Help preserve LGBTQ+ history for the next seventy years!
We are celebrating our organization’s 70th anniversary starting this November. 70 Years as ONE marks our incredible achievement as the longest continually operating LGBTQ+ organization in the country.
Our founders started ONE, Inc. in November 1952; and in January 1953, published the first issue of ONE Magazine, which became the first widely distributed LGBTQ+ publication in the United States. In 1954, the postal authorities seized the October issue of ONE Magazine on charges of obscenity. We fought back. This court case went to the Supreme Court. After four years of litigation, we won! The 1958 landmark ruling, ONE, Inc. v. Olesen, was the first to address free speech for LGBTQ+ people.
Over these many decades, ONE, Inc. has been a magazine, an educational institute, and, of course, an archive at the USC Libraries, comprising of the largest repository of LGBTQ materials in the world. Today, as ONE Archives Foundation, we are an activist cultural institution connecting queer history and contemporary culture to effect social change.
Our queer communities are still under attack today. States across the country are attempting to erase LGBTQ+ kids, especially trans kids, through book bans and policies that deny their existence. State legislators are once again threatening marriage equality laws in order to eradicate our intimate lives, and remove access to life-saving HIV prevention medications such as PrEP.
We need your help today. Be a part of the legacy of this storied organization that began 70 years ago by and for the LGBTQ+ community.
In honor of the 70th anniversary, we have a goal to raise $105,000 by December 31 to continue our one-of-a-kind queer history programming, including exhibitions, K-12 educational initiatives, and public programs that center our communities and our histories.
Join us as we mark this important history of 70 Years as ONE. In the coming months, we will announce our 70 Years as ONE anniversary programming for 2023.
Thank you for your support.
As ONE,
Tony Valenzuela
Executive Director
ONE Archives Foundation
