Henry "Harry" Hay Jr. was an American gay rights activist, communist, and labor advocate. He was a co-founder of the Mattachine Society, the first sustained gay rights group in the United States, as well as the Radical Faeries, a loosely affiliated gay spiritual movement.
Harry Hay, April 1996, Anza-Borrego Desert, Radical Faeries Campout
A Faerie gathering in 1986, with Hay in bottom left corner
Hay speaking at Occidental College, CA
The Mattachine Steps in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. The sign reads, "Harry Hay founded the Mattachine Society on this hillside on November 11, 1950."
The Mattachine Society, founded in 1950, was an early national gay rights organization in the United States, preceded by several covert and open organizations, such as Chicago's Society for Human Rights. Communist and labor activist Harry Hay formed the group with a collection of male friends in Los Angeles to protect and improve the rights of gay men. Branches formed in other cities, and by 1961 the Society had splintered into regional groups.
The May 1959 issue of the Mattachine Review, an American LGBT magazine
Members of the Mattachine Society in a rare group photograph. Pictured are Harry Hay (upper left), then (l–r) Konrad Stevens, Dale Jennings, Rudi Gernreich, Stan Witt, Bob Hull, Chuck Rowland (in glasses), Paul Bernard. Photo by James Gruber.
A 1960 promotional poster for the Mattachine Society
The Mattachine Steps in 2017.
