One Sentence That Changed Everything: ONE Magazine & the First Gay Supreme Court Victory (Jan 13, 1958) | LGBTQ+ History Sleep Story

Drift off to sleep learning about ONE Magazine, the first openly gay magazine sold on American newsstands, and One, Inc. v. Olesen, the 1958 Supreme Court ruling that made it legal to send gay writing through the U.S. mail.Founded in October 1952 by members of the Los Angeles Mattachine Society, including Dale Jennings, Martin Block, Don Slater, and Dorr Legg, ONE took its name from a line by Thomas Carlyle, "a mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one", and put the words "The Homosexual Magazine" on its cover. The first issue appeared in January 1953 for twenty-five cents. Letters poured into its office on Hill Street from readers across the country who thought they were alone. In August 1953 the Post Office held and then released an issue headlined "Homosexual Marriage?"; in October 1954 Los Angeles Postmaster Otto Olesen declared the issue "obscene, lewd, lascivious and filthy" under the 1873 Comstock Act, objecting to a short story called "Sappho Remembered," a satirical poem, and an advertisement. ONE's pro bono attorney, 28-year-old Eric Julber, whose own article "You Can't Print It!" appeared in that very issue — sued, lost in federal district court in March 1956, lost again at the Ninth Circuit in February 1957, and paid his own way to Washington to file a petition with the Supreme Court. On January 13, 1958, without hearing argument, the Court reversed in a single sentence citing Roth v. United States, the first time the U.S. Supreme Court ever ruled in favor of gay people. Jim Kepner's clippings file from the ONE office grew into the ONE Archives at USC, today the largest LGBTQ+ archive in the world.This episode is told twice, first at a natural pace, then again slowly with long pauses to guide you into sleep. Imagery includes a downtown newsstand at dawn, a two-room office above a shop with a coffee percolator always on, sacks of letters, the post office loading dock, and a plain brown envelope in a small-town mailbox.🌙 Perfect for: sleep stories, LGBTQ+ history, Supreme Court history, free speech, 1950s gay history, bedtime meditation, queer history podcast💜 If Restful Rainbow helps you sleep, subscribe, and tell us in the comments: what was the first thing you ever read that told you that you weren't alone?💜 Support the show: https://restful-rainbow.captivate.fm/supportRelated episodes:The Society of Fools: Harry Hay and the Mattachine Society (122)Frank Kameny: The Astronomer Who Reached for Justice (066)Barbara Gittings, The Librarian Who Changed the World (060)Quiet Courage: The Birth of the Daughters of Bilitis (068)"A mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one." Thomas Carlyle, the line ONE Magazine was named for#ONEMagazine #OneIncVOlesen #LGBTQHistory #SleepStory #QueerHistory #GayHistory #BedtimeStory #SleepMeditation #SupremeCourt #FreeSpeech #MattachineSociety #EricJulber #DonSlater #JimKepner #ONEArchives #LosAngeles #1950s #LGBTQPodcast #RestfulRainbow #PrideHistory