Pre-Stonewall Wicker's first exposure to the
gay movement came while he was a student at the
University of Texas at Austin in the mid-1950s, when he discovered a copy of the
ONE, Inc. magazine
One. Wicker affiliated himself with the
New York City chapter of the gay
Mattachine Society of New York (MSNY) in 1958, while still a student, spending the summer in the city to work with the organization. The Mattachine took a comparatively conservative stance in its work for gay rights, while Wicker, who was younger than the leadership and many of the other members, joined with other younger activists like MSNY vice president
Craig Rodwell in an effort to make the group more radical. After convincing MSNY that it should begin publicizing its events, Wicker printed up flyers for an upcoming lecture, leading to a standing-room-only crowd. It also led police to persuade MSNY's landlord to evict the group from its recently occupied headquarters. As he became more active in the movement, Wicker informed his family about his activities. Hayden Sr., while skeptical that his efforts would amount to anything, asked him not to use "Charles Hayden" for his activism. He adopted the pseudonym "Randolfe Hayden Wicker", retaining his family name as his new middle name to maintain the family connection. He legally changed his name in 1967. He also became active in the civil rights movement. Wicker ran for student body president but during the campaign the dean received notification that Wicker and his roommate
Edward Lacey were gay. This helped convince him that homosexuals needed to engage in militant action. He supported himself by operating, with his lover Peter Ogren, Underground Uplift Unlimited, a slogan-button and
head shop. The couple ran the shop from 1967 to 1971, and used the proceeds to open an antique and lighting store. Wicker ran his store for 29 years.
Stonewall uprising and aftermath Wicker was a witness to the
Stonewall riots in June, 1969, which are recognized as the start of the modern
gay liberation movement. He later recalled seeing rioters set bonfires and throw garbage barrels through the windows of
Greenwich Village businesses. "All I could think was, Oh my God, they're going to burn up a little old Italian lady or some child is going to be killed and we're going to be the bogey-man of the seventies." Despite his early activism, Wicker denounced the riots at a community organizational meeting a week later, saying that "throwing rocks through windows doesn't open doors" and dismissing "disorderly" behavior as a means to social tolerance. He temporarily distanced himself from the gay movement, but returned by writing in 1970 for
Gay, a tabloid magazine, and again in 1972 to lend his name as co-author
The Gay Crusaders, a compilation of profiles of early movement leaders, with
Kay Lahusen (writing under the name "Kay Tobin") though Lahusen, who was uncomfortable with public speaking, wrote it all and Wicker simply agreed to do promotion of the book. Wicker joined the
Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), a more structured activist group that formed in response to what was seen as the excesses of the
Gay Liberation Front (GLF). The GLF had an
intersectional approach, and spread their focus amongst a number of left-oriented political activities, including opposition to the
Vietnam War and support for the
Black Panther Party. The GAA members wanted to concentrate their energies exclusively on gay rights issues. As a member of the GAA, Wicker participated in a series of
zaps, or occupation-style actions. At times Wicker also covered these events for gay media outlets like
Gay and
The Advocate. Wicker was roommates with GLF Drag Queen Caucus,
Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) co-founder, and
ACT UP activist
Marsha P. Johnson from 1982 until Johnson's death in 1992. Since 2009, Wicker has been documenting and participating in the
Radical Faerie communities in Tennessee and New York. In 2023, he served as grand marshal of the
NYC Pride March and launched a petition to remove the General
Phil Sheridan statue from
Stonewall National Monument because of "Sheridan's massacre of Indigenous people." He also donated his archives to the
National LGBTQ+ Archives the same year. ==Cloning activist==