Editing Harry Hay (section)

==Gay rights activism==

===Mattachine Society: 1948 to 1953===
{{quote box|width=246px|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=right|quote=The post-war reaction, the shutting down of open communication, was already of concern to many of us progressives. I knew the government was going to look for a new enemy, a new scapegoat. It was predictable. But Blacks were beginning to organize and the horror of the holocaust was too recent to put the Jews in this position. The natural scapegoat would be us, the Queers. They were the one group of disenfranchised people who did not even know they were a group because they had never formed as a group. They – we – had to get started. It was high time.|source= —Harry Hay.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=135}}}}

Influenced by the publication of the [[Kinsey Reports]], Hay conceived the idea of a homosexual activist group in August 1948 which later became the Mattachine Society. After signing a petition for [[Progressive Party (United States, 1948)|Progressive Party]] presidential candidate [[Henry A. Wallace]], Hay spoke with other gay men at a party about forming a gay support organization for the campaign called "Bachelors for Wallace". Encouraged by the response he received, Hay wrote out the organizing principles that night, a document he referred to as "The Call", however the men who had expressed an interest were not enthused the following morning.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p==132–134}}<ref name="miller333">Miller, p. 333</ref><ref>Hay/Roscoe, p. 61</ref> Over the next two years, Hay refined his idea, finally conceiving of an "international ... fraternal order" to serve as "a service and welfare organization devoted to the protection and improvement of Society's Androgynous Minority",<ref>Hay, quoted in Hay/Roscoe, p. 63</ref> the latter being a term that he later rejected.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=136}} He planned to call this organization "Bachelors Anonymous" and envisioned it serving a similar function and purpose as [[Alcoholics Anonymous]].<ref>Hay, quoted in Hay/Roscoe, p. 65</ref> At the centre of its approach was Hay's view that homosexuals were "a social minority" or "cultural minority" who were being oppressed; in this he was influenced by Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]]'s Marxist–Leninist concepts of what constituted a minority group.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=136}}

Hay met [[Rudi Gernreich]] in July 1950, with the pair soon entering a relationship. Gernreich shared many of Hay's leftist ideas, and was impressed by The Call. He became an enthusiastic financial supporter of the venture, although  not lending his name, going instead by the initial "R".{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=139–142}}<ref name = progressive /><ref>Ehrenstein, p. 47</ref><ref>D'Emilio, p. 62</ref> Hay, Gernreich, and their friends [[Dale Jennings (activist)|Dale Jennings]], [[Bob Hull]], and Chuck Rowland met on November 11, 1950, in Los Angeles, under the name "Society of Fools".{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=143–145}}<ref>Hogan, et al., pp. 382–3</ref> The group changed its name to "Mattachine Society" in April 1951, chosen by Hay at the suggestion of fellow member [[James Gruber]],{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=150}}<ref>Johansson and Percy, p. 92</ref> based on [[France in the Middle Ages|Medieval French]] [[Secret society|secret societies]] of masked men who (through their anonymity) were empowered to criticize ruling monarchs with impunity.<ref name = rhh />

In April 1951, Hay informed his wife about his continuing homosexuality and his work with the Mattachine Society; she was angry and upset. In September they gained a divorce on the grounds of Hay's "extreme cruelty" and he moved out of their home.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=157–158}} He continued to send half his paycheck to Anita for twelve years, meanwhile cutting out most of his friends from that social milieu.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=161}} He informed the Communist Party of the news, recommending that he be expelled; the Party forbade homosexuals from being members. Although they agreed and discharged him as a "security risk", they also declared him a "Lifelong Friend of the People" in recognition of his many years of service.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=159}}<ref name="workers">{{Cite news |last=Feinberg |first=Leslie |url=http://www.workers.org/2005/us/lavender-red-40/ |title=Harry Hay: Painful partings |date=June 28, 2005 |work=Workers World |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930015105/http://www.workers.org/2005/us/lavender-red-40/ |archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> Hay's relationship with Gernreich ended not long after, with Hay entering a relationship with Danish [[Hatmaking|hat-maker]] Jorn Kamgren in 1952; it would last for eleven years, during which Hay helped him establish a hat shop, attempting to use his contacts within the fashion and entertainment industries to get exposure for Kamgren's work and meeting with moderate success.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=169–170, 181–183}}

Mattachine's structure was based partly on that of the Communist Party and partly on fraternal brotherhoods like [[Freemasonry]]. Operating on the Leninist basis of [[democratic centralism]], it had cells, oaths of secrecy and five different levels of membership, each of which required greater levels of involvement and commitment. As the organization grew, the levels were expected to subdivide into new cells, creating the potential for both horizontal and vertical growth.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=151–152}}<ref>D'Emilio, p. 64</ref> The founding members constituted the "Fifth Order" and from the outset remained anonymous. Mattachine's membership grew slowly at first but received a major boost in February 1952 when founder Jennings was arrested in a Los Angeles park and charged with lewd behavior. Often, men in Jennings' situation would plead guilty to the charge and hope to quietly rebuild their lives. Jennings and the rest of the Fifth Order saw the charges as a means to address the issue of police [[entrapment]] of homosexual men. The group began publicizing the case under the name Citizens Committee to Outlaw Entrapment, and the generated publicity brought financial support and volunteers. Jennings admitted during his trial to being a homosexual but insisted he was not guilty of the specific charge. The jury deadlocked (eleven to one in favor of acquittal), with the judge dismissing the charges; Mattachine declared victory.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=164–167}}<ref>D'Emilio, pp. 69–70</ref>

Following the Jennings trial, the group expanded rapidly, with founders estimating membership in California by May 1953 at over 2,000 with as many as 100 people joining a typical discussion group.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=170–171}} This brought greater scrutiny of the group, and in February 1953 a Los Angeles daily newspaper published an article exposing Hay as a Marxist; not wishing to tar the Society as a Communist group, Hay stepped down from his position.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=174}} The group's membership was diversifying, with people from a broader political spectrum becoming involved. Many members were concerned by the far left control of the group and felt that it should have a more open, democratic structure. At a group convention held in Spring 1953, [[Hal Call]] and other conservative members challenged the leaders to amend its constitution and to affirm that members were loyal to the United States and its laws. In an effort to preserve their vision of the organization, the Fifth Order members revealed their identities and resigned their leadership positions. With the founders gone, Call and other like-minded individuals stepped into the leadership void,{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=175–178}}<ref>Loughery, pp. 228–29</ref> and Mattachine officially adopted non-confrontation as an organizational policy. The reduced effectiveness of this newly organized Mattachine led to a precipitous drop in membership and participation.<ref>Hogan, et al., p. 383</ref> Hay was distraught at Mattachine's change in direction, having an emotional breakdown as a result.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=180}}

===After Mattachine: 1953 to 1969===

Hay's relationship with Kamgren was strained, and he was bored by a life of domesticity and annoyed with Kamgren's controlling and regimented nature. They had little in common, with Kamgren not sharing Hay's interest in political activism, instead being conservative and, in Hay's words, "[[petty bourgeois]]".{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=181, 191}} Kamgren permitted Hay to spend three nights a week in study, which the latter spent reading anthropological and historical texts to learn more about the role of gay people in society, becoming particularly interested in the ''[[Two-Spirit#Berdache|berdache]]'' of Native American communities.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=193–197}} In doing so, Hay was annoyed that Marxist scholars like [[V. Gordon Childe]] and [[George Derwent Thomson]] evaded the subject in their works.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=197}} Although his writing style was widely deemed difficult to read, he published articles on many of his findings in the gay press, namely ''[[ONE, Inc.|ONE Institute Quarterly]]'' and ''[[ONE, Inc.|ONE Confidential]]'', also giving lectures on the subject at ONE's Mid-Winter Institute.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=196}} Meanwhile, in May 1955 Hay was called to testify before a subcommittee of the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] that was investigating Communist Party activity in Southern California. The subcommittee was aware that Hay was a Marxist, and as such he struggled to find legal representation, fearing that he would lose his job and worrying that his sexuality would be used to smear the Party.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=183–190}}

Feeling that he was being restrained by the relationship, Hay left Kamgren, in 1963 beginning a brief relationship with [[Jim Kepner]]. Together they mooted the idea of starting a new Mattachine Society; this came to nothing.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=203–207}} Influenced by the growing counter-culture, Hay ceased to wear suits, instead favouring brightly colored clothing, earrings and necklaces, also growing his hair long. In doing so, he stated that "I never again wanted to be mistaken for a hetero."{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=208}} At a subsequent ONE event, Hay met the inventor [[John Burnside (inventor)|John Burnside]], who became his life partner. Burnside left his wife for Hay, with the latter becoming the manager for Burnside's [[kaleidoscope]] factory. As the pair became increasingly interested in the counter-culture, many individuals belonging to the movement came to work for them.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=208, 224}} Moving to downtown Los Angeles, together the pair created a gay brotherhood called the Circle of Loving Friends in 1965, although they would frequently be the only members of it.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=214}} As the Circle they participated in early homophile demonstrations throughout the 1960s and helped establish the [[North American Conference of Homophile Organizations]] (NACHO) in 1966.<ref>Shively, from Bronski, p. 175</ref>

Fascinated by spirituality, they regularly attended events of the [[Council on Religion and the Homosexual]],{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=223}} and despite his anti-military stance, Hay became Chairman of the Los Angeles Committee to Fight Exclusion of Homosexuals from the Armed Forces, taking part in the group's motorcade protest through the city.{{Sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=220–221}} Attempting to gain greater visibility for the gay rights cause, he made appearances on local media, such as ''[[Joe Pyne|The Joe Pyne Show]]''.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=222–223}} Hay and Burnside also took part in research and fundraising for the Committee for Traditional Indian Land and Life, attending the first North American Traditional Indian conference at [[Tonawanda Reservation|Tonawanda]], [[New York state]], in 1967.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=225–227}} In June 1969, the [[Stonewall riots]] in [[New York City]] marked a move toward a more radical and militant approach among gay rights activists; Hay however stated that "I wasn't impressed by Stonewall, because of all the open gay projects we had done throughout the sixties in Los Angeles. As far as we were concerned, Stonewall meant that the East Coast was catching up."{{sfn|Timmons|1990|pp=228–229}} The riot led to the emergence of the [[Gay Liberation Front]] (GLF), with Hay and Burnside involving themselves in the early development of its Los Angeles chapter in December 1969. Hay was elected its first chairperson, organising pickets of homophobic establishments, holding a one-day "Gay-In" in [[Griffith Park]] and "funky dances" at Troupers Hall to challenge the legal restrictions on same-sex dancing.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=230}}<ref>Hay/Roscoe, p. 361</ref>