Harry Hay

Harry Hay (born April 7, 1912, Worthing, Sussex, England—died October 24, 2002, San Francisco, California, U.S.) American gay rights activist who believed that homosexuals should see themselves as an oppressed minority entitled to equal rights. He acted on his convictions and in large measure prompted the dramatic changes in the status of homosexuals that took place in the United States in the second half of the 20th century.

Although Hay was born in England, he moved as a young boy to California with his family, and he later attended Stanford University. However, due to health reasons, he left college in 1932. The next year he discovered Marxism, which he believed would support homosexuality under its principles. Hay was later introduced to the Communist Party (CPUSA), but the CPUSA forbade gay and lesbian activity. He married fellow member Anita Platky in 1938 to ward off suspicion. The following year they moved to New York City to support the leftist organization Popular Front. Throughout his time as a prominent figure of the CPUSA and his marriage, Hay had many homosexual affairs, most notably with actor Will Geer and an architect.

After reading Alfred Kinsey’s Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948), Hay developed the goal of organizing the disparate homosexuals of America to elicit public change. Kinsey’s work asserted that 10 percent of males were actively involved in homosexual activity, and Hay consequently believed that if this were the case, there would be enough of them in the American population to organize into a mass movement defending homosexuality against discrimination. The budding gay rights activist went on to write a manifesto on the movement, wherein he was the first to view homosexuals in the United States as a culturally “oppressed minority,” a term usually attributed to racial groups. His ideas, however, were not published until 1951, in the essay “The Homosexual in America.” Even then, Hay wrote it under the pseudonym Donald Webster Cory. In 1948 Hay also worked for the presidential campaign of Progressive Party leader Henry Wallace. Soon after, Hay divorced his wife and began to sow the seeds of the gay rights movement.

With the help of Chuck Rowland and Bob Hull, Hay established the Mattachine Society, a secret homophile organization in Los Angeles. The name “Mattachine” came from a medieval French term used to describe male dancers who satirized social conventions. The initial years of the society’s establishment consisted of meetings led by Hay and meant to bring awareness and to educate its members on the relationship between social justice and homosexuality. By 1953 the organization claimed thousands of members throughout the United States. That year the group published the inaugural issue of ONE Magazine, the first widely distributed journal for homosexuals.

Although the Mattachine Society laid an expansive framework for future pushes for gay rights, Hay himself did not fare well within the organization, and he split from the group in 1953. His leftist politics and radical views regarding gay assimilation—he did not think it reasonable or satisfying for homosexuals to fit into a society in which heterosexuality was the dominant and preferred lifestyle—have been suggested as reasons for his departure. The idea of homosexuals establishing a dissonant community spread throughout gay organizations and came to dominate the rhetoric of gay politics throughout the 1970s. At the time, however, it was seen as contrary to the organization’s mission.

In 1955 Hay was subpoenaed to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and, although he was acquitted of any allegations, he maintained a low profile in subsequent years. Hay resumed his role as a gay rights pioneer and leader in 1969 when he helped found the Los Angeles-based Gay Liberation Front. However, he was disappointed in the measured spirit of the 1970s gay movements. As a result, Hay cofounded the Radical Faeries, another semipublic gay community through which the rights of homosexuals were coupled with ideas of spiritual renewal and New Age practices. A champion for a diverse homosexual identity, Hay often waded into contentious debates, notably by advocating for such controversial organizations as the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), a pro-pederasty group.

Always known for his radical and controversial stances, Hay was one of the most prominent figures in the recognition and acknowledgement of homosexuality in the United States. Although the term “gay rights” was a part of the mainstream rhetoric by the time of the Stonewall Riots in 1969, he paved the way for its initial establishment through his constant political progressivism and social activism.