‘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.
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.
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
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DOJ Complaint supporting historical documents.
McDermott Lawyers Help Uncover Hoover- Era “Sex Deviate” Files, Bloomberg Law 8/24/17
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
Wyoming Tribune Eagle, 10/10/15, Truth about Lester Hunt needs to come to light, by Roger McDaniels.
Chapter 4
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 6
Aug 7, 1964 Resolution NCACLU On Federal Employment of Homosexuals
Memo from J. Edgar Hoover re Sex Deviates in Government Service June 20, 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
Chapter 7
Letter from Office of Asst Sec of Def re Benning Wentworth to Dr. Kameny 2/28/1969
Memo from John Steele to Glenn Stahl re Homosexuality and Government Employment, 11/17/1964
Memo LV Meloy to John W. Macy, Jr. re Mattachine Society of Washington 9/21/62
HUFFPOST, 10/21/16, The Unsuitables, by Charles Francis
Chapter 9
Congressional Record – House – 18914- 18963 – H.R. 5990 8/11/1964
“Soliciting Restriction Opposed by 2 Groups”, The Washington Post Editorial, 8/8/1963