Jack Nichols (March 16, 1938 - May 2, 2005) protests the State Department, Washington, D.C., August
Jack Nichols (March 16, 1938 - May 2, 2005) protests the State Department, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1965. Photo by Kay Tobin, c/o @nyplpicturecollection..Jack Nichols, who was born seventy-nine years ago today, was one of the most important figures in the early east coast homophile movement and one of the best-known figures in the early post-Stonewall gay liberation movement..In 1961, Nichols co-founded the Mattachine Society of Washington with Frank Kameny, and he later founded the Mattachine Society of Florida..Throughout the 1960s, Nichols organized and participated in the first public gay rights demonstrations, including those at the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department; he also participated in the Annual Reminders at Independence Hall each July 4 from 1965 to 1969. In 1967, Nichols was one of the first Americans to discuss his homosexuality on national television, and, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was instrumental in the successful lobbying of the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders..In the mid-1960s, Nichols and his partner, Lige Clarke, began writing a column, “The Homosexual Citizen,” for The Mattachine Review. (The title—“The Homosexual Citizen”—first appeared in the 1950s in a column written by lesbian pioneer Dr. Lilli Vincenz.) In 1968, the couple was approached to write the column for Screw magazine; “The Homosexual Citizen,” as it appeared in Screw, was the first queer-interest column regularly to appear in a non-queer publication. The couple also published books, including “I have more fun with you than anybody” and “Roommates Can’t Always Be Lovers.” In 1969, Nichols and Clarke founded Gay magazine; it was the first weekly gay newspaper to appear widely on newsstands..Nichols and Clarke, once described as “the most famous gay couple in America,” were vital participants in the queer liberation movement until Clarke’s murder in 1975; Nichols remained active until his death in May 2005..Jack Nichols died of cancer on May 2, 2005; he was sixty-seven. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #JackNichols #Resist (at Washington, District of Columbia) -- source link
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