Founded in 1952, One Institute (formerly One, Inc., and One Archives Foundation), is the oldest active LGBTQ+ organization in the United States, dedicated to telling LGBTQ+ history and stories through education, arts, and social justice programs.[1][2] Since its inception, the organization has been headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
One Institute was founded in 1952 as ONE Inc. to publish the nation's first wide-circulated, national homosexual periodical, ONE Magazine. The idea for an organization dedicated to homosexuals emerged from a Mattachine Society discussion meeting held on October 15, 1952. ONE Inc.'s Articles of Incorporation were signed by Antonio "Tony" Reyes, Martin Block, and Dale Jennings on November 15, 1952.[3] Other founders were Merton Bird, W. Dorr Legg, Don Slater, Chuck Rowland, and Harry Hay, “all of whom sought to unify homosexuals into social action.”[1] Jennings and Rowland were also Mattachine Society founders. The name was derived from an aphorism of Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle: "A mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one."[4] The name was also a nod to referring to a gay person as "one of us".[5] ONE was the first LGBT organization in the United States to have its own office, and as such its offices acted as a prototype LGBT community center. One became the first gay organization in the United States to open a public office (in Downtown Los Angeles), and as such its offices acted as a prototype LGBT community center.
One, Inc. readily admitted women, including—with their pseudonyms—Joan Corbin (as Eve Elloree), Irma Wolf (as Ann Carrl Reid), Stella Rush (as Sten Russell), Helen Sandoz (as Helen Sanders), and Betty Perdue (as Geraldine Jackson). They were vital to its early success. ONE and Mattachine in turn provided vital help to the Daughters of Bilitis in the launching of their newsletter The Ladder in 1956. The Daughters of Bilitis was the counterpart lesbian organization to the Mattachine Society, and the organizations worked together on some campaigns and ran lecture series. Bilitis came under attack in the early 1960s for "siding" with Mattachine and ONE, rather than with the new separatist feminists.[6]
In 1955, One held the ONE Midwinter Institute, the first in a series of conferences to bring together experts and community members to talk about gay and lesbian topics.
In 1956, One created the ONE Institute, an academic institute for the study of homosexuality under the name of "Homophile Studies".
In 1957, marking the first time the Supreme Court of the United States explicitly ruled on homosexuality, ONE Inc. fought to distribute its magazine by mail, and prevailed. The ruling in the case, One, Inc. v. Olesen, not only allowed One to distribute its magazine, but also paved the way for other controversial publications to be sent through the U.S. mail.
Also during the 1950s ONE Inc. became an ad hoc community center and began a library. As the burgeoning gay liberation movement took off and became more closely intertwined with the movements for civil rights of the 1960s and 1970s, ONE Inc., Jim Kepner and a growing group of activists were poised to collect original materials from that critical time period. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, ONE obtained crucial documents chronicling the establishment of the "gay community" and its established and increasingly diverse groups and organizations.
In 1956, ONE established the ONE Institute of Homophile Studies which, in addition to organizing classes and annual conferences, also published the ONE Institute Quarterly, a journal dedicated to the academic exploration of homosexuality.[7]
In 1965, One separated over irreconcilable differences between ONE's business manager Dorr Legg and One magazine editor Don Slater.[8] After a two-year court battle, Dorr Legg's faction retained the name "ONE, Inc." and Don Slater's faction retained most of the corporate library and archives. In 1968, Slater's group became the Homosexual Information Center[9] or HIC, a non-profit corporation that continues to function.[2]
In 1996, One, Inc. merged with ISHR, the Institute for the Study of Human Resources, a non-profit organization created by transgender philanthropist Reed Erickson, with ISHR being the surviving organization and ONE being the merging corporation. In 2005, the HIC donated many of its historic materials, including most of ONE Incorporated's Blanche M. Baker Memorial Library, to the Vern and Bonnie Bullough Collection on Sex and Gender, a special collection within the University Library at California State University, Northridge.[10][11] In October 2010, ONE transferred its archives to the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California for preservation. ONE, Inc. continues to exist to organize exhibits and gather new material.[12]
In 2014, the organization is renamed ONE Archives Foundation.
In 2022, ONE Archives Foundation celebrates the 70th anniversary of its founding, and in 2023 celebrated the 70th anniversary of the printing of ONE Magazine.
In September 2023, the organization is renamed One Institute. The name is announced ahead of its inaugural Circa: Queer Histories Festival.
Current Programs
LGBTQ+ History Lesson Plans
One Institute is among a select number of California nonprofits that provide K-12 teacher training and lesson plans to implement California’s the FAIR ACT and integrate queer history into classrooms in California public schools. One Institute’s state, local, and nonprofit partners include the California Department of Education, LA County Office of Education, LA Unified School District, UCLA History-Geography Project, OUT for Safe Schools at the LA LGBT Center, and more.
Arts & Cultural Programs
Each year, One Institute organizes dozens of free and low cost, high quality exhibitions, multimedia projects, and public programs that explore the complexity of LGBTQ+ history through the lens of arts, culture, and contemporary issues. Exhibitions illuminate archival elements from ONE Archives at the USC Libraries alongside artist projects and works.
Circa: Queer Histories Festival
In October 2023 during LGBT History Month, One Institute launched Circa: Queer Histories Festival, a month-long LGBTQ+ history festival with events throughout the Los Angeles region. Circa’s annual lineup includes exhibitions, readings, performances, panel conversations, and more, showcasing the trailblazing history and cultural contributions of the LGBTQ+ community.
Youspeak Radio
An intergenerational podcast project, connecting high school students with LGBTQ+ adult trailblazers. Past guests include Phill Wilson, Helen Zia, Bamby Salcedo, and more.
Youth Ambassadors for Queer History
One Institute mentors a core group of high school student leaders from across Los Angeles County to become ambassadors for LGBTQ+ history in their communities. Programming includes LGBTQ+ history presentations; interactive workshops with scholars, activists, and artists; hands-on archival research in ONE Archives at the USC Libraries; and field trips to LGBTQ+ organizations in Los Angeles.
Select Past Programs
Cover of One magazine, April–May 1956
ONE Magazine (1953-1967)
In January 1953 One, Inc. began publishing a monthly magazine called One, the first U.S. pro-gay publication,[13] which it sold openly on the streets of Los Angeles for 25 cents. In October 1954, the U.S. Post Office Department declared the magazine "obscene" and refused to deliver it. ONE, Inc. brought a lawsuit in federal court, which it lost in 1957. However, when the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the lower court ruling that ONE violated obscenity laws in One, Inc. v. Olesen based on its recent landmark First Amendment case, Roth v. United States.[14] The Supreme Court thereby upheld constitutional protection for pro-homosexual writing.[15]
The magazine ceased publication in December 1967.[13]
ONE Institute of Homophile Studies (1956)
In 1956, ONE established the ONE Institute of Homophile Studies which, in addition to organizing classes and annual conferences, also published the ONE Institute Quarterly, a journal dedicated to the academic exploration of homosexuality.[16]
The Normal Heart (2021)
In May 2021, the organization presented a historic virtual reading of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart reaching audiences across the United States and in 19 countries across the globe. The virtual presentation marked the first time the play featured a cast that is predominately BIPOC and LGBTQ. Directed by Emmy Award winner Paris Barclay, cast members of the production included Sterling K. Brown, Laverne Cox, Jeremy Pope, Vincent Rodriguez III, Guillermo Díaz, Jake Borelli, Ryan O’Connell, Daniel Newman, Jay Hayden and Danielle Savre. An encore presentation of the reading streamed worldwide in December 2021 in honor of World AIDS Day.
Pride Publics: Works in Action (2021)
A public art project that took place in three different locations across Los Angeles, featuring portraits of contemporary LGBTQ+ artists, writers, and community organizers
Days of Rage (2022)
An online multimedia exhibit featuring historical LGBTQ+ activist posters from the collections at ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.
One Gallery, West Hollywood
Since 2008, One Institute has operated One Gallery, an exhibition space in West Hollywood, California dedicated to presenting temporary exhibitions on LGBT art and history. The gallery is located in a city owned building that also houses the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives.
In 2011, One participated in the region-wide Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980 initiative with the exhibition Cruising the Archive: Queer Art & Culture in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 which was presented at the ONE Gallery in West Hollywood, as well as at ONE Archives' main location on West Adams Boulevard and in the Treasure Room at the Doheny Library at the University of Southern California Libraries. The exhibition included works by Steven F. Arnold, Don Bachardy, Claire Falkenstein, Anthony Friedkin, Rudi Gernreich, Sister Corita Kent, and Kate Millett, among many other less known or anonymous artists. The only exhibition dedicated to queer content within the PST initiative, this exhibition marked the most comprehensive exhibition of materials from the collections at ONE Archives to date and was accompanied by a scholarly catalogue. The publication included contributions by Ann Cvetkovich, Vaginal Davis, Jennifer Doyle, Jack Halberstam, Catherine Lord, Richard Meyer, Ulrike Müller, and Dean Spade.
The One Gallery has presented solo exhibitions of artwork by Steven F. Arnold and Joey Terrill, exhibitions of historical materials from the collections at ONE, and highlights from the collections of the Tom of Finland Foundation and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics.
Organizational Timeline
The institutional history of One Institute reveals a set of complex, overlapping and groundbreaking activities that provided a wide variety of pioneering services to LGBTQ+ Americans:
October 1952: The idea of a magazine for homosexuals is first discussed in a Mattachine Society meeting.
November 1952: the organization is founded as ONE, Inc..
January 1953: The first issue of ONE Magazine is published.
August/September 1953: The Los Angeles postal authorities seize the August edition of ONE Magazine. The issue, which bore the title "Homosexual Marriage?" on the cover, is released three weeks later without explanation.
November 1953: One opens an office in downtown Los Angeles at 232 South Hill Street.
October 1954: The Los Angeles postal authorities seize the October issues of ONE Magazine on charges of obscenity.
1956: The One Institute for Homophile Studies opens.
January 13, 1958: After four years of litigation, the Supreme Court declares ONE Magazine is not in violation of obscenity laws.
1962: The organization moves to 2256 Venice Boulevard.
1967: ONE Magazine ceases publication.
1975: Jim Kepner's personal archive is named the Western Gay Archives.
1979: The Western Gay Archives is renamed the National Gay Archives: Natalie Barney/Edward Carpenter Library and moves to 1654 North Hudson Avenue in Hollywood.
August 1981: One Institute becomes the first institution of higher learning in the United States to offer masters and doctoral degrees in Homophile Studies.
1983: The organization moves into the Milbank Estate at 3340 Country Club Drive purchased by philanthropist Reed Erickson. Soon after, for reasons uncertain, Erickson seeks to have One removed from the estate.
1984: The National Gay Archives is renamed the International Gay & Lesbian Archives (IGLA).
1988: IGLA moves to a space owned by the City of West Hollywood at 626 North Robertson Boulevard (the current location of the ONE Archives Gallery & Museum).
1994: W. Dorr Legg dies. The organization merges with the IGLA and becomes primarily an LGBTQ archive; the organization refers to itself as ONE Institute and ONE Institute/IGLA.
1997: Jim Kepner dies.
2000: ONE Institute/IGLA moves to its current location at 909 West Adams Boulevard provided by the University of Southern California.
2004: The organization is renamed One National Gay & Lesbian Archives.
October 2010: The collections at One Archives become a part of the USC Libraries.
2014: The organization is renamed ONE Archives Foundation.
2016: Jennifer Gregg named as the first executive director of the ONE Archives Foundation
May 2021: The organization presented a historic virtual reading of "The Normal Heart" reaching audiences across the United States and in 19 countries across the globe. The virtual presentation marked the first time the play featured a cast that is predominantly BIPOC and LGBTQ+.
Tony Valenzuela becomes the executive director of the organization.
September 2023: In honor of the 70th anniversary of ONE Magazine, the organization launches a major rebrand and is renamed One Institute.
October 2023: One Institute launched the annual Circa: Queer Histories Festival, a month long LGBTQ+ history festival with events throughout the Los Angeles region.
1 2 White, C. Todd (2009). Pre-gay L.A.: a social history of the movement for homosexual rights. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN9780252092862.
↑ Retter, Yolanda. "Latina and Latino LGBTQ Organizations and Periodicals". Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered History in America. Ed. Marc Stein. Vol. 2. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 144–148. Gale Virtual Reference Library. March 16, 2013.
↑ David K. Johnson: The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government, University of Chicago Press, 2004, ISBN9780226404813, p. 34
↑ Great events from history: Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender events, 1848–2006. Faderman, Lillian. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press. 2007. p.114. ISBN9781587652639. OCLC71241916.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
↑ White, C. Todd (2009). Pre-gay L.A: a social history of the movement for homosexual rights. Urbana: University of Illinois press. p.102. ISBN9780252034411.
↑ Various Authors (2011). Cruising the Archive. Los Angeles: ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives. p.45. ISBN978-0-615-49724-2.
↑ White, C. Todd (2012). "Chapter 3: Drama, power and politics: ONE magazine, Mattachine review and The ladder in the era of homophile activism". In Baim, Tracy (ed.). Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth of LGBT Community Newspapers in America. Prairie Avenue Productions and Windy City Media Group. pp.141–152. ISBN978-1-4800-8052-2.
Dynes, Wayne R., ed., Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. New York and London, Garland Publishing, 1990[ISBNmissing]
Gallo, Marcia. Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rise of the Lesbian Rights Movement. New York, Carroll and Graf, 2006.[ISBNmissing]
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 Daughters of Bilitis, also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was initially conceived as a secret social club, an alternative to lesbian bars, which were subject to raids and police harassment.
The homophile movement is a collective term for the main organisations and publications supporting and representing sexual minorities in the 1950s to 1960s around the world. The name comes from the term homophile, which was commonly used by these organisations. At least some of these organisations are considered to have been more cautious than both earlier and later LGBT organisations; in the U.S., the nationwide coalition of homophile groups disbanded after older members clashed with younger members who had become more radical after the Stonewall riots of 1969.
The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride. In the feminist spirit of the personal being political, the most basic form of activism was an emphasis on coming out to family, friends, and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person.
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries is the oldest existing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) organization in the United States and one of the largest repositories of LGBT materials in the world. Located in Los Angeles, California, ONE Archives has been a part of the University of Southern California Libraries since 2010. ONE Archives' collections contain over two million items including periodicals; books; film, video and audio recordings; photographs; artworks; ephemera, such as clothing, costumes, and buttons; organizational records; and personal papers. ONE Archives also operates a small gallery and museum space devoted to LGBT art and history in West Hollywood, California. Use of the collections is free during regular business hours.
William Dorr Lambert Legg, known as W. Dorr Legg, was an American landscape architect and one of the founders of the United States gay rights movement, then called the homophile movement.
The Society for Human Rights was an American gay-rights organization established in Chicago in 1924. Society founder Henry Gerber was inspired to create it by the work of German doctor Magnus Hirschfeld and the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee and by the organisation Bund für Menschenrecht by Friedrich Radszuweit and Karl Schulz in Berlin. It was the first recognized gay rights organization in the United States, having received a charter from the state of Illinois, and produced the first American publication for homosexuals, Friendship and Freedom. A few months after being chartered, the group ceased to exist in the wake of the arrest of several of the Society's members. Despite its short existence and small size, the Society has been recognized as a precursor to the modern gay liberation movement.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place worldwide in the 1950s.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the 1960s.
LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied social movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century. A commonly stated goal among these movements is social equality for LGBT people. Some have also focused on building LGBT communities or worked towards liberation for the broader society from biphobia, homophobia, and transphobia. LGBT movements organized today are made up of a wide range of political activism and cultural activity, including lobbying, street marches, social groups, media, art, and research. Sociologist Mary Bernstein writes: "For the lesbian and gay movement, then, cultural goals include challenging dominant constructions of masculinity and femininity, homophobia, and the primacy of the gendered heterosexual nuclear family (heteronormativity). Political goals include changing laws and policies in order to gain new rights, benefits, and protections from harm." Bernstein emphasizes that activists seek both types of goals in both the civil and political spheres.
LGBT pride is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBT rights movements. Pride has lent its name to LGBT-themed organizations, institutes, foundations, book titles, periodicals, a cable TV channel, and the Pride Library.
Craig L. Rodwell was an American gay rights activist known for founding the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop on November 24, 1967 - the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors - and as the prime mover for the creation of the New York City gay pride demonstration. Rodwell, who was already an activist when he participated in the 1969 Stonewall uprising, is considered by some to be the leading gay rights activist in the early, pre-Stonewall, homophile movement of the 1960s.
James Lynn Kepner, Jr. was an American journalist, author, historian, archivist and leader in the gay rights movement. His work was intertwined with One, Inc. and One Magazine, and eventually contributed to the formation of the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.
The North American Conference of Homophile Organizations was an umbrella organization for a number of homophile organizations. Founded in 1966, the goal of NACHO was to expand coordination among homophile organizations throughout the Americas. Homophile activists were motivated in part by an increase in mainstream media attention to gay issues. Some feared that without a centralized organization, the movement would be hijacked, in the words of founding member Foster Gunnison Jr., by "fringe elements, beatniks, and other professional non-conformists".
The Janus Society was an early homophile organization founded in 1962 and based in Philadelphia. It is notable as the publisher of Drum magazine, one of the earliest gay publications in the United States and the one most widely circulated in the 1960s, and for its role in organizing many of the nation's earliest LGBT rights demonstrations. The Janus Society takes its name from the Roman two-faced God Janus of beginnings, endings, and doorways. The organization focused on a policy of militant respectability, a strategy demanding respect by showing the public gay individuals conforming to hetero-normative standards of dress at protests.
Henry Gerber was an early gay rights activist in the United States. Inspired by the work of Germany's Magnus Hirschfeld and his Scientific-Humanitarian Committee and by the organisation Bund für Menschenrecht by Friedrich Radszuweit and Karl Schulz, Gerber founded the Society for Human Rights (SHR) in 1924, the nation's first known gay organization, and Friendship and Freedom, the first known American gay publication. SHR was short-lived, as police arrested several of its members shortly after it incorporated. Although embittered by his experiences, Gerber maintained contacts within the fledgling homophile movement of the 1950s and continued to agitate for the rights of homosexuals. Gerber has been repeatedly recognized for his contributions to the LGBT movement.
The Cloistered Order of Conclaved Knights of Sophisticracy, more commonly known as the Knights of the Clock, was an interracial homophile social club based in Los Angeles, California. The Knights were founded by Merton Bird, an African-American man, and W. Dorr Legg, his white lover. Sources differ as to the founding date of the organization, variously citing it as 1949, 1950, and 1951. Regardless of the exact date, the Knights was one of the earliest gay organizations in the United States, with only the Society for Human Rights, the Veterans Benevolent Association and possibly the Mattachine Society pre-dating it.
East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO) was established in January 1962 in Philadelphia, to facilitate cooperation between homophile organizations and outside administrations. Its formative membership included the Mattachine Society chapters in New York and Washington D.C., the Daughters of Bilitis chapter in New York, and the Janus Society in Philadelphia, which met monthly. Philadelphia was chosen to be the host city, due to its central location among all involved parties.
Queer radicalism can be defined as actions taken by queer groups which contribute to a change in laws and/or social norms. The key difference between queer radicalism and queer activism is that radicalism is often disruptive and commonly involves illegal action. Due to the nature of LGBTQ+ laws around the world, almost all queer activism that took place before the decriminalization of gay marriage can be considered radical action. The history of queer radicalism can be expressed through the many organizations and protests that contributed to a common cause of improving the rights and social acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.
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