Mattachine Society

The Mattachine Society of New York, Inc. was an early gay rights organization.

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It was founded by Harry Hay and first met in Los Angeles, on November 11, 1950, with Harry, Rudi Gernreich, Bob Hull, Chuck Rowland, and Dale Jennings in attendance, but was not incorporated until 1961. Several other related organizations were formed shortly afterward in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Denver, the District of Columbia, and Philadelphia. The primary goal of the society was to encourage the public to view homosexuals as a persecuted minority rather than mental deviants.

Related Topics:
Harry Hay - Los Angeles - 1950 - Rudi Gernreich - 1961 - New York City - Boston - Chicago - Denver - District of Columbia - Philadelphia - Homosexual - Minority

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The Mattachine Society was named after Mattacino (or the Anglicized Mattachino), a character in Italian theater. Mattacino was a kind of court jester, who would speak the truth to the king when nobody else would. The "mattachin" (from Arabic mutawajjihin—"mask-wearers") were originally Moorish (Hispano-Arab) sword-dancers who wore elaborate, colorful costumes and masks. The Mattachine Society used so-called harlequin diamonds as their emblem. The design consisted of four diamonds arranged in a pattern to form a larger diamond.

Related Topics:
Mattacino - Jester - Arabic - Moorish - Harlequin diamonds - Emblem

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All of the Mattachine founders were affiliated with Communism and based the organization on the cell structure of the American Communist Party. As the Red Scare progressed, the association with communism concerned some members as well as supporters and Hay stepped down as the society's leader. Others who were similarly ousted and the leadership structure became more democratic and the ideaology of the organization became more in tune with the reformist civil rights organizations that existed for African Americans.

Related Topics:
Communism - American Communist Party - Red Scare - Democratic - Civil rights - African Americans

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Although Harry Hay claimed "never to have even heard" of the earlier gay liberation struggle in Germany - by the people around Adolf Brand, Magnus Hirschfeld and Leontine Sagan - he is known to have talked about it with German emigrés in America including Rudi Gernreich.

Related Topics:
Germany - Adolf Brand - Magnus Hirschfeld - Leontine Sagan

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The Mattachine Society's goal was to liberate the oppressed homosexual community and provide a variety of services to the gay community, including referral services for legal and other professionals, and counselling. They also lobbied for the repeal of sodomy laws and other laws that gay people considered discriminatory. It published The Mattachine Review.

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The Mattichine Society was associated with other groups in ECHO (East Coast Homophile Organizations). There was an amicable split within the Society in 1952, resulting in a new organization called ONE, Inc.. ONE admitted women, and together with Mattachine, provided vital help to the Daughters of Bilitis in the launching of Bilitis' newsletter The Ladder: a lesbian review in 1956. The Daughters of Bilitis was the counterpart lesbian organization to the Mattachine Society, and the two organizations worked together on some campaigns. Bilitis came under attack, however, in the early 1970s for "siding" with Mattachine rather than with the new separatist feminists.

Related Topics:
East Coast Homophile Organizations - ONE, Inc. - Daughters of Bilitis - 1956 - Feminist

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During the 1960s, Mattachine was one of the foremost gay rights groups in the United States, but following the Stonewall riots of 1969, it became increasingly seen as stodgy and traditional and not willing enough to be confrontational. Like the divide that occurred within the black civil rights movement, the late 1960s and the 1970s brought a new generation of gay men who felt that the gay rights movement needed to endorse a larger and more radical agenda to address other forms of oppression, the Vietnam War, and the sexual revolution. It lost support and fell prey to infighting. Eventually it closed due to impending bankruptcy and was disbanded in January of 1987.

Related Topics:
1960s - Stonewall riots - 1969 - Vietnam War - Sexual revolution - Bankruptcy - 1987

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