Harry Hay
Henry "Harry" Hay, Jr. (April 7, 1912 – October 24, 2002) is considered to be the "Johnny Appleseed of the American gay movement, brimming with ideas, planting seeds for new projects and organizations, and then moving on. He [was] an unusual combination of the dreamer, the planner, the mystic, and the activist, who has devoted his life to trying to bring about change in the status quo". [1] He is the founder of the Mattachine Society, the country’s first successful gay liberation organization. [2] Hay has been described as "the father of gay liberation", and has been the subject of a biography and documentary film.[3]
Involvement with Boylove
His rugged independence often got him into trouble with mainstream gay organizations. In the 1986 Los Angeles Gay Pride parade, for example, he insisted on wearing a sign on his back reading "NAMBLA [North American Man/Boy Love Association] walks with me," an action he took because he remembered his pleasure in coming out as a teenager with a man who initiated him to the gay world. Getting him to agree to simply wear a sign rather than carry a banner took considerable negotiation by the parade organizers, who wanted to distance the gay and lesbian movement from pedophilia, yet wanted Harry to participate. [4]
Childhood life
Harry's father believed that children must work in the family, and so made Harry work on the family farm. Harry did not get along with his father and described him as 'tyrannical'.
Harry was enrolled at Cahuenga Elementary School, where he was reportedly bullied. He began experimenting with his sexuality, and aged 9 took part in sexual activity with a 12-year-old neighbour boy.[5] At the same time he developed an early love of the natural world and became a keen outdoorsman through walks in the wilderness around the city. At age 10, he was enrolled at Virgil Junior High School, and soon after joined a boys' club known as the Western Rangers, through which he was introduced to Native American societies and met groups from the Hopi and Sioux communities.Becoming a voracious reader, in 1923 (age 11) he began to volunteer at a public library, where he discovered a copy of Edward Carpenter's book The Intermediate Sex. Reading it, he discovered the word homosexual for the first time and came to recognize that he was gay.[6][7]
References
- ↑ [Bullough, V. (2002). Before Stonewall: Activists for gay and lesbian rights in historical context. New York: Harrington Park Press.]
- ↑ http://www.harryhay.com/
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Hay
- ↑ [Bullough, V. (2002). Before Stonewall: Activists for gay and lesbian rights in historical context. New York: Harrington Park Press.]
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Hay#Early_life
- ↑ [Timmons, Stuart (1990). The Trouble with Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement. Boston: Alyson Publications. ISBN 978-1555831752.]
- ↑ [Bullough, V. (2002). Before Stonewall: Activists for gay and lesbian rights in historical context (pp. 73-82). New York: Harrington Park Press.]
