Obscenity on Trial Part I

An old case challenging portions of the Federal Anti-Obscenity Laws recently caught my eye. In October 1954, One: The Homosexual Magazine was designated un-mailable by the Postmaster of Los Angeles. So in response to this blatant violation of the First Amendment, One, Inc. sued the Postmaster.

For the next few post I want to dive into One, Inc. v. Olesen and look into the contents of the magazine, the statutory frame work, and the three decisions that arose.

According to the University of Southern California, One was first published in January 1953 when W. Dorr Legg and other members of the Mattachine Society decided to publish hardcore erotica a magazine explicitly for LGBT Community. Even though Illinois was the only state to decriminalize the game "hide the salami" prior to 1970, the magazine continued publication until 1967. The circumstances are unbelievable in two ways: it is unbelievable that a magazine advocating a crime could be tolerated; it is unbelievable that in a "free" society consensual sex could be illegal in many circumstances.  

Cover of One October 1954

I have republished the poem Lord Samuel and Lord Montagu which along with Sappho Remembered were considered by the Postmaster to be the epitome of "obscenity."

Lord Samuel and Lord Montagu

(A New and Very Bab Ballad by Brother Grundy, Hollywood 1954)

“…Now…we find our dismay that the vices of Sodom and Gomorrah appear to be rife among us… we may indeed be on the eve of a new Elizabethan Age.”

Viscount Samuel, News of the World

“And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”

I Samuel, 15-14

Lord Samuel says that Sodom’s sin
Disgrace our young Queen’s reign,
An age that in this plight begin
May well end up in flame.

As if to show his words are true
Of commoner and peer—
It’s goal for Baron Montagu
For upwards of a year!

His ins and outs with various Scouts
Had caused a mild sensation.
Accomplice airmen take the stand—
Secure the Lord’s damnation.

A Labour Member, Mr. Field
For “importuning” fined is,
The spivs, the M.P’s. richly heeled,
Discover Justice blind is.

The GENT’S at Piccadilly say
The press, both tame and raucous,
Of places the most silly is
To hold a party caucus!

Lord Samuel is a legal peer
(While real are Monty’s curls!)
Some peers are seers but some are queers—
And some boys WILL be girls.

In good Victoria’s glorious days
When Sammy was a child
Were things perverse a great deal worse?
Is Wildeblood worse than Wilde?

This new Elizabethan age
The ancient pattern fits—
When Roister Doister held the stage
And the boys were Honest Kit’s.

Gomorrah, Pompeii, Corinth, Tyre,
Rome, London— all a piece—
It seems the fat’s been in the fire
Ere Athens was in Greece.

While Priestley tell the B.B.C.
About the “invert clique”
Why should this Second Samuel flee
The bleating of the sheep?

Had he beheld— this Statesman Eld’—
The Vice of other reigns,
Would he thus the “Lily” geld
Or throw him to the flames?

Would he idly waste his breath
In sniffing round the drains
Had he known “King Elizabeth”
Or roistering “Queen James”?

Moral

They say the sins of Sodom
In these Isles have come to roost—
So if your flying east from GANDER
Watch you don’t fairly “goosed”.

And if you wish to Pick a Dilly
When you’re strolling out at night,
Just make sure it’s not a “Lily”
Or a male transvestite.

For there’s blackmail in the woodpile
And there’s blackmail by the fence,
But to black male and to white male
It’s: AVOID THE PUBLIC “GENTS”!

Lord Samuel and Lord Montagu

Fap! Fap! Fap!

Sorry, but that was so dirty and erotic I couldn't stop masturbating. Fuck the 1950s, those homophobic, racist assholes. That was fairly innocuous and in no way lewd.

Wikipedia offers some background on the situation that will help clarify the meaning of the poem, which is in part lost on the modern reader:

In the summer of 1953, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu had offered Wildeblood the use of a beach hut near his country estate. Wildeblood brought with him two young RAF servicemen, his lover Edward McNally and John Reynolds. The foursome were joined by Montagu's cousin Michael Pitt-Rivers. At the subsequent trial the two airmen turned Queen's Evidence, and claimed there had been dancing and 'abandoned behaviour' at the gathering. Wildeblood said it had in fact been 'extremely dull'. Montagu claims that it was all remarkably innocent, saying: 'We had some drinks, we danced, we kissed, that's all.'[4]

Arrested on 9 January 1954, in March of that year Wildeblood was brought before the British courts charged with 'conspiracy to incite certain male persons to commit serious offences with male persons' (or 'buggery').[5] Wildeblood was charged along with Lord Montagu and Michael Pitt-Rivers, and during the course of the trial he admitted his homosexuality to the court.[6] Montagu received a 12 months sentence, while Wildeblood and Pitt-Rivers were sentenced to 18 months in prison as a result of these and other charges. The result of the trial led to an inquiry resulting in the Wolfenden Report, which in 1957 recommended the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK. Wildeblood's testimony to the Wolfenden committee was influential on its recommendations.

So, yes the poem is about people who had gay sex. But that does not mean that it is about gay sex. 

While this article that I am writing is about the queer experience prima facie, the more sinister reality is that obscenity laws are dangerous to all groups. If the poem Lord Samuel and Lord Montagu were obscene, is it that much of a stretch to label Democrats as lewd for supporting gay marriage (or anything else icky for that matter.)  It would appear that obscenity is whatever the Postmaster or legislative body or particular judge hearing the case determines it to be.

Part II. Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI will explain why that isn't entirely how modern America works.

Liam '14

Go check out Box Turtle Bulletin  and Gay News Ephemera, who both have posted scans of One Magazine, which without I could not have done this post.