Asteroid Named For Mattachine Society Cofounder Frank Kameny

The International Astronomical Union and Minor Planet Center has named an asteroid after late Mattachine Society cofounder Frank Kameny.

A Canadian amateur astronomer has named an asteroid he discovered after U.S. gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, who died last year in Washington. Kameny, who earned a doctorate in astronomy at Harvard University, was an astronomer with the U.S. Army Map Service in the 1950s but was fired from his job for being gay. He contested the firing all the way to the Supreme Court and later organized the first gay rights protests outside the White House, the Pentagon and in Philadelphia in the 1960s.

Minor Planet 40463, which is in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is now known as Frankkamney. Before he died, Kameny received an official apology from President Obama for his firing by the federal government more than 50 years ago.

HomoQuotable - Frank Kameny

"While, Castro had no notion, of course, of what he was doing in this context at that time, in my view and in my interpretation of the dynamics of the 1960s Gay Movement, he triggered Stonewall and all that has followed.News of Castro's incarceration of gays in detention camps in Cuba came out early in 1965 -- probably in March or very early April. At that time 'the 60s' hadn't yet erupted in their full force, but the precursors were very well advanced. Picketing was considered the mode of expression of dissent, par excellence.

"Jack Nichols approached me to suggest that we ('we' = The Mattachine Society of Washington, of which I was President) picket the White House to protest Cuba's action. I felt that it was rather pointless to picket the American President to protest what a Cuban dictator was doing. So I suggested that we broaden and Americanize the effort. One or more of our signs said (in gross paraphrase, here, from memory) "Cuba persecutes Gays; is America much better?", and others specifically addressed governmental and private anti-gay discrimination here, and other gay-related problems of the day. [snip]

"Ever since, it has been my view, and remains so, that those demonstrations created the protest-oriented mindset which made Stonewall possible, and that without it Stonewall just wouldn't have happened. Therefore, several steps removed, and obviously utterly unbeknownst to him. by his 1965 detentions of Cuban gays, Fidel Castro precipitated and triggered Stonewall and all that we have gained from it since. So, if you enter into a same-sex marriage, or are helped by a gay-protective anti-discrimination law, or run for elective office an an open gay, thank Fidel." - Gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, in an email to Andrew Sullivan.

Read Kameny's entire letter.

Flashback: 1967 CBS Report On Gays

Head over to the Advocate for Dave White's take on this 1967 CBS report titled The Homosexuals, which includes an interview with a founding member of the Mattachine Society, America's first gay rights group. Dave White:

This weekend, for my second visit to The Homosexuals, I took notes. And when I was done my pad of paper was a laundry list of every horrible thing you’ve ever heard about the gays: smothering mothers, mental illness, animalistic sexual gratification, society’s repulsion, promiscuity, recruitment, etc.

Some quotes, some from Wallace, some from clergy and other “experts” on the subject:
“They frequent their own bars ... where they can act out…”
“The average homosexual isn’t capable of love.”
“Homosexuality is, in fact, a mental illness.”
“The church has a great deal of sympathy for those who are handicapped in this way.”
“[Being a homosexual] automatically rules out that [the man in question] will remain happy.”

The men (no mention of lesbians is ever made) who aren’t on camera as representatives of fledgling gay rights groups at the time, like the Mattachine Society, are interviewed in shadow or behind plants, and say things like, “I know I’m sick inside ... immature.”

White recommends you hang around until approximately the 30-minute mark, where Gore Vidal declares homosexuality to be as normal as heterosexuality. Mike Wallace: "Who says so?" Vidal: "I say so." Read Dave White's entire essay.

LGBT History: The Temperamentals

On Monday, Little David, Eric Leven and I attended the Off Broadway play The Temperamentals, a recounting of the formation of the very pre-Stonewall gay rights group the Mattachine Society.

“Temperamental” was code for “homosexual” in the early 1950’s, part of a created language of secret words that gay men used to communicate. The Temperamentals tells the story of two men - the communist Harry Hay and the Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich - as they fall in love while building the first gay rights organization in the pre-Stonewall United States.

I'm terrible at reviewing plays, so let's just say that we enjoyed it tremendously. The show has a limited run due to cast commitments and the space is quite small, so if you'd like to add some vital LGBT history to your gay pride observations this year, you should move quickly. Get tickets here.