The ONE Inc. vs. Olesen case was a critical legal battle for gay rights leading up to 1969, highlighting the most explicit ways in which the LGBT community was censored, particularly by the US federal government. I highly recommend these excerpts, from both the federal and Supreme Court rulings, be included in our pre-Stonewall Riots compendium.

ONE Inc. was the "first widely distributed publication for homosexuals in the United States," formed to “publish...a magazine dealing primarily with homosexuality from the scientific, historical and critical point of view, and to aid in the social integration and rehabilitation of the sexual variant,” providing an unapologetic voice for the LGBT community during an otherwise dismal time period (“History”). The magazine included fictional writings by and about LGBT people, such as a lesbian-authored poem entitled “Proud and Unashamed”, and current events concerning the …show more content…
Olsen case exemplifies cultural attitudes towards homosexuals in the 50s, helping readers understand how LGBT people were viewed and treated. The judgement at the Ninth Circuit, however, declared ONE Inc “filthy… morally depraving and debasing… designed for persons having lecherous and salacious proclivities” and “calculated with the ordinary reader to deprave him, deprave his morals, or lead to impure purposes.” (ONE) The Ninth Circuit’s ruling defined “obscene” material, as not only being obscene in its own right, but as having the potential to influence others, “calculated to corrupt and debauch the mind and morals of those into whose hands it might fall” (ONE). Outside this case, the 50s were rife with hostility and contempt towards homosexuals—physicians in the 50s classified homosexuality as a disease or mental illness (Stetson). Fear of homosexuality and the notion that homosexuality posed a threat to American morals and values were a few of the many things that spurred continuous attempts to censor, exclude and disenfranchise