Founded in 1952, One Institute (formerly One, Inc., and One Archives Foundation), is the oldest active LGBTQ+ organization in the United States, dedicated to telling LGBTQ+ history and stories through education, arts, and social justice programs.[1][2] Since its inception, the organization has been headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
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.[3] 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.”[1] Jennings and Rowland were also Mattachine Society founders. The name was derived from an aphorism of Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle: "A mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one."[4] The name was also a nod to referring to a gay person as "one of us".[5] 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.[citation needed]
One Institute is among a select number of California nonprofits that provide K-12 teacher training and lesson plans to implement California’s the FAIR ACT and integrate queer history into classrooms in California public schools. One Institute’s state, local, and nonprofit partners include the California Department of Education, LA County Office of Education, LA Unified School District, UCLA History-Geography Project, OUT for Safe Schools at the LA LGBT Center, and more.
Each year, One Institute organizes dozens of free and low cost, high quality exhibitions, multimedia projects, and public programs that explore the complexity of LGBTQ+ history through the lens of arts, culture, and contemporary issues. Exhibitions illuminate archival elements from ONE Archives at the USC Libraries alongside artist projects and works.
In October 2023 during LGBTQ+ History Month, the One Institute launched Circa: Queer Histories Festival, a month-long LGBTQ+ history festival with events throughout the Los Angeles region. Circa’s annual lineup includes exhibitions, readings, performances, panel conversations, and more, showcasing the trailblazing history and cultural contributions of the LGBTQ+ community.
In January 1953 One, Inc. began publishing a monthly magazine called One, the first U.S. pro-gay publication,[6] 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 lost in 1957. However, 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.[7] The Supreme Court thereby upheld constitutional protection for pro-homosexual writing.[8]
The magazine ceased publication in December 1967.[6]
In 1956, ONE established the ONE Institute of Homophile Studies which, in addition to organizing classes and annual conferences, also published the ONE Institute Quarterly, a journal dedicated to the academic exploration of homosexuality.[9]
In 1965, One separated over irreconcilable differences between ONE's business manager Dorr Legg and One magazine editor Don Slater.[10] 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[11] or HIC, a non-profit corporation that continues to function.[2]
In 1996, One, Inc. merged with ISHR, the Institute for the Study of Human Resources, a non-profit organization created by transgender philanthropist Reed Erickson, with ISHR being the surviving organization and ONE being the merging corporation. In 2005, the HIC donated many of its historic materials, including most of ONE Incorporated's Blanche M. Baker Memorial Library, to the Vern and Bonnie Bullough Collection on Sex and Gender, a special collection within the University LibraryatCalifornia State University, Northridge.[12][13] 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.[14]
^ abWhite, C. Todd (2009). Pre-gay L.A. : a social history of the movement for homosexual rights. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN9780252092862.
^Retter, Yolanda. "Latina and Latino LGBTQ Organizations and Periodicals". Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered History in America. Ed. Marc Stein. Vol. 2. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 144–148. Gale Virtual Reference Library. March 16, 2013.
^David K. Johnson: The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government, University of Chicago Press, 2004, ISBN9780226404813, p. 34
^Great events from history : Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender events, 1848–2006. Faderman, Lillian. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press. 2007. p. 114. ISBN9781587652639. OCLC71241916.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^Various Authors (2011). Cruising the Archive. Los Angeles: ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives. p. 45. ISBN978-0-615-49724-2.
^White, C. Todd (2012). "Chapter 3: Drama, power and politics : ONE magazine, Mattachine review and The ladder in the era of homophile activism". In Baim, Tracy (ed.). Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth of LGBT Community Newspapers in America. Prairie Avenue Productions and Windy City Media Group. pp. 141–152. ISBN978-1-4800-8052-2.
Dynes, Wayne R., ed., Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. New York and London, Garland Publishing, 1990[ISBN missing]
Gallo, Marcia. Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rise of the Lesbian Rights Movement. New York, Carroll and Graf, 2006.[ISBN missing]
