One Institute
gay rights organization
Founded in 1952, One Institute (formerly One, Inc., and One Archives Foundation) is the oldest active LGBTQ+ organization in the United States, dedicated to telling LGBTQ+ history and stories through education, arts, and social justice programs. Since its inception, the organization has been headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
Founding
In October 1952, two years after forming Harry Hays' historic gay rights organization, The Mattachine Society, the concept of a magazine focused on homosexual issues was first brought up during a meeting at Hays' residence.
In November 1952, ONE Inc. was founded. ONE Inc.'s Articles of Incorporation were signed by Antonio "Tony" Reyes, Martin Block, and Dale Jennings on November 15, 1952. Other founders were Merton Bird, W. Dorr Legg, Don Slater, Chuck Rowland, and Harry Hay, “all of whom sought to unify homosexuals into social action.” Jennings and Rowland were also founders of the Mattachine Society. The name was derived from an aphorism by Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle: "A mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one." The name was also a nod to referring to a gay person as "one of us".
In January 1953, the first issue of ONE Magazine was published, making it the first LGBTQ magazine available in the United States. The publication was also the first gay organization with a public office space in Downtown Los Angeles, where copies were sold on street corners for 25 cents.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “One Institute” is gay rights organization. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Institute, rights and organization, not as a finished interpretation.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4817375. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1952 and 1953.
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This entry incorporates text from “One Institute” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.