I would not have survived long in the Mattachine Society. The organization’s own founders were ousted in its third year. Even five cisgender white men were considered too radical to run a homosexual group seeking respectability, especially one fearful of FBI infiltration. Although the society was founded in 1950 in order to declare homosexuals a cultural minority and became the first successful American homosexual rights organization, the leaders who overthrew the proud founders were determined to declare us a group just like everyone else in mainstream society. Their lack of pride in their queerness took the organization down a narrow path. It’s a story I began studying in 2015 in order to produce my podcast, Mattachine: A Serialized Story in Gay History.
I had beaten the faint “gay lisp” out of my own voice a decade ago after I stopped my freshman biology class cold while loudly using my real voice to joke with a girl three rows behind me. Of all the students, her chilly stare was the most terrifying. Mattachine cofounder Dale Jennings said, “Why fear? We do no wrong. Moderation is a form of fear. . . . We accept the enemy’s own evaluation of us when we fear.” But in my research, I saw the angry, prideful reactions of the feminine men of the 1950s to the Mattachine’s cold glares.
As the Mattachine Society pushed forward into the 60s it adopted a new logo of a court jester, inspired by the Société Mattachine, the Renaissance group of masked bachelors from which the organization had lifted its name. The jester stands in profile, holding up a marotte, or puppet, of himself, which stares back at him. With the other hand, the jester points his finger at the puppet, scolding him. The members of the Mattachine Society unknowingly did the same thing, criticizing their own appearance with a stern finger, but they entertained no one. The logo was printed on their conservative publications, and is featured on the artwork for my podcast as I follow the organization’s story. The jester’s mask is only for himself. He has to perform with pride in order for anyone else to listen.
