S3 E5"Homos On The March"
“Life with the homophile movement continues to be exciting and stimulating and infinitely interesting and rewarding.”
Homophile picketing continues. The Watts Uprising pushes gay activists forward. Meanwhile, a closet queen wrecks Mattachine Miami. José Sarria establishes the Imperial Court. A gay hotel detective extorts rich queers in a blackmail scheme that will lead us toward a landmark event in gay liberation.
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Original release: May 10, 2021
Episode 5-A
"Detective at Hotel Is Held in Extortion" August 5, 1965“The house detective, Edward Murphy, was held on $7,500 bail for a hearing Aug. 13.
He was impersonating an officer.” Faye Camp as the New York Times reporter.
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Season 3 Bonus episodes
Mattachine Meeting 🎉
w/ Cockette Rumi Missabu
Subscribe on Patreon or Apple Podcasts to listen to this bonus episode from spin-off podcast Forgotten Fairy Tales—and many more from Mattachine Meeting, Randy Wicker Radio, Infamous Crimes: White Night Riot Interviews, and more!
Check out these free bonus pieces from season 3 & beyond:
Devlyn interviews Transparent creator Joey Soloway
March 4, 2022
SAY GAY 🍊
Anita Bryant & Ron DeSantis
March 14, 2022
Interview with Indiana LGBTQ+ historian Kelley Coures
January 18, 2023
Randy Wicker
& Marsha P. Johnson Papers
currently processing
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MAY 10, 2021
🎧 Episode 5: Picketing season heats up 🔥
MAY 11, 2021
“The whole point of the outbreak in Watts was that it…was carried on with the express purpose of asserting that they would no longer quietly submit to the deprivation of slum life.” —Bayard Rustin, 1966
🎧 S3 E5: The Watts Uprising holds the country’s attention.
📸 Demonstrators push against a cop car, August 12, 1965. AP.
📸 Young people in Watts, August 1965. @getty
📸 Armed national guards in Watts, August 1965. @getty
MAY 10, 2021
Lilli Vincenz was the first open lesbian to picket for gay rights in the U.S., marching with MSW. She was editor of their newsletter “The Homosexual Citizen,” which ended after a dispute between her and Frank Kameny about whether or not to run an astrology column — does the gay community ever change?? In 1969, Vincenz and Nancy Tucker founded their own paper, the Gay Blade, which became the Washington Blade, which still runs today. Vincenz also directed two very important documentaries about gay activism, documenting the 1968 Annual Reminder picket and the first Christopher Street Liberation Day march, AKA the first Pride. 🗞🎥✏️
🎧 S3 E5: I assume this photo of Vincenz is from the State Department picket, August 28, 1965.
🗞 On the cover of The Ladder, January 1966.
🗞 Vincenz leads the picket line at the CSC, June 26, 1965. Photo by Kay ‘Tobin’ Lahusen.
🎥 Vincenz’s documentaries can be seen at loc.gov. @librarycongress
MAY 13, 2021
“Demonstration Sponsored by Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., Post Office Box 11032” 💥
🎧 S3 E5: Eastern homophiles picket for a third time in 1965 outside the White House.
📸 Barbara Gittings leading the line! Ernestine Eckstein in white sunglasses. (Stay tuned for more of her next week!) October 23, 1965. Photo by Kay Tobin Lahusen. @nypl
📸 Frank Kameny handing off a letter to the president. Photo by Kay Tobin Lahusen. @nypl
MAY 11, 2021
“I understand that we are being picketed by a group, uh... of homosexuals.” 💥
🎧 S3 E5 “Homos on the March”
📸 Jack Nichols, August 28, 1965.
MAY 14, 2021
“Picketing, I regard it as very—almost a conservative activity now.” 💥
🎧 S3 E5: Ernestine Eckstein marches in the third White House picket. (Eckstein returns in next week’s episode.)
📸 October 23, 1965. Photos by Kay Tobin Lahusen. @nypl
MAY 13, 2021
"It's not my cup of tea." ☕️
Richard Inman of Mattachine Miami stumbles through his big break.
🎧 S3 E5
MAY 15, 2021
The Homosexual Mafia 💥
🎥 Gore Vidal appearing on CBS Reports: “The Homosexuals,” 1967. (Stay tuned...)
Empress I José Sarria
MAY 10, 2021
“I am already a queen, so now I must be an Empress.” 👑
🎧 S3 E5: José Sarria — the Marquesa, the Black Cat, the Nightingale of Montgomery Street — ascends to his new throne on the Imperial Court as the Grand Mere, the Widow Norton, and Absolute Empress I de San Francisco.
📸 José Julio Sarria
📸 Tavern Guild’s ad for the Beaux Arts Ball. @glbt_history
📸 Plaque commemorating Sarria’s stage which closed in 1963, the Black Cat Café. See it at 710 Montgomery Street.
MAY 11, 2021
In José Sarria’s final episode, he ascends to his new throne on the Imperial Court as the Grand Mere, the Widow Norton, and Absolute Empress I de San Francisco. 👑
🎧 S3 E5: Sarria debuts the Imperial Court, an annual drag ball to raise money for the queer community. Today, the International Court System has 65+ chapters in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, making it the second largest queer organization in the world.
📸 José Sarria, the Widow Norton, c. mid-1960s.
📸 Empress I José Sarria (center) with Empress Anne Tique & Emperor Tony Monteleone at the Imperial Court of New York’s Night of 1000 Gowns, 2009. Photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert.
📸 Sarria, 2005. Photo by Monica Almedia, NYT.
✨Learn more at internationalcourtsystem.org
AUGUST 4, 2021
👑 United we stand, divided they catch us one by one!
Let’s take a few deep dives into José Sarria photos and flyers during his reign at the Black Cat, his run for Supervisor (a decade before Milk), and his coronation as Empress Norton. Link in bio!
✨ patreon.com/queerserial✨
TONS of upcoming new research dives and new bonus episodes for season 3! And a new series coming!
📸 @glbt_history
SEPTEMBER 19, 2021
Celebrating the queen of queens for Hispanic Heritage month! 👑
Here are some fab photos through the years of José Julio Sarria, the Marquesa of the Black Cat, the Nightingale of Montgomery Street, the Grand Mere, the Widow Norton, the Absolute Empress I de San Francisco—founder of the International Imperial Court and first openly gay person to run for public office. 💋
📸 @glbt_history
Hear his story in seasons 2 & 3 of the pod ☺️
MAY 12, 2021
“I ask you: Will you join in the ECHO sponsorship of these demonstrations? Do you want yourselves listed as supporters?” 🖊
🎧 S3 E5: East Coast Homophile Organizations meet in New York City for their conference, September 25, 1965.
📸 Recognize these names from the podcast? Standing: Marjorie McCann (DOB), Clark Polak (Janus Society President), unknown, Shirley Willer (DOB President), Jack Nichols (MSW VP), Carole LeHane (DOB), Bill Beardemphl (SIR President), Bob Basker (Mattachine Midwest President), unknown, Frank Kameny (MSW President), Joan Fleischmann (DOB).
Kneeling: Julian Hodges (MSNY President), Dick Leitsch (MSNY VP), unknown, Jon Marshall (MSW).
Photo by Kay ‘Tobin’ Lahusen, of course. @nypl
🗞Ad in Eastern Mattachine Magazine, July 1965.
MAY 12, 2021
“Life with the homophile movement continues to be exciting and stimulating and infinitely interesting and rewarding." 🖊
🎧 S3 E5: Mattachine Society of Washington pickets the Pentagon.
📸 July 31, 1965.
Ed Murphy A.K.A. The Skull
MAY 13, 2021
Yes, I was dropping hints in this week’s episode.
🎥 “The Best of Everything” (1959) 20th Century Fox
MAY 15, 2021
🔍 “The house detective, Edward Murphy, was held on $7,500 bail for a hearing Aug. 13. He was impersonating an officer.”
📸 Edward “The Skull” Murphy in the Village Voice, 1978. Photo by James Hamilton.
MAY 15, 2021
🔍 “The house detective, Edward Murphy, was held on $7,500 bail for a hearing Aug. 13. He was impersonating an officer.”
📸 Edward “The Skull” Murphy in the Village Voice, 1978. Photo by James Hamilton.
MAY 14, 2021
“Behind the whole story was a history of Mafia in-fighting.” 🍻
MAY 14, 2021
Today on Patreon, we’re diving into the Mattachine’s SF call logs! Yes, they did actually help hundreds of people when they weren’t fighting for power over the gay movement. ☎️
✨ Patreon.com/QueerSerial ✨
🗂 @glbt_history