Dick Leitsch facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dick Leitsch
|
|
|---|---|
Dick Leitsch (right) with Alan Cumming
|
|
| Born |
Richard Joseph Leitsch
May 11, 1935 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
|
| Died | June 22, 2018 (aged 83) New York City, U.S.
|
| Occupation | Activist |
Richard Joseph Leitsch (May 11, 1935 – June 22, 2018), also known as Richard Valentine Leitsch and more commonly Dick Leitsch, was an American LGBT rights activist. He was president of gay rights group the Mattachine Society in the 1960s. He conceptualized and led the "Sip-In" at Julius' Bar, one of the earliest acts of gay civil disobedience in the United States, LGBT activists used "sip-ins" to attempt to gain the legal right to drink in bars in New York. He was also known for being the first gay reporter to publish an account of the Stonewall Riots and the first person to interview Bette Midler in print media.
Contents
Life and career
Early life
Richard Joseph Leitsch (who also went by Richard Valentine Leitsch, adopting a family name as his middle name) was born on May 11, 1935, in Louisville, Kentucky to Joseph Leitsch, who owned a wholesale tobacco business, and Ann (Moran) Leitsch. Richard, known as Dick, had three younger siblings. Leitsch's desire from childhood to live in New York City was influenced by movies and live radio broadcasts based in New York.
Leitsch graduated from high school in 1953 and went on to Bellarmine University, though he did not finish his degree.
Mattachine years
Inspired by a fiery and eloquent speech given by Frank Kameny advocating for the gay rights movement to model themselves after the highly successful Civil Rights Movement, Julian Hodges organized a group to run for election in 1965. Hodges would run for President, and Leitsch as President-Elect. Initially reluctant, Leitsch eventually agreed to run on the ticket. In his statement of intent, Leitsch promised to work on ending police entrapment of gay men and various forms of discrimination. The progressive platform proved right for the times and the ticket swept the May elections.
Unexpectedly, Julian Hodges stepped down later that year. In the course of less than a year, Leitsch went from a reluctant President-Elect to President of Mattachine-New York. These events occurred around the same time that John Lindsay was inaugurated as the Mayor of New York City. Leitsch worked behind the scenes frequently with the new mayor on gay issues in the city.
Journalism
Stonewall riots
During the Stonewall riots, Leitsch was the first gay journalist to report on the riot.
On June 28, 1969, Leitsch witnessed the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village after taking a cab and walking there after hearing on a late night radio broadcast that trouble was brewing outside a Greenwich Village gay bar. After the police cleared the area, he returned to the Mattachine offices and wrote about the riots, thus being the first person to talk about the event. Initially his account was printed as a special Mattachine newsletter to be distributed among Mattachine-New York members, but then a copy of Leitsch's account was published in the September 1969 issue of The Advocate.
Bette Midler
Leitsch wrote frequently for the first gay newspaper based in New York City, named Gay. His editor and the owner of Gay pushed him to interview a then-unknown singer by the name of Bette Midler. The interview was published in the October 26, 1970, edition of the paper, titled "The Whole World's a Bath!". It was the first interview of Bette Midler ever published.
Other work and retirement
During this pre-Stonewall era, anyone who was publicly homosexual had great difficulty staying employed in white-collar positions. Due to being publicly gay, even in interviews, Leitsch took whatever jobs provided a livable income. He primarily worked as a bartender but held various occupations including journalist, author, painter and holiday decorator. He retired in 2000, thereafter volunteering much of his time at the Episcopal Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in Manhattan.
Personal life and death
Leitsch's long-time partner was Timothy Scofield. They were together for 17 years before Scofield died in 1989 following an AIDS diagnosis.
In April 2018, Leitsch donated his personal papers as well as a large number of Mattachine papers to the New York Public Library, following his terminal cancer diagnosis.
Leitsch died from liver cancer in Manhattan on June 22, 2018.
Leitsch is interred at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, an Episcopal Church in Greenwich Village.
Legacy
Season 4 episode 10 of the podcast “Making Gay History” is about Leitsch, and a bonus episode of that podcast is about and in memory of Leitsch.
