GAY RIGHTS 1950s
In the US: 1950, Harry Hay founded the Mattachine Foundation, one of the nation’s first gay rights group. The Los Angeles organization coined the term “homophile,” which was considered less clinical and focused on sexual activity than “homosexual.” [Gay Rights ‑ Movement, Marriage & Flag | HISTORY]
“In the 1950s, when the homophile movement began publishing and distributing periodicals such as Mattachine Review and ONE magazine, Rich’s Cigar Store, which had been in existence since at least 1916, was the only newspaper/magazine stand in the city that would carry them. This store also was a regular source of tickets for various charity events in the city. It might seem odd to honor a magazine stand as a significant place in our liberation, but very few homosexuals would allow themselves to have such materials mailed to their homes in those days. W. Dorr Legg, the manager for ONE magazine, related that in the early days he would travel from city to city persuading newspaper stands and bookstores to carry the publication. ONE was kept behind the counter at Rich’s stand, and each copy that circulated in the city was passed from hand to hand, thereby increasing the actual circulation far beyond the few souls brave enough to actually pay for a copy. At the same time that the U.S. Supreme Court made several landmark rulings that opened up the laws on mailing “obscene” materials, a noticeable increase in pulp erotic fiction and magazines began to appear on the newsstands throughout the country. Mayor Terry Schrunk in Portland, who began his political career as Multnomah County Sheriff, believed that the rising appearance of “pervert” magazines was signaling a breakdown in social morality. To counter this revolution in mores, he formed an extra-governmental commission of local do-good citizens to put pressure on the local magazine outlets carrying the so-called “filth,” (of which homosexual publications such as ONE and Mattachine Review were clearly included). Rich’s Cigar Store was one of two magazine stands in the city that refused to sign on to Schrunk’s “Decency in Literature” campaign.” [publication citing is needed]
Below LEFT is an article that appeared in the Capitol Journal newspaper, Salem Oregon May 20, 1950. This, would be known throughout the US as part of the Red Scare of “The Lavendar Scare”.
Homosexuals lose jobs per Oregonian Feb 9, 1954 “state department has dismissed more than 500 homosexuals since 1947”