National March! On Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights: Official Souvenir Program Page: 9
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and a few friends launched the Mattachine Society, named for secret
Medieval societies and Indian ritual dancers. They circulated a peti-
tion against U.S. action in Korea and helped protest beatings of
Mexican-American youths.
It wasn't America's first gay group. There'd been a drag-queen
league 50 years before, discussion groups in Boston, 1943, and Phila-
delphia, 1948, an Atlanta gay church, 1945, and a NY gay veteran's
defense group for some years, but like Lisa Ben's secretive magazine,
1947-48, they had little connection with what followed.
Hay's group grew slowly. With the slogan, "Now is the time to
fight!" Mattachine fronted a Committee to Outlaw Entrapment. By
year's end, hundreds of women and men crowded into rap groups all
over Southern California. The elation of being at last on the move
made those who sought only law reform and loss of timidity expect
a quick victory. Those who saw gay rights tied to broader justice
issues or sexual freedom felt it might take a decade or so.
With ground prepared by Cory's 1951 book, The Homosexual in
America, Mattachine spread to San Francisco and Chicago. But new
members reflected America's most fearful and conformist period.
Their discovery of the founders' radicalism was a deep shock, and
while Charles Rowland tried to negotiate, Hay yielded nothing to the
newcomers, who ousted the founders at a Spring '53 convention.
High point of that meeting before we tore one another apart was
Rowland's appeal, paraphrased here: "We are here today, brothers
and sisters, proud and united, Black, White, Yellow and Brown. But
we are behind closed doors. I look forward to a day when we shall
march arm in arm, ten or twelve abreast, down all the main avenues
of America, an army of lovers, singing militant songs."
His vision horrified the insurgents, who severed all ties with the
first Mattachine but the name. The new society was out of the closet,
ready to work openly and democratically, but badly demoralized and
committed to image-polishing, low profile law reform and cause-and-
cure research-and "don't categorize us with Blacks and others!"
L.A.'s Knights of the Clocks started in 1951, a briefly thriving
social group of Black/White gay couples and their parents. Such mix-
ing was rare then, except in gay and radical circles. It would take
awhile for us to see how often it had a patronizing tone.
ONE Magazine, growing out of the Knights and Mattachine, con-
tinued the radical tradition somewhat, publishing Americ's first
openly sold gay magazine, frequently shocking its nervous readers
and appealing to the Supreme Court its right to publish. ONE was
named by a Black member and a Latin was among its founding direc-
tors, all using their real names. Half the staff were women until 1958,
and we balanced male-female material as best we could.
ONE began regular counseling in 1955 and gay studies classes in
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D.C. Media Committee. National March! On Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights: Official Souvenir Program, pamphlet, 1979; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc276226/m1/11/: accessed June 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.