ONE, Inc.
Colfax & Logan
Created By: Nell
Sponsored By: The Drop
Like many early activist groups, the Mattachine Society was not bound to last. Changes in how people wanted to live in their communities, including an increased desire for openness and more outright activism, precipitated major changes in activist groups.
Neither was the Mattachine Society the only LGBTQ rights organization in the nation. Only a few years after the arrival of the Mattachine Society, ONE, Inc. was incorporated in 1952. Its name derived from 19th-century writer Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that, “A mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one.”
ONE, Inc. was the first LGBTQ organization to have its own offices, making it one of the first de facto LGBTQ community centers in the nation. In 1953, it started to openly publish the first gay magazine, One. The U.S. Postal Service said that the magazine was “obscene” and refused to deliver it. However, ONE, Inc. brought a lawsuit to federal court, arguing that the organization had First Amendment rights to publish and distribute One. In 1958, the Supreme Court agreed, reversing earlier court rulings and allowing One to be distributed through the U.S. mail.
Though One ceased publication in 1969, it remains an important landmark in both LGBTQ and legal history. ONE, Inc. continued its advocacy work, as well. In 1956, it established the ONE Institute of Homophile Studies, which published an academic journal focused on LGBTQ issues and community. Later, in 1996, ONE, Inc. merged with the Institute for the Study of Human Resources. The organization later transferred its archives to the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives in 2010.