History
Frank Kameny & The Mattachine Society
Frank Kameny (above) was a member of the US Army before he worked at Georgetown University. After a brief time at Georgetown he was recruited back into the military, this time as an astronomer for the Navy Mapping service. In 1958 he lost this job due to Executive Order 10450, which ordered homosexuals be expelled from their government jobs, as they posed a great security threat to our nation. Kameny knew this treatment was unjust, and he could not sit quietly after being fired. He sued the government for their mistreatment, and when that didn't work, he started the Mattachine Society of Washington.
The Mattachine Society was a homophile society that advocate for the fair treatment of homosexuals, especially within their contributions to the US government. As more and more people lost their government jobs they turned to the organization for community, and with that came the many famous Mattachine pickets. Their mission in picketing, especially when it came to picketing outside of government offices, was to make themselves presentable in order to earn back the jobs they had lost.
"Picketing is not an occasion for an assertion of personality, individuality, age, rebellion, generalized non-conformity, or anti-conformity. It is an occasion for an organized effort, by a group or a movement, as such, working in a calculated, coordinated fashion, to make its existence, message, and grievances known where they need to be known. Therefore the individual picketer serves, merely, to carry a sign or to increase the size of the demonstration; not he, but his sign should attract notice and attention.
People are much more likely to listen to, to examine, and hopefully, to accept new, controversial, unconventional, unorthodox, or unusual ideas and positions, if these are presented to them from sources bearing the symbols of acceptability, conventionality, and respectability, as arbitrary as those symbols may be. Good order, good appearance, and dignity of bearing are essential.
In order for a demonstration to be more effective, it must be well organized and well disciplined. Signs must be well planned and carefully coordinated with each other and with the rationale for the demonstration.
The demonstration must have a well-defined purpose. The location of the demonstration must be clearly relevant to the purpose of the demonstration."
From The Mattachine Society of Washington Committee on Picketing and Other Lawful Demonstrations' Regulations for Picketing
Organizing Before Stonewall
This short film, The Second Largest Minority, is by lesbian filmmaker and advocate Lilli Vincenz. The footage here is from the Mattachine Society's annual Reminder Day Picket on the Fourth of July in 1968. Led by Frank Kameny, Barbara Gittings, and other Mattachine members, this picket was a huge part in The Mattachine Society's fight for federal employment.
Organizing After Stonewall
This film, Gay and Proud, is another march as it was captured by Lilli Vincenz. This protest differs heavily from the earlier work of the Mattachines. Coming after the Stonewall Uprisings and the early years of the Gay Liberation Front, the focus went from employment and assimilation to a sort of gay and lesbian revolution- a fight for liberation.
Rules for Mattachine picketing as outlined by The Mattachine Society of Washington. Their aim was to present themselves as employable to the federal government, and these rules were to make an attempt at that.