Obituary for Mattachine Member, Dick Leitsch By Lance Rider, PC Board Member
As we prepare to look back on 2020, we will look further back to a time before Stonewall, before the founding of The Pride Center, and a time when homosexuality was criminalized and considered a mental illness by the medical community. It was a time where being gay could lead to jail, loss of employment, loss of family, and in some cases, your life.
During this time, a group of incredibly brave men came together to form one of the secret societies of the 1950s. Dick Leitsch, one of the early LGBTQ movement architects and a President of the Mattachine Society of New York, passed away this past June. This article reminds us of the struggles before Stonewall and to fight those that still wish to put us in a closet.
Our history is not only the last 50 years of The Pride Center, the past 51 years since Stonewall, or even the past 80 years of the Mattachine Society. It is human history, and we should continue to learn it and become aware of our collective past. As Lady Gaga says, “You Were Born This Way.”
Mattachine Society Members Were Early Crusaders for Queer Rights By John McDonald, South Florida Gay News
Lost in the celebrations of this year’s Pride was the death of a historical crusader for LGBT rights. The passing of Dick Leitsch was a reminder of the role secret societies played in mid-20th century America. Leitsch, who died June 22, led the New York chapter of the Mattachine Society. The West Coast-based soci-
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ety ceased operations around 1973, but a memorial to Mattachine Society continues to this day in New York City. On Friday morning, Daniel answered the telephone at Julius NYC to confirm the once-a-month party. “They made a difference,” Daniel said. “They were extreme.” Daniel added it was “sad” that
young people don’t know of this important period in queer rights. The Mattachine Society was an early gay rights group that, in many ways, is shrouded in mystery. And for some, mainly younger LGBT people, it can feel like an entirely new subject in the queer history of America. But knowing the history of this group’s members is important because they were the beginning of LGBT advocacy and support in the US. Founded in 1950 in Los Angeles, pre-Stonewall Riots, Mattachine grew from an underground social gathering into a public service agency, which is now celebrated through modern dance parties. Harry Hay, a man of many tastes and orientations, led the society at its inception. And yet, its mere mention still does not register with many in the LGBT community. The Mattachine SociCONTINUED ON PAGE 15
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