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| Hope Along the Wind: The Life of Harry Hay: Subject Biographies |
Harry Hay
Founder of the Mattachine Society, the first successful gay rights organization in the United States. Hay and his partner John Burnside currently live in the Mission District of San Francisco. Hay celebrated his 90th birthday on April 7th, 2002.
Dale Jennings
A founding member of the Mattachine Society, Dale was thrust into the spotlight when he was entrapped by Los Angeles police in a late night park arrest in 1951. While most homosexuals entrapped by police in the '50s quietly pled guilty and paid the fine, Jennings and Hay rallied the Mattachine Society to mount a defense in court. Jennings' defense attorney caught the police officer in a lie and found evidence of jury tampering, and the case was thrown out, giving Mattachine and Jennings a triumphant victory.
Konrad Stevens
Mild-mannered Konrad "Steve" Stevens was a founding member of the Mattachine Society. He worked as a commercial photographer. He joined the group together with his boyfriend John Gruber. In the film, Stevens describes how everyone knew someone who was arrested in a bar raid:"That's just the way we lived." He also describes in great detail what a difficult character Harry Hay was. "I don't think anyone became his friend," Stevens recalls."He was too wrapped up in his work."
John Gruber
Gruber and boyfriend Konrad Stevens were founding members of the Mattachine Society. In the film, Gruber describes the climate of fear they all lived in. "In those days if you were a homosexual, it was your problem and you knew it," he says. He talks about how—after a police raid on a gay bar—everyone relaxed because the police had "done their duty for the day and now we could have fun."
Miriam Sherman
Sherman was a Section Organizer in the Communist Party in Los Angeles in the 1940s and '50s, and she served as Harry Hay's "boss" in the Party. When Harry realized he needed to resign from the Communist Party so he could do his work organizing the Mattachine Society, he went to Miriam Sherman.
Helen Gorog
Gorog was a longtime Hay family friend. She introduced Hay to his wife-to-be, Anita Platsky. Gorog knew Hay was homosexual, so when Hay announced his engagement to Anita, Gorog wondered, "did she know?"
Frank Pestana
Pestana has been an attorney and political activist in Los Angeles all his life. He was a student in Hay's political folk music classes. In the film he eloquently describes how the Communist Party was fighting for the basic rights of the people: "Social security was a dream to us!"
John Burnside
Burnside has been Harry Hay's partner for over 40 years. They met while working together at ONE Institute in L.A., a gay resource center. Burnside owned a kaleidoscope factory at the time, which Hay became part of when they joined their lives. Burnside and Hay currently live in the Mission District of San Francisco.
Also featured:
Urvashi Vaid
Former director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Vaid is currently a deputy director at the Ford Foundation.
Leslie Cagan
A political activist and board member of Pacifica Radio.
John Callahan
A political activist and union organizer in Los Angeles. Callahan worked with Hay in Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition.
Brendan Kearney
Seen in the film at a gathering of the Radical Faeries, at the 80-acre Radical Faerie Sanctuary in Southern Oregon.
Andre Pruitt
Seen in the film at a gathering of the Radical Faeries, at the 80-acre Radical Faerie Sanctuary in Southern Oregon.
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