Even years ago, when I still knew nothing about sex psychology and my own familiarity with homosexuals was limited to a few women whom I got to know in jail, where I wound up because of my political convictions, I firmly stood up in defense of Oscar Wilde. [Wilde was convicted of homosexual acts and was sentenced to two years' hard labor in May 1895] . As an anarchist, my place has always been alongside the persecuted. The entire trial and conviction of Wilde struck me as an act of horrible injustice and repulsive hypocrisy on the part of the society that had condemned this man. And this alone was the reason for which I stood up for him. .
Besides Emma Goldman's efforts for gay rights in the 1920s, it took until the 1950s before some homophile organizations were formed in California. .
2. 1950-1969: "The three major groups and their aims and criticisms-.
2.1 The Mattachine Society:.
The Mattachine Society was launched in 1950 in Los Angeles. The name is derived from the medieval Mattachines, who were "fools- at courts and often homosexuals. As fools, they could speak the truth because they were not taken seriously. .
The Mattachine Society appears to be the best know, the oldest and most responsible .
of the homophile groups. The Foundation has begun as a secret society that mainly sponsored discussion groups, "intended to educate homosexuals about themselves and nonhomosexuals [sic] about the invert."" As the group expanded, the Mattachine Society replaced the Mattachine Foundation and it became a public organization. The new Mattachine was open to any male, female, homo-, or heterosexual person older than twenty-one who was interested in its purpose. Most members were male homosexuals, however.
In order to reach the public, Mattachine established a press and published many books and the Society's periodicals: Mattachine Review, Dorian Book Quarterly, and Interim. Mattachine Review had a circulation of 2453 in 1961, which made it the second largest invert publication.
