Masked Voices: Gay Men and Lesbians in Cold War America

Introduction

Introduction In the spring of 1954, a man named John walked by a newsstand in downtown Los Angeles and spotted something he had never seen before. It was a small magazine called ONE: The Homosexual Magazine. ONE was the first, and at that time, the only American magazine directly marketed to gay and lesbian readers. Browsing the pages with curiosity, John was impressed by the magazine’s pro‑gay and lesbian tone. He saw the address for the magazine’s headquarters inside the front cover. Real‑ izing it was just a short bus ride away, he decided to visit ONE’s offices and share a personal story with ONE’s staff. Upon arriving at 232 South Hill Street, he entered the shabby building and proceeded upstairs to room 328. “ONE, Inc.” was stenciled on the door. He entered to find a stuffy, cramped office, and a bald‑ ing, middle‑aged man sitting at a typewriter surrounded by books. The man was Dorr Legg, ONE’s business manager. John, who suffered from a stuttering disability, described a harrowing experience to Legg. He had worked as an orderly at a veteran’s hospital. One day, unexpectedly, hos‑ pital officials had announced a new policy forbidding the employment of homosexuals, and that all gay and lesbian employees would be fired. Investigators reviewed hospital personnel records and conducted inter‑ views to determine which employees were gay. Several of John’s friends lost their jobs. Eventually the investigators interviewed John, asking him a series of questions about his personal life. After establishing that John was gay, the investigators told John that he could keep his job if he told them the names of other gay men and lesbians working at the hospital. Under duress, John gave investigators the names of other gay employ‑ ees. The assurance about his job, however, was a trick—because he had admitted he was gay and because hospital policy dictated his dismissal, John was fired.1 John explained to Dorr Legg that when he searched for a new job after being fired, he faced a difficult dilemma. He could be honest to 1 2 / Masked Voices prospective employers about his homosexuality and almost certainly not be hired. Or, he could lie about why he lost his previous job and hope his new employer would not check references and, therefore, never dis‑ cover the real reason for his previous dismissal. Months passed without finding a new job. His savings dwindled. He became overwhelmed with guilt because he had identified other gay people to the hospital investiga‑ tors. Legg wrote years later in ONE magazine that John was “abysmally ashamed of himself, utterly debased at the thought of the disasters he had brought down upon so many others. At the same time he was choking with rage and contempt at those who had taken advantage of his honesty to entrap him, and with loathing for the Senator who was the appar‑ ent cause of it all.”2 Readers of ONE magazine knew that the “Senator” referred to was Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. Eventually, John found another job, regained his savings, and became a lifelong volunteer for ONE, Inc.3 A 1961 editorial in ONE pos‑ ited John as a symbol of the anxieties, indignities, and repression afflict‑ ing gay people since the end of World War II. Yet John also symbolized the perseverance of gay people to work constructively toward a better future. The cover illustration of John (Figure 1: ONE cover, August 1961, “I Was Fired”) reflects both aspects: his facial expression is serious with no hint of a smile, suggesting bitterness. He appears down beaten, yet resiliently tough. It is the face of a victim as well as a survivor. This book is about people like John: ordinary gay men and lesbians in the 1950s and early 1960s caught between dissonant forces operating in American politics, culture, and sexuality. As a Los Angeles resident, John was able to easily visit ONE’s office and share his story in person. Thousands of other gay people throughout the country (and the world) shared their stories, opinions, anxieties, and joys with ONE magazine through written correspondence. This book is an analysis of letters to ONE written from 1953 to 1965. Most of these letters were not published in ONE magazine. ONE published only a small sample of the letters it received. As the letter volume increased over the years, ONE published only short excerpts and omitted personal information. I accidentally uncovered the full...