The Mattcahine society

The Mattcahine society

The Mattcahine society was formed in the year 1950 after the Chicago Society of Human Rights by Harry Hay, together with some of his male friends while in I Los Angeles to help bring to light and make known gay rights. He believed that homosexuals are supposed to see themselves as a minority who are entitled to equal rights as all other members of the society. Therefore, Harry acted on his convictions and went on to prompt the dramatic changes in the status of homosexuals, which did not take place immediately, but it was only until later that changes could be seen. Hay’s interest in protecting homosexuals developed after reading Alfred Kinsey’s “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” (1948). Hay, later on, outgrew the urge to organize the disparate homosexuals of America, bringing out massive change. Increased interest in supporting the gay population in the United States, which was growing by the day, made him go on writing a manifesto on his movement and it was here that we went on to be the first to view and publicly state the homosexuals from America were a culturally oppressed group. Later on, with the help of his two friends, Hay was able to establish the Mattachine Society, which was a secret homophile organization in Los Angeles. The name Mattachine Society according to Ida Yazadeh, came from a term used to describe male dancers who satirized social conventions. A series of gay protests from the Cuba prison were among the attributes that led to the emergence of the Mattachine Society.  As years went by, more and more people joined the group claiming thousands of members throughout the United States Society. The society continued to grow and develop and even went on to open new branches within other cities. By the year 1961, it had grown and spread to other regions accommodating more gay people.

Later on, Mattchine merged with the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as groups that advocated for same-sex relationships. Both of the formed with the mission of expanding to other regions. The contributions to make known about lesbians, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities to eradicate homophobic biases and discrimination among people. According to Schulman, “In 1986, Jim and I co-founded the New York Lesbian and Gay Experimental Festival” (10). Relating to the book, Gentrification of the Mind, Sarah Schulman supports equal rights for gays and lesbians. She explains that there should be no discrimination whatsoever between the same-sex community and other people and that both should be accepted in the community. At that time and era, same-sex relationships were not taken and were viewed as a crime. In fact, despite the formation of these movements and groups, any political activities by homosexuals were generally not visible to be public eye. Same-sex people were often harassed by the police whenever they congregated anywhere, even if the meetings were quiet and peaceful. The wars brought many people to notice the gay fraternity of congregation, bringing more visibility to them, and they were therefore seen. However, more clarity brought about more backlash especially from the government and the police. This meant that the people identifying as gay or pro same sex were at risk of getting fired, being involved in purges and having the gay clubs and pubs raided by the police. As a result, joining the Mattachine and Chicago Hall of Fame helped to create awareness and acceptance from both the governments and the police though at the beginning things did not really easily work out for them.

As time went by, the society believed that homosexuals and lesbians were the minority in the society and that living with the heterosexuals would be unfair for them simply because their populations were low. The Year of Gay Liberation, “Under the innovative leadership of Dick Leitsch, the Mattachine Society of New York challenged the State Liquor Authority’s ban on serving homosexual patrons…” Some of the bars and restaurants had also been prevented from offering services to gays. This was among the problems that led to the formation of society.  In 1953, they published an inaugural issue on the One Magazine. According to Roscoe, “Mattachine called for a grassroots movement of gay people to challenge anti-gay discrimination”.  His policies were very important in the efficiency of the Mattachine Society. According to Lindsay, “In this case, however, Jennings declared that he was homosexual but was NOT guilty of the acts with which he was charged” (2).  Advocating for gay rights became politicized and Hay was made to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee but was cleared from any allegations. Hay did not stay in the society for a long time because he saw it impossible to advocate for rights in a world where they heterosexuals were the majority. It was then that Hay split from the group in 1953 as he did not see it fit to to stay and fight for the rights of the homosexuals in a world where they were defeated in number and the heterosexuals were dominant and a much more preferred group among many people. His departure gave room to establishment of a dissonant community which spread out throughout other gay organizations and it came to be dominant in the rhetoric of gay politics at the time. Despite all these, it was seen as contrary to the groups initial mission.

The Mattachine Society addressed gay problems such as to avoid the isolation of homosexuals, educate the society about homosexuality, lesbianism, and heterosexuality, socially accept homosexuals to even vie for political positions and make rights to protect homosexuals who have been oppressed and victimized.  According to Summers, ” sexuality simply is not as plastic as theorist’s assert, and to pretend that homosexuals, bisexuals and heterosexuals or pertinence do not exist is like is denying the uniqueness of personal identities…” (149). the author seeks to clarify that being either lesbian or homosexual is normal, as human beings we are made different. One of the main problems that led to the formation of these groups was because homosexuals and lesbians were not considered as other heterosexual oriented citizens. This means that they were subjected to a lot of denial from society and isolation. They also did not get equal treatment as normal human beings were expected to leaving them unconsidered in any decision making processes. This was an unfair way to treat same sex people because the only difference that they had was that of their desire and opinion on matters regarding choice. Freedom of choice was not a right to them and they were discriminated because they all dared to be different than the rest by joining a group of homosexuals which had such a small number of members at the time.

Beginning from early 20^th century, there was an increased number of same sex organizations that were formed. These groups urged both men and women to come out of their closets even encouraging gay men and women to enter the political arena as candidates. Even then discrimination of these homosexuals was not over and it was still ongoing among the states and areas. Ida Yalzadeh goes on to explain that “the very first open gay government officials in the United States were Jerry Degrieck and Nancy Wechsler” (1). The two were both elected in the year 1972 and they came out while they were serving in the city council. Following them other states also recorded successful homosexual leaders chosen to lead in different political arenas and positions. Though even after successful leadership positions being attained, there did not lack oppositions from heterosexual people who felt that these people did not have what it takes to be the leaders of different positions. They felt that the homosexual people were not qualified enough to hold leadership positions. The early queer groups played significant roles in fighting for the rights of lesbian and homosexuals.  These groups were pioneers in streamlining a proper judicial system to ensure that everyone was equally treated irrespective of their sexual preferences. Through a lot of strikes and tough reform processes, they were able to be recognized by the US government and given a chance to practice their sexual orientation. After proper rights and freedoms have been put in place, and the people of the same sexual relationship accepted in the US, the current generation of people enjoying these rights forgets about the pioneers who opened the way for the future generations.

The struggles of equal representation for the homosexuals did not come to be in a night. According to Jess McHugh, she explains that “a movement cannot materialize overnight” (1). Therefore, all the struggles that the pioneer fighters went through did not all just come to be by the flicker of the hand. They all took time, reject, riots and fights even for the homosexuals to be recognized and accepted to be part of leaders. There was so much rejection that the homosexuals went through including being barred from appearing in entertainment. They were not accepted in any social platforms and the civil servants ended up losing their jobs leaving them unemployed. Activists like Randy Wicker did not give up along the way and they remained activists all their lives but they went on to move from the Mattachines on to more radical associations like the Gay activist’s alliance. The goal of all these activists was to create a platform where the homosexual people were treated equally as the heterosexual majority irrespective of how less in number they were. Their goal was to have equal political representation, education opportunities and unbiasness in any social setting. This was because these minority group was discriminated upon and not allowed to be part of the activities of the community which is why they opted to hide and not come out in the open to be recognized as a same sex community.

Homosexuals continue to have a hard revealing themselves openly to the public but as years go by, they are more welcomed to be part of the society with leadership positions even being available for them. Societal attitudes towards homosexuals continue to change as they are becoming part of the majority day after day with allowance serve in places like the army and even being able to publicly get married to the partners without raising of eyebrows here and there. It is a big win for the pioneers of homosexual movements who went through a lot to eventually get to a time where it is allowed to get out and be known as a homosexual human being. Nowadays there are equal rights and opportunities regardless of the sexuality that one chooses to belong to and most organizations are even equal opportunity employers. This allows for people of all sexes and preference to be part of the dynamic and fast changing world.