The Insider [Newsletters]

The Mattachine Society of Washington (MSW) published The Insider, a newsletter for members that covered aspects of life in Washington DC before the Gay Blade first appeared in October 1969. In the late 1960s, Eva Freund and Richard Schaefers wrote and edited the newsletter. The Insider gives readers a look into the monthly activities of The Mattachine Society during the Sixties as well as an overview of media views and MSW's support of other homophile groups of the period. The issues from 1966 and 1967 focus on internal Mattachine operations and meetings, with some attention to media interest in homosexuals. The issues from 1969 and 1970 chronicle internal operations, training sessions, and events. Readers will also find a distinct change in tone between the February 1969 and the January 1970 issues, as the editors note and support the dawning "Homosexual Revolt". Late issues of The Insider show MSW's support of the new Gay Blade and new organizations such as the Gay Liberation Front in New York.

1966 Jan, no. 1:
meeting schedule, address at Unitarian church, help wanted

1966 Feb, no. 2:
committee meetings, new office at 1319 F St NW

1966 April, no. 4:
pledge campaign, office needs, meeting schedule

1966 May, no. 5:
members only, in the news, bulletin board

1966 Nov, no. 11:
committee meetings, MSW handout distribution, radio interviews

1967 Feb:
Executive board interviews, Washington Area Council on Religion and the Homosexual, calls for assistance with The Homosexual Citizen

1967 April:
Kameny and Nichols on TV, panel discussion at UMD in College Park

1969 Feb:
MSW training workshop, DC vagrancy law unconstitutional, MSW's new Gay is Good buttons arrive, MSW matchbooks, "governmental concerns", blackmail in DC.

1969 March:
Upcoming lectures/programs, guerilla theater, grant seeking for studies on homosexuals, events in the movement, new MSW brochure, project to find counselors for homosexual couples, Harvard Law project on homosexuals and security clearances, recent events "in the bullpit of homophile reform".

1969 May:
MSW and NACHO file suit against IRS over employee regulations, John Karr speaking on 'Homosexuals and the Law' at GWU, NACHO questionnaire to presidential candidates, events in the movement, bar owners respond to Gay is Good buttons, minutes of March meeting, new study of lesbians.

1969 August:
The Stonewall resistance, straight vigilantes in Queens, the "last peaceful" July 4th demonstration in Philadelphia, court ruling that homosexuality is not a bar to federal employment, Maryland sodomy statutes, Martin Hoffman's article on homosexuality in Psychology Today, and an encounter with the police at Jo-Anna's on 8th St. SE.

1969 Sept:
SIR files suit against Oakland and Berkeley entrapment, review of Harvard Law article "Government-Created Employment Disabilities of the Homosexual", movement news, Gay Is...

1969 Oct:
New Community Service Committee projects--blood drive and distributing the Gay Blade to the bars, discussion of DC 'solicitation' statute, "How is the Old Establishment Doing", media issues, review of The Same Sex by Ralph Weltge.

1969 Nov:
Gay Blade distribution and the blood drive, blackmail attempt, "How's the Old Establishment Doing?", news of NY's Gay Liberation Front, military courts cannot process civil issues, report on NIMH's "Final Report of the Task Force on Homosexuality."

1970 Jan:
upcoming talks/programs, meeting protocols, Gay Blade distribution, Homosexuals Are Denied ...", editorial welcoming the Homosexual Revolt.

The issues of The Insider are donations of Eva Freund and Paul Kuntzler and are used with the permission of Dr Franklin E Kameny and the Mattachine Society of Washington. MSW retains copyright.