Homosexual Democracy in America: Political Ideology and Organization in the Mattachine, 1950-1954

L. Foote

The Mattachine Society brought about the inception of American homosexual organization at the dawn of the Cold War. Founded in 1950 and continuing to the Stonewall Riots of 1969, the Mattachine developed from a small group of five men who met secretly in a Los Angeles home into a public organization that had thousands of members over its lifetime. The political principles of the organization shifted considerably over its lifetime. Harry Hay, a Communist Party member from 1934-1951, hosted the first meetings in 1950 with a small group of mostly leftist gay men, which consisted of Rudi Gernreich, Chuck Rowland, Bob Hull, and Dale Jennings. These five founders, known as the Fifth Order, structured a secret society and organized separate discussion groups, each limited to a few dozen members. The purpose of my thesis is to chart this transition in political ideology and organizational structure of the Mattachine Society. Most historians locate the organization's strength in its radical politics, but I will argue that its growth and success stemmed mostly from its attempts to locate itself within the mainstream of American politics. This transition aided the Mattachine in dealing with government institutions and police forces, university professors conducting research on homosexuality, and the public at large. Furthermore the ideological development of the Mattachine increased its appeal to American homosexuals. The conceptual departure from its Communist foundations proved a crucial factor in the organization's rapid expansion.