Guest Opinion: Mattachine Society was started to organize gays

Thomas R. Dunn.

Photo: Courtesy Penn State University Press

The Nazi persecution of homosexuals lurked in the memories of five American men as they gathered in Harry Hay’s Los Angeles home on November 11, 1950. The meeting’s aim was to discuss a new draft of a prospectus, first written by Hay in 1949, calling for the incorporation of an American homosexual organization. By almost any measure, the dangerous and hard-fought meeting was successful, for the men agreed to meet again and proceed with the new endeavor, which would become the Mattachine Foundation. In doing so, these leaders inaugurated a powerful new phase of the U.S. homosexual rights movement. A key facet of the group members’ decision was their agreement with the principles and ideas outlined in Hay’s prospectus. In at least