The Deviant’s Trove

 

‘The Deviant’s Trove’, An Introduction:

 

Charles Francis, Mattachine President

“History is written by the winners”, said Attorney General William Barr, “so it largely depends upon who is writing the history.”   What better inspiration for our work than Barr’s dangerous cynicism!  The “Deviant’s Trove” is Mattachine’s answer to anyone who would re-write or erase LGBTQ history.   Working with McDermott Will & Emery, our pro bono legal counsel for the past nine years, we have collected thousands of pages of original documents that provide the evidentiary history of brutal government animus toward LGBT Americans.   These documents cannot be erased or “written by the winners”.   They could only have been destroyed, but it is too late for that. 

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Mike Huttenlocher, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

The mission of The Mattachine Society of Washington D.C. (“MSDC”) is to uncover documents – once hidden in government files – that detail the long-standing history of discrimination against the LGBT community. In furtherance of that mission, nine years ago, the MSDC partnered with the law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP (“McDermott”) to submit dozens of requests for documents concerning the LGBT community to various federal and state government agencies, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (or its state law equivalents). And, when government agencies have refused to reveal their secrets, the MSDC/McDermott partnership has successfully pursued litigation to make public those materials that were long kept secret.

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Resources:

Connecting The Deviant’s War to the Present: The New Mattachine of Washington, D.C.

Summary of Supporting Documents from McDermott Will & Emery LLP

 

For the full archive to "The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America" please visit: The Deviant’s Archive

 

Chapter 1

Various documents CIA Documents released 8/27/99

Mattachine Society Wash DC press release on “No History, No Equality”.

Chapter 3

Executive Order 10450

Letter from Hubert H. Humphrey, Vice President to Dr. Kameny 6/9/1965

Mattachine Society DC Press Release 4/27/16

US District Court for DC Mattachine Society DC v US DOJ 4/27/16

DOJ Complaint supporting historical documents.

US District Court for DC Mattachine Society DC v US DOJ US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth Summary Judgement 7/28/17

US District Court for DC Mattachine Soiety DC v US DOJ US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth Order 7/28/17

McDermott Lawyers Help Uncover Hoover- Era “Sex Deviate” Files, Bloomberg Law 8/24/17

Diagnosis: Homosexuality, St. Elizabeths Hospital and the federal assault on LGBT Americans, A presentation to the Historical Society of Washington, DC Conference, 11/2/2018, by CF and PF

New York Review of Books, 1/10/19, The Long War Against A Gay Cure, by James Kirchick

LA Blade, 12/20/18, The Ugly History of LGBT Discrimintation by Christopher Kane

Washington City Paper, 5/31/18, Independent Scholars Uncover the Traumatic Treatments LBGT People Suffered at St Elizabeths, by Andrew Giambrone.

NBC News Digital: Out Politics and Policy, 8/3/17, Justice Department Ordered to Release 1950’s Gay ‘Purge’ Documents by Brooke Sopelsa

Wyoming Tribune Eagle, 10/10/15, Truth about Lester Hunt needs to come to light, by Roger McDaniels.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Index

Affidavit of Thomas H. Tattersall, Self Admitted Homosexual April 7, 1955

Affidavit of Thomas H. Tattersall, Self Admitted Homosexual April 12, 1955

Memo from J. Edgar Hoover re Sex Deviates in Government Service June 20, 1951

 

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Index

Washington Blade, 8/21/19, Lilli Vincenz to be inducted into LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame, by Lou Chibbaro Jr.

 

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Index

Aug 7, 1964 Resolution NCACLU On Federal Employment of Homosexuals

Memo from J. Edgar Hoover re Sex Deviates in Government Service June 20, 1951

“Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government” Interim Report, Subcommittee on Investigations November 27, 1950

Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. One, Incorporated, Appellant v Otto. K. Olesen, Postmaster of the City of Los Angeles. Filed by Oner, Incorporated, 6/13/1957.

Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Franklin Kameny, Petitioner v William M. Brucker, Secretary of the Army, et al., Respondents. Filed 6/17/1959.

Memo from J. Edgar Hoover, Director FBI to All Investigative Employees re Sex Deviates in US Government Service, 9/7/1951

Aug 7, 1964 Resolution NCACLU On Federal Employment of Homosexuals

Video-Yahoo News, Uniquely Nasty: The US Governments War on Gays

Washington Blade, 7/26/17, The undead anti-gay past, by Richard J. Rosendall

National Archives Prologue Magazine, Summer 2016, Vol. 48, No. 2, “These People Are Frightened to Death”, Congressional Investigations and the Lavender Scare, by Judith Adkins.

NPR, All Things Considered, 9/30/15, ‘Uniquely Nasty’ Remembers The US Ban On Gay Federal Workers, by Robert Siegel.

New York Times, 5/20/14, Uncovered Papers Show Past Government Efforts to Drive Gays From Jobs, by Matt Apuzzo.

 

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – Index

Letter from John Hanes, Administrator, Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs, US Dept of State to Dr. Kameny 11/7/1960

Letter from John Macy, Chairman, US Civil Service Commission, to Mattachine Society of Wash., DC 2/25/66

Letter from Office of Asst Sec of Def re Benning Wentworth to Dr. Kameny 2/28/1969

Memo from Kimbell Johnson to Warren Irons re Commission’s desire to have a discussion on suitability policy relating to homosexuals, 1/8/1965

“Sexual Orientation and the Federal Workplace, Policy and Perception”, by the US Merit Systems Protection Board, May 2014, Source of number of gay and lesbians fired.

Memo from John Steele to Glenn Stahl re Homosexuality and Government Employment, 11/17/1964

Letter from John Macy, Chairman, US Civil Service Commission, to Mattachine Society of Wash., DC 2/25/66

Memo LV Meloy to John W. Macy, Jr. re Mattachine Society of Washington 9/21/62

A Brief Introduction to the Mattachine Society’s Cache of Civil Service Commission Documents by Rick Valelly

The Legal Advisory Files/”Homosexuals” and “Suitability of the Office of General Counsel (OCG) US CSC and OPOM (a sampling)

The Legal Advisory Files/”Homosexuals” and “Suitability of the Office of General Counsel (OCG) US CSC and OPOM (a sampling)

The Legal Advisory Files/”Homosexuals” and “Suitability of the Office of General Counsel (OCG) US CSC and OPOM (a sampling)

HUFFPOST, 10/21/16, The Unsuitables, by Charles Francis

 

Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Index

Memo to Homophile Organizations from the Mattachine Society of Washington re Recent Congressional Hearings on the bill H.R. 5990, 9/4/1963.

Amending District of Columbia Charitable Solicitation Act, Hearings before Subcommittee No. 4 of the Committee on the District of Columbia, First and Second Sessions on H.R. 5990, 8/8-9/1963 and 1- 10-1964

Congressional Record – House – 18914- 18963 – H.R. 5990 8/11/1964

Various news articles, Bill On Homosexuals Held Unconstitutional, Group Aiding Deviates Issued Charity License, Homosexual Group Turns in Permit, Mattachine Unit Loses Its Permit To Solicit Funds, Homosexual Group Turns in Permit, Dowdy Vs. Mattachine Society New Bill Mapped to Curb DC Group, “Morality” Talk Slows Sex Hearing, Group Definhds Fund Collecting Role, Unpopular Causes

“Soliciting Restriction Opposed by 2 Groups”, The Washington Post Editorial, 8/8/1963

“Unpopular Causes”, The Washington Post Editorial, 8/8/1963

“Piety by Fiat”, The Washington Post, 3/9/1964

“2 Groups Object to Bank On Mattachine Soliciting”, The Washington Post, 11/9/1963

 

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Index

“Congressional Record”, Senate, 88th Congress, August 5, 1963-August 20, 1963, Pages 14,836-14,844

“Freedom Summer Homos”, Charles Francis, “American Historical Review”, Vol. 124, Number 4, October 2019

USA Today, 7/22/17, Civil rights veterans highlight role of Rust College during movement, by Deborah Barfield Berry, The Clarion-Ledger

 

Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – Index

Lilli Vencenz on cover of the Ladder, Lesbian Review Jan 1966

Washington Blade, 2/24/16, LBJ’s gay purge, by Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – Index

Lilli Vincenz Resume of Civil Rights and Related Activites, Oct 1977

“Lilli’s Open House Celebrates 5th Anniversary” unsigned.

Lilli Vincenz’s Remarks at the National Lesbian PAC 5/6/1997.

lesbianpioneer.org

 

Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – Index

The Gay and Lesbian Review, Jan 2011, Kameny Papers Expose A Dark Legacy – How a civil servant’s “revulsion letter” doomed a generation, by CF.

Lilli Vincenz personal presentation motes prepared for meeting with Civil Service Commission Malloy & Johnson, 1965

The Washington Post, 4/27/15, In America’s past, a culture of animus against federal workers, by Philip Kennicott.

“Gay and Proud”: Groundbreaking Film Leads to Modern Non-Discrimination Legal Battle Prepared by McDermott Will & Emery on behalf of the Mattachine Society of Washington, DC.

The Library of Congress, Lilli Vincenz Papers

“The Second Largest Minority”, The Library of Congress

 

Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – Index

Playboy March 1969, Playboy Forum. Behavior Therapy by Larry R. Littlejohn, President Society for Individual Rights. Gay is Good, Dr. Kameny.

LA Blade, 9/29/17, Gay is Good! So Was ‘Hef’, by Charles Francis

LA Blade, 9/29/17, How bi-curious Hugh Hefner and the gays emboldened free speech and the sexual revolution, by Kardn Ocamb

 

Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – Index

Memo to Governor Adams from Bernard Shanley re Asst Atty General Warren Burger’s role in defending and implementing EO 10450 4/10/1953

Memo to Governor Adams from Bernard M. Shanley re Asst Atty General Warren Burger 4/10/1953

 

Chapter 19

Chapter 19 – Index

Lilli Vincenz’s remarks for panel discussion at the Lifestyles of Nonpatient Homosexuals, 6/20/1971

Link to Video “Gay and Proud: Lilli’s Legacy”

C-Span 3 American History TV, 5/22/19, Gay Rights Films of Lilli Vincenz, by Steve Skully.