Америкалық гомосексуалдық құқықтар ұйымы – ONE Inc. тарихы

American gay rights organization

One, Inc., or One Incorporated, was one of the first gay rights organizations in the United States, founded in 1952.

The idea for an organization dedicated to homosexuals emerged from a Mattachine Society discussion meeting held on October 15, 1952. ONE Inc.'s Articles of Incorporation were signed by Antonio "Tony" Reyes, Martin Block, and Dale Jennings on November 15, 1952. Other founders were Merton Bird, W. Dorr Legg, Don Slater, Chuck Rowland, and Harry Hay, “all of whom sought to unify homosexuals into social action.” The name was also a nod to referring to a gay person as "one of us". ONE was the first LGBT organization in the United States to have its own office, and as such its offices acted as a prototype LGBT community center. One, Inc. readily admitted women, including—with their pseudonyms—Joan Corbin (as Eve Elloree), Irma Wolf (as Ann Carrl Reid), Stella Rush (as Sten Russell), Helen Sandoz (as Helen Sanders), and Betty Perdue (as Geraldine Jackson). They were vital to its early success. ONE and Mattachine in turn provided vital help to the Daughters of Bilitis in the launching of their newsletter The Ladder in 1956. The Daughters of Bilitis was the counterpart lesbian organization to the Mattachine Society, and the organizations worked together on some campaigns and ran lecture series. Bilitis came under attack in the early 1970s for "siding" with Mattachine and ONE, rather than with the new separatist feminists.

In January 1953 One, Inc. began publishing a monthly magazine called One, the first U. S. pro gay publication, which it sold openly on the streets of Los Angeles for 25 cents. In October 1954, the U. S. Post Office Department declared the magazine "obscene" and refused to deliver it. ONE, Inc. brought a lawsuit in federal court, which it won in 1958, when the U. S. Supreme Court reversed the lower court ruling that ONE violated obscenity laws in One, Inc. v. Olesen based on its recent landmark First Amendment case, Roth v. United States. The Supreme Court thereby upheld constitutional protection for pro homosexual writing. The magazine ceased publication in December 1969.

In 1965, One separated over irreconcilable differences between ONE's business manager Dorr Legg and One magazine editor Don Slater. After a two year court battle, Dorr Legg's faction retained the name "ONE, Inc." and Don Slater's faction retained most of the corporate library and archives. In 1968, Slater's group became the Homosexual Information Center or HIC, a non profit corporation that continues to function. In October 2010, ONE transferred its archives to the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California for preservation. ONE, Inc. continues to exist to organize exhibits and gather new material.