Reddit rediscovers Mattachine Society’s “Homosexuals Are Different” ad

L to R: Mattachine Society Founders Paul Bernard, Chuck Rowland, Bob Hull, Stan Witt, Rudi Gernreich, Harry Hay (top), Dale Jennings (light tie)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Six decades after it was first printed, a Mattachine Society ad is making the rounds online. The ad bears the image of a zebra proudly wearing spots instead of stripes—and it shares a message still relevant today.

“Homosexuals are different… but we believe they have the right to be,” the ad reads. “We believe that the civil rights and human dignity of homosexuals are as precious as those of any other citizen…. we believe that the homosexual has the right to live, work and participate free society. Mattachine defends the rights of homosexuals and tries to create a climate of understanding and acceptance.”

The image comes from the New York Public Library, which has the original ad in its Manuscripts and Archives division and offers digital reproductions of it for free through its Digital Collections website. The library also displayed the ad as part of its “Love and Resistance: Stonewall at 50” exhibit in 2019.

Related: The moment when “homosexual” became “gay”

And the NYPL reports that the Mattachine Society — an early gay rights organization co-founded by labor activist Harry Hay, pictured at top right in the group photo above — distributed the ad in 1960.

The ad also marks the Mattachine Society’s definitive answer to the question of…

Read full story, and more, from Source: Reddit rediscovers Mattachine Society’s “Homosexuals Are Different” ad

Share

About Gay Today

Editor of Gay Today