- Born
- Died
- Birth nameHenry Hay Jr.
- Nickname
- The Duchess
- Height1.91 m
- Harry Hay was born to a well-to-do family in the U.K, in 1912, and moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1919. He learned early in his life to trust his internal instinct and understanding of truth rather than blindly accept truth from authority. He was a member of the Communist Party and union supporter and advocate in the 1930s. He was the first person to conceive of gay and lesbian people as a cultural minority. He founded the Mattachine Society in Los Angeles, California in 1951. It was the first organization to provide support to and advocate the rights of gay men in the United States and was the one of the forerunners to the gay and lesbian civil rights movement. In 1979 he founded the Radical Faeries, a "networking of gentle men devoted to the principles of ecology, spiritual truth, and, in New Age terms, 'gay-centeredness.'"- IMDb mini biography by: Lloyd B.
- SpouseAnita May Platky(September 9, 1938 - 1951) (divorced, 2 children)
- Married fellow Communist Anita Platky, and adopted two daughters, both of whom survived him.
- In 1963, at age 51, he met John Burnside, the inventor of the teleidoscope, a variation on the kaleidoscope, who became his life partner. They moved to New Mexico in 1970 and managed a trading post on a Pueblo Indian reservation north of Santa Fe.
- In 1955, Hay was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and although he was not charged with any crime, he dropped out of the limelight after that.
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