Prior to Stonewall, few Americans knew much about gays. It was considered a mental illness by psychologists, and some treatments included lobotomy, sterilization, and electroshock therapy. Walter Freeman, the 'Father of Lobotomy' who traveled around the country performing lobotomy with an icepick under the eye, gave about 40% of his quick fixes to homosexuals.
And sodomy was illegal in every state, with harsh punishments. Eva Kotchever, who ran a Lesbian bar in the 30s, was deported to Poland, and died in Auschwitz. Others would end up with the choice of castration or lobotomy.
But let's hear instead from a primary source:
Prior to the 1950s, or so, the gay community was quite limited. They didn't even have a name to refer to themselves. One of the few places exceptions was around gay centered businesses, such as gay bars, dance halls, and bathhouses. But there was a risk to going to these: the vice cops were looking to arrest homosexuals, and if you were arrested, you were super canceled. Job, housing, even finance for your car were gone after the cops published your name in the newspaper or read it on the radio. Worse, if they arrest you again, you might end up with the choice of castration or lobotomy in a state prison.
So all of this combined to create an amazing disincentive to be out, and was quite effective at hiding the gay population from everyone else's notice. For anyone who wanted to create a community, they have to contact people, and in contacting people, you create risk that you get found out. Effectively, this became the world's biggest coordination problem. If you move by yourself, you will be ignored, but if you make a medium sized problem, you will be crushed. The only way would be something big and something noticed.
Now let's look at a group that failed: The Mattachine society (founded by Harry Hay, the man in the interview above). Originally, the Mattachine society was founded by communists, and adopted a similar organizational structure cell structure to the CPUSA, which allowed it to spread without one person reporting everyone as gay. But after an internal struggle, the communist founders and leaders stepped down and were replaced by liberal non-communists, eventually resulting in them protesting Castro's enslavement of gay men in work prisons.
But other than arguably making the beginnings of a community, the Mattachine society had little success, and this is because of their tactics. They would adopt protests from the African American civil rights movement, but to no avail. A typical protest from the Mattachine society (and the female equivalent: the Daughters of Bilitis (no commies there)), consisted of them dressing up formally in suits or skirts as gender appropriate, and protesting without doing anything that could be perceived as gay other than the signs they held (yes, handholding was forbidden). And they were ignored by society quite easily.
See, they didn't realize the difference between them and black Americans. Black Americans never had to prove they exist. It's immediately obvious to most people. What they had to do was demand equality, and in knowing they would be attacked, garner sympathy. It worked quite well. But gays using the same tactics of demanding equality missed a step: people didn't bother acknowledging that they actually existed. They told that they homosexuality was a fixable perversion, or worse ignored. All of the Mattachine's sip ins did nothing, because no one noticed. And that's death for any social movement.
And sodomy was illegal in every state, with harsh punishments. Eva Kotchever, who ran a Lesbian bar in the 30s, was deported to Poland, and died in Auschwitz. Others would end up with the choice of castration or lobotomy.
But let's hear instead from a primary source:
There was no word known for same sex relationships at the time, even by gay couples. It hadn't even entered the dictionary. The only time the terms were used was in academia and criminal codes. Gay couples would refer to gay people as being 'that way' or 'nervous'. On top of that, if you were arrested for gay relations, the first time was 6 months, the second was your choice, castration or lobotomy. Third, there was super canceling, where your name would be released to the newspapers, and you would lose your job, lodging, and any sort of financing you might have for a car.
Prior to the 1950s, or so, the gay community was quite limited. They didn't even have a name to refer to themselves. One of the few places exceptions was around gay centered businesses, such as gay bars, dance halls, and bathhouses. But there was a risk to going to these: the vice cops were looking to arrest homosexuals, and if you were arrested, you were super canceled. Job, housing, even finance for your car were gone after the cops published your name in the newspaper or read it on the radio. Worse, if they arrest you again, you might end up with the choice of castration or lobotomy in a state prison.
So all of this combined to create an amazing disincentive to be out, and was quite effective at hiding the gay population from everyone else's notice. For anyone who wanted to create a community, they have to contact people, and in contacting people, you create risk that you get found out. Effectively, this became the world's biggest coordination problem. If you move by yourself, you will be ignored, but if you make a medium sized problem, you will be crushed. The only way would be something big and something noticed.
Now let's look at a group that failed: The Mattachine society (founded by Harry Hay, the man in the interview above). Originally, the Mattachine society was founded by communists, and adopted a similar organizational structure cell structure to the CPUSA, which allowed it to spread without one person reporting everyone as gay. But after an internal struggle, the communist founders and leaders stepped down and were replaced by liberal non-communists, eventually resulting in them protesting Castro's enslavement of gay men in work prisons.
But other than arguably making the beginnings of a community, the Mattachine society had little success, and this is because of their tactics. They would adopt protests from the African American civil rights movement, but to no avail. A typical protest from the Mattachine society (and the female equivalent: the Daughters of Bilitis (no commies there)), consisted of them dressing up formally in suits or skirts as gender appropriate, and protesting without doing anything that could be perceived as gay other than the signs they held (yes, handholding was forbidden). And they were ignored by society quite easily.
See, they didn't realize the difference between them and black Americans. Black Americans never had to prove they exist. It's immediately obvious to most people. What they had to do was demand equality, and in knowing they would be attacked, garner sympathy. It worked quite well. But gays using the same tactics of demanding equality missed a step: people didn't bother acknowledging that they actually existed. They told that they homosexuality was a fixable perversion, or worse ignored. All of the Mattachine's sip ins did nothing, because no one noticed. And that's death for any social movement.
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