Hensley (David) LGBT Magazine Collection

Material in this collection was published by ONE, Inc. the Mattachine Society, and Daughters of Bilitis and mostly were a part of the personal collection of David Hensley (b.1941), a life time resident of Los Angeles county. Hensley was a school librarian and teacher before retiring in 2001, and has also volunteered at the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives since 1989.

The Mattachine Society was founded in the early 1950s by communist and labor activist Harry Hay and is one of the earliest gay rights organizations in the United States. Initially called the “International Bachelors Fraternal Orders for Peace and Social Dignity”, Hay formed the Mattachine Society with a group of friends and began meeting secretly in Los Angeles to discuss issues related to the gay community. Incorporated in 1954, the Mattachine Society, which got its name from Société Mattachine, a French medieval masque group of traveling performers, established chapters around the United States. The national organization was dissolved in 1961, but the New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco chapters remained active for a few more years.

In 1952 ONE, Incorporated was formed from a group within the Mattachine Society. From 1953-1968, ONE, Inc. produced, ONE Magazine, a monthly periodical edited by members of the Mattachine Society. In 1956, the ONE Institute of Homophile Studies and education division of ONE, Inc. was established and held courses centered upon “homosexuality and its relation to world cultures, religion, law, morals, psychology, medicine, and the arts” (ONE Institute Quarterly, Winter 1962). The ONE Institute of Homophile Studies published a journal entitled ONE Institute Quarterly from 1958-1970.

Influenced by the Mattachine Society, The Daughters of Bilitis was the first lesbian organization founded in the United States. Established in San Francisco by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon in the mid-1950s, the purpose of The Daughters of Bilitis was to create a social space to promote and discuss lesbian rights. The Daughters of Bilitis, which got its name from a collection of poetry entitled Songs of Bilitis by Pierre Louys, published a monthly magazine, The Ladder from 1956-1972. In 1978, the final chapter of Daughters of Bilitis closed.