Jim Steakley: Harry Hay, 1982

Here are two photos of Harry that I took in 1982, when I gave a slideshow about German gay history at the ONE Institute in Los Angeles.

In the discussion after the slideshow, Harry indicated his disapproval of the way that I'd characterized Adolf Brand and the Gemeinschaft der Eigenen as proto-fascist. Then he walked up to me and put the palm of his hand on my forehead, saying, "You have to learn to see things with the third eye." I thought to myself, "Brother...," but didn't say anything. That was the one and only time I experienced him face-to-face.

I might add that I knew who Harry was primarily from "Gay American History". In 1982, I was struck by the changes in his world view since the time he'd been in the U.S. Communist Party -- or what I took to be the changes.