The Mattachine Steps

One of the earliest gay rights activist groups in the United States, the Mattachine Society was founded in 1950 by labor activist and member of the communist party, Harry Hay. The group was originally composed of just Hay, his partner, and five other gay male friends who would congregate at Hay’s house in Silver Lake. The name “Mattachine Society”- suggested by founding member James Gruber- was inspired by secret societies of masked bachelor men in Medieval France who, thanks to their anonymity, were able to criticize the ruling class. The Mattachine Society grew steadily and quietly in Hay’s home during its first couple years of existence. In February of 1952, however, the group was thrust into the spotlight by media attention after Dale Jennings, one of the society’s founding members, was arrested and charged with lewd behavior at a park- a charge often arbitrarily given to homosexual men in public spaces at the time, whether they were engaging in lewd behavior or not.

Rather than taking the charge quietly, Jennings, Hay, and the rest of the founding members decided that they would seize the opportunity to publicize the event and fight the charge in court. While on the stand, Jennings admitted that while he was indeed a homosexual, he was not guilty. The jury deadlocked, Jennings was released with a warning, and the Mattachine Society began touting the case as a legal victory. The publicity garnered by Jennings’ arrest led to a huge financial and membership boost for the organization, and paved the way for other chapters of the Mattachine Society to be established across the West Coast. By May of 1953, an estimated 2,000 chapters of the Mattachine Society had been created in California alone.

This meteoric rise, paired with 1950’s Red Scare paranoias, led many within the organization to try and tame the more subversive elements that were being introduced. Due to their former ties with the Communist Party, Hay and the other founding members revealed their identities at the May 1953 Mattachine Society Convention and announced their resignations. The organization’s new leadership took on a decidedly more moderate, reformist vision that demanded non-confrontation from members and pledged allegiance to the United States as well as its legal system. Membership waned because of this shift, but it also opened up more possibilities for coalition-building between the Mattachine Society and other existing LGBTQ rights groups.

Although the national organization dissolved in 1961 due to internal disagreements, local chapters persisted well through the 1960’s. Several notable actions also took place during this time period. In 1965, Mattachine Society chapters organized two-day-long protests outside of the White House and the United Nations over Fidel Castro’s imprisonment of homosexuals. On January 1st of the same year, a benefit was held in San Francisco for the Mattachine Society alongside several other prominent LGBTQ rights organizations in the city. While the police had promised to not interfere, officers arrived at the benefit and began photographing each of the attendees as an intimidation tactic. When a group of four lawyers- two gay, two heterosexual- confronted the officers, they were arrested. By the time their court date came around, however, twenty-five of San Francisco’s most respected lawyers had joined their defense team. Before the defense even had a chance to present their arguments, the judge told the jury to find the defendants not-guilty. The case is still considered to be a landmark victory for LGBTQ civil rights.

By the late 1960’s, the reformist, white-male-dominated makeup of most Mattachine Society chapters was being overpowered by a more radical and inclusive approach to LGBTQ rights. Catalysts such as the Stonewall Riots, the sexual revolution, and the anti-war movement of the 1970’s pushed most of the remaining Mattachine Societies into dissolution.

Harry Hay died of lung cancer on October 24, 2002. He was 90 years old. Ten years after his death, the City of Los Angeles dedicated this staircase, which is located near his original Silver Lake residence where meetings were first hosted, to the legacy of Hay and the Mattachine Society. 

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