Randy Wicker: Marsha P. Johnson, The Mattachine Society, and Early Gay Protests

LGBTQ&A

Jeffrey Masters

Society & Culture

4.7 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Randy Wicker talks about joining the Mattachine Society in 1958, one of the first gay rights groups in the U.S. He also talks about leading what's considered the first pro-gay protest in the U.S., the 1966 "Sip-in" at Julius' in New York City, and sharing his home with Marsha P. Johnson.

The Randy Wicker and Marsha P. Johnson Archive: https://queerserial.com/randywicker

Pay It No Mind - The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson directed by Michael Kasino: https://youtu.be/rjN9W2KstqE?si=gd8XQeytNkQqLnaJ

This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. ⁠Click here⁠ to listen to our recent interview with Martha Shelly, activist and co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front.

LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our ⁠Substack⁠ as a paid Subscriber to help support our work.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠@jeffmasters1

Transcript

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0:00.0	Randy!
0:02.0	The guy ringing that, you didn't hear him?
0:07.0	Hey.
0:08.0	I thought you to call me on this comment.
0:10.0	Sorry, they let me in.
0:12.0	Okay, good.
0:13.0	Nice to meet you, Jeff.
0:15.0	Hey, I'm Jeffrey Masters, and as I've dug deeper into queer history, one of the things I've become
0:22.7	particularly fascinated by is the period right before the Stonewall uprising.
0:29.1	By now I know that you know what happened at Stonewall, but one of the things that came
0:33.3	out of that was that it sent this signal to queer people that said that this thing that makes
0:38.6	you different, this thing that you're hiding, not only is it something to not be ashamed of,
0:44.6	but it is worth fighting for. Stonewall sent up this bat signal across the U.S.
0:51.0	and it changed how queer people saw themselves.
0:54.5	And looking at that pre-Stonewall history, one of the names that continues to come up
0:59.8	is Randy Wicker.
1:02.4	Randy joined the Madashin Society in 1958.
1:05.9	Madashin was one of the first gay civil rights organizations in the U.S., and throughout the
1:10.4	1960s, Randy was one of the most visible gay activists in the country.
1:16.0	He was part of some of the first radio interviews about gay people.
1:19.6	He did television.
1:20.8	He planned and led what's considered the first public pro-gay protest in the U.S.
	...

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