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The Mattachine Society of Washington, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Invention of Gay Pride, 1

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The Mattachine Society of Washington, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Invention of Gay Pride, 1 The Proud Plaintiff: The Mattachine Society of Washington, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Invention of Gay Pride, 1957-1969 A dissertation presented by Eric Matthew Cervini of Emmanuel College to The Faculty of History in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Cambridge Cambridge, United Kingdom July 2019 This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution. It does not exceed the word limit prescribed by the Degree Committee of the History Faculty. © 2019 Eric Cervini All rights reserved. Abstract The Proud Plaintiff: The Mattachine Society of Washington, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Invention of Gay Pride, 1957-1969 by Eric Cervini Histories of the early gay rights movement in America have aptly placed emphasis on the Mattachine Society of Washington (MSW), founded in 1961, and its founder, Frank Kameny. Told as part of broader social or political histories of the 1960s “homophile” movement, these narratives often recognize the MSW’s ideological and tactical contributions to the fight against the federal government’s gay purges; indeed, the Society is most known for the first gay pickets of the White House and its militant slogan, “Gay is Good.” These histories, however, have overlooked a crucial component of the MSW’s story: its legal alliance with the American Civil Liberties Union. This dissertation relies on tens of thousands of pages of archived personal papers (belonging to Kameny, his fellow homophile activists, and ACLU attorneys), recently declassified legal transcripts and government documents, the ACLU’s own archives, dozens of audio recordings from the 1960s and 70s, and personal interviews with surviving MSW and ACLU members. Chapter One is a case study of Frank Kameny’s dismissal from federal employment, a result of his homosexuality, and his development as 1) a plaintiff suing the government and 2) an early gay activist. Kameny saw the two roles as identical, and he formed the MSW to fight the federal government in court. Chapter Two follows the early years of the Society and its efforts to ally with the National Capital Area Civil Liberties Union (NCACLU), formed within days of the MSW. Chapter Three examines a turning point in the relationship, when the NCACLU defended the MSW before Congress in 1963 and began to embrace gay rights as constitutional rights. Chapter Four traces the rise and fall of the MSW’s picketing campaign in relation to its legal fight and the deployment of respectability. Finally, Chapter Five examines the fall of the MSW and the rise of modern gay pride celebrations, concluding that the Society ceased to exist in 1969 not only because of post-Stonewall irrelevance, but also because the NCACLU absorbed the group’s raison d’être. I conclude that the greatest historical contribution of the MSW was its formulation and popularization of gay pride, first, as legal argument, and second, as a movement ideology to spur additional homosexual plaintiffs willing to sue the government. While previous histories emphasize Gay Liberation’s eclipse of the relatively conservative Society, this dissertation demonstrates that the MSW’s demise in fact represented the fulfilment of its effort to transform gay rights into a valid civil liberties issue. Today, as marginalized Americans and civil libertarians fight new legal battles against the federal government, this dissertation sheds light on how such struggles and alliances can shape minority groups, their ideologies, and their collective memories. Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: The Kameny Brief ................................................................. 28 I. The Machinery of the Purges ........................................................... 33 II. Psychiatric Authority, the Legislative, and the Executive .............. 44 III. The American Civil Liberties Union ............................................. 62 IV. The Kameny Brief ......................................................................... 87 Chapter Two: The Lavender Union .......................................................... 101 I. The Creation of the Mattachine Society of Washington ................ 104 II. Infiltrating the National Capital Area Civil Liberties Union ........ 115 III. State Surveillance and a Solidified Alliance ............................... 138 Chapter Three: The Congressman ............................................................ 156 I. The Congressman and New Visibility ........................................... 159 II. In Defense of Morality .................................................................. 176 III. The NCACLU's Defense ............................................................. 197 IV. A Finalized Alliance .................................................................... 208 Chapter Four: Picketing and Pride ........................................................... 221 I. The Jenkins Catalyst ...................................................................... 225 II. Picketing and the Performance of Respectability ......................... 238 III. Bruce Scott and the Fall of Picketing .......................................... 257 IV. The National Growth of the Proud Plaintiff ................................ 267 Chapter Five: Gay is Good ......................................................................... 282 I. The Pentagon Cases ....................................................................... 286 II. Pride as a Psychological Antidote ................................................ 300 III. Legal Victory and the Clash of Respectability ............................ 327 IV. Gay Liberation and the Final Evolution of Pride ........................ 335 Epilogue ........................................................................................................ 358 Bibliography ................................................................................................. 366 Introduction I. On an afternoon in February 1952, Dale Jennings exited a public restroom in a Los Angeles park and noticed a large, rough-looking man following him home. A witness saw the stranger forcefully enter Jennings’ front door, and Jennings soon found his hand being forced down the front of the man’s trousers. Seconds later, Jennings was in handcuffs. The man had been a police officer.1 The next evening, after Jennings posted bail, his fledgling group of homosexuals, a secretive organization known as the Mattachine Society, held an emergency meeting.2 Though most Los Angeles homosexuals quietly accepted charges arising from entrapment, the Mattachine decided to fight his case, using it to publicize and dramatize their oppression.3 Jennings found a sympathetic heterosexual lawyer, and together, they 1 Dale Jennings, “To Be Accused, Is To Be Guilty,” ONE, January 1, 1953, 12. 2 The founder of the Mattachine Society, Communist actor Harry Hay, named his organization after a fifteenth-century French dance, les matassins, performed by a group of actors who criticized the immoral and the corrupt behind the comedy of their satire and the anonymity of their masks. See Max Harris, Sacred Folly: A New History of the Feast of Fools (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011), 279; Enid Welsford, The Fool: His Social and Literary History (New York: Doubleday, 1961), 204; Stuart Timmons, The Trouble with Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement (Boston: Alyson, 1990), 177. 3 Timmons, The Trouble with Harry Hay, 164-165. 1 developed a risky defense strategy. Jennings would admit his homosexuality, but he would deny engaging in lewd and lascivious conduct. The police officer, he would claim, was lying. The Mattachine circulated leaflets—“NOW Is The Time To Fight. The issue is CIVIL RIGHTS.”—in public restrooms and on park benches, at the gay beaches of Santa Monica, and in the gay-owned shops of West Hollywood.4 A beach party drew nearly five hundred attendees and raised more than $1000 for the case.5 Yes, Dale Jennings was a homosexual, his attorney told the jury. But there was a difference between being a homosexual and engaging in lewd conduct. “The only true pervert in the courtroom,” he argued, “is the arresting officer.” After thirty- six hours of deliberation, eleven out of twelve jurors voted to acquit Jennings. The judge dismissed the case, and the Mattachine declared victory.6 Never before had an admitted homosexual walked away from a lewd conduct case in the state of California.7 Because of the case, the Mattachine exploded in size. Discussion groups multiplied across Southern California and into the Bay Area. Within months, there were nearly a hundred discussion groups and more than 2,000 participants. One group created a magazine, and Dale Jennings became its first editor. ONE Magazine’s inaugural issue, released in January 1953, featured his case as its 4 John D’Emilio, Sexual Politics,
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