Mattachine Society

The Mattachine Society of New York, Inc. was an early gay rights organization. It was founded by Harry Hay and first met in Los Angeles on November 11, 1950 with Harry, Rudi Gernreich, Bob Hull, Chuck Rowland, and Dale Jennings in attendance, but was not incorporated until 1961. Several other related organizations were formed shortly afterward in New York, Boston, Chicago, Denver, the District of Columbia, and Philadelphia. All of the Mattachine founders were affiliated with Communism and based the organization on the cell structure of the American communist party. In the early and mid-50s, as membership began to swell, the early leaders were seen as to radical and were ousted, to be replaced by very conservative leaders.

It was named after Mattacino (or the Anglicized Mattachino), a character in (Venetian?) Italian theater. Mattacino was a kind of court jester, who would speak the truth to the King when nobody else would. The "mattachin" (from Arabic mutawajjihin - "mask-wearers") were originally Moorish (Hispano-Arab) sword-dancers who wore elaborate, colorful costumes and masks.

Mattachine's goal was to liberate the oppressed homosexual community and provide a variety of services to the gay community, including referral services for legal and other professionals, and counselling. They also lobbied for the repeal of sodomy laws and other laws gay people considered discriminatory.

It was associated with other groups in ECHO (East Coast Homophile Organizations).

During the 1960s, Mattachine was one of the foremost gay rights groups in the United States. Following the Stonewall riots of 1969, it became increasingly to be seen as too stodgy and traditional, and not willing enough to be confrontational. It lost support, and fell prey to infighting. Eventually it closed due to impending bankruptcy, and was disbanded in January of 1987.