With documents on LGBT political history still sealed or hidden, the work of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. is as important as ever. “We need to show these documents… This discrimination was rooted in… animus, bigotry, and homophobia. Once everyone agrees that’s what been happening the past 60 years, then we can correct some of these laws that are just unconstitutional.”

Even as reactionaries attempt to roll back progress toward achieving LGBT civil equality, Francis notes the “tremendous strength” of the gay rights movement in the millennial generation.

Rogers includes clips of Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings speaking about the gay rights movement.