Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Studies
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About
"The Homophile Movement refers to the local, national and international social-political movement for gay and lesbian rights which emerged following World War II. Many consider the birth of the homophile movement to be sometime around 1950/1951, a date that corresponds to the founding of the Mattachine Society, and then eventually, to ONE Inc., and the Daughters of Bilitis. U.S. gay rights organizations that pre-date the Mattachine Society include the Chicago Society for Human Rights, founded by Henry Gerber in 1924 and the Veterans Benevolent Association founded in New York in 1945.
Before Stonewall, there were by conservative estimates at least 60 homophile or gay rights groups operating. According to NACHO, in 1970 there were 143 'homosexual or gay groups' operating in the United States and Canada. After Stonewall, the number of LGBTQIA+ groups proliferated so rapidly it becomes difficult to keep track. However, just a year after Stonewall, there were upwards of 1500-2000 LGBT+ liberation groups in the United States, and many more internationally. While the term 'homophile' eventually fell out of use, there were notably a number of organizations who continued to employ this term even into the 1980s. " - More information on the homophile movement in the Library of Congress' LGBTQIA+ Studies: A Resource Guide.
Publications
- Citizen's news1964-1967. San Francisco. Citizens News began as LCE News in 1961, the organ of Strait’s political group, League for Civil Education, and was the first gay newspaper in San Francisco. Although it was originally intended to circulate only in the Bay Area, it expanded to include national and international news on police repression, politics, gay history, social action, and the gay scene.
- Der Kreis = Le cercle1943 - 1967. Zurich, Switzerland. Der Kreis (The Circle) was a Swiss gay magazine. Founded as the lesbian magazine Freundschaftsbanner in 1932 it turned into a male-only magazine in 1942 under the name Der Kreis. It was trilingual and distributed internationally.
- Hellas1953-1954. Hamburg, Germany. The magazine Hellas was one of several post-World War II German langauge homophile publications.
- The Ladder1956-1972. San Francisco. The Ladder was the first nationally distributed lesbian publication in the United States. The Ladder was the primary monthly publication and method of communication for the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization in the US. It was supported by ONE, Inc. and the Mattachine Society, with whom the DOB retained friendly relations. The name of the magazine was derived from the artwork on its first cover, simple line drawings showing figures moving towards a ladder that disappeared into the clouds.
- Mattachine review1955-1966. Los Angeles. The Mattachine Review was published by Mattachine Society which began as a secret organization in Los Angeles in 1950. The group was founded by Communist organizer Harry Hay and borrowed the initial structure of the organization from the Communist Party.
- ONE Magazine1953-1972. Los Angeles. ONE Magazine was a nationally-distributed publication put out by ONE, Incorported, a homophile organization based in Los Angeles. The magazine was published from 1952 to 1967, surviving threats from the police and federal government to provide news, essays, fiction, and more to gay and lesbians across the United States.
- Vanguard1965-1966. San Francisco. From August 1965 until December 1966 Vanguard was a seventeen month old independent gay youth organization formed and originally organized by the adult Adrian Ravarour who was a Mormon priest and full-time staff member at Intersection Center for [Religion and] the Arts.
- Vector1964-1976. San Francisco: Society for Individual Rights, an important homophile organization in the 1960s-70s. The magazine started as a newsletter in 1964. By the late 1960s content was focused on local and national news of interest to gay men. In the 1970s the magazine morphed into a standard gay men's magazine.
In addition to the physical materials we have in our collections, a number of homophile publications are available in online archives and special collections.