Dick Leitsch

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. to Joseph Leitsch, who owned a wholesale tobacco business, and Ann (Moran) Leitsch.

Leitsch later said that he first experienced attraction towards boys in elementary school, then had his first sexual experiences as a student at Flaget High School. they were broadly accepting and unusually progressive for the time. Dick Leitsch, the society's president, Craig Rodwell the society's vice president, and Mattachine activist John Timmons planned to draw attention to the practice by identifying themselves as homosexuals before ordering a drink in order to bring court scrutiny to the regulation. Leitsch is said to have stated: "We are homosexuals. We are orderly, we intend to remain orderly, and we are asking for service." They then targeted a Howard Johnson's and a bar called Waikiki where they were served in spite of the note, with a bartender saying later, "How do I know they're homosexual? They ain't doing nothing homosexual." as well as a New York Times reporter and a Village Voice photographer, Fred W. McDarrah. A sign in the window read, "This is a raided premises." The bartender initially started preparing them a drink, but then put his hand over the glass which McDarrah then photographed, after Leitsch announced, "We are homosexuals." He went on, "We are orderly, we intend to remain orderly, and we are asking for service." The New York Times ran a headline the next day "3 Deviates Invite Exclusion by Bars."

The Mattachines then challenged the liquor rule in court and the courts ruled that gays had a right to peacefully assemble, which undercut the previous SLA contention that the presence of gay clientele automatically was grounds for charges of operating a "disorderly" premise. Although the court battle did not result in as clean a decision as the men hoped for, the event itself fueled hope within the queer community as perhaps the first open act of gay civil disobedience.

The National Park Service Register of Historic Places for Julius' Bar states: "Scholars of gay history consider the sip-in at Julius’ as a key event leading to the growth of legitimate gay bars and the development of the bar as the central social space for urban gay men and lesbians."

The bar now holds a monthly party called "Mattachine" honoring the early gay rights pioneers.

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.

From the published account:

Momentarily, 50 or more homosexuals who would have been described as "nelly" rushed the cops and took the boy back into the crowd. They then formed a solid front and refused to let the cops into the crowd to regain their prisoner, letting the cops hit them with their sticks, rather than let them through.

It was an interesting side-light on the demonstrations that those usually put down as "sissies" or "swishes" showed the most courage and sense during the action. Their bravery and daring saved many people from being hurt, and their sense of humor and "camp" helped keep the crowds from getting too nasty or too violent. 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.

Leitsch with the cast of The Boys in the Band, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer and Andrew Rannells, 2018.

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.

Leitsch died from liver cancer in Manhattan on June 22, 2018. He 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.