robinson had been a hippie and had dropped out of brooklyn college and worked in construction. in late june 1969 he was a participant in the stonewall riot, which focused his activism on gay rights; on july 27 he led the first christopher street liberation march. he was a member of the mattachine action committee and co-founded the gay liberation front and the gay activists alliance later that year, and subsequently act-up, the national gay task force and glaad.