Robert Amsel facts for kids

Robert Amsel (born August 16, 1946, in Albany, New York) is an LGBT activist mainly known for his work in the Mattachine Society, a gay civil rights organization prominent in New York City throughout the 1960s. When the society disbanded in 1987, he was one of its most active members.

Early life and education

Amsel was born in Albany, New York. While attending Syracuse University between 1964 and 1968 (from which he obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree), he came out into gay life. During the summer of 1967, while staying with his sister in New York, he volunteered at the Mattachine Society. As a result, he met Dick Leitsch, then president of the group.

Madolin Cervantes, a heterosexual woman who devoted her life to equality and was an officer of the society, had a large, rent-controlled apartment on West End Avenue, where the couple lived for another year, upon Amsel's graduation from Syracuse University.

Career

At the time of the Stonewall riots, Dick Leitsch had been upgraded to executive director of the Mattachine Society, where Amsel was president. Amsel would later write a cover article for the September 15, 1987, edition of The Advocate. During this period, Amsel volunteered as a "buddy" to AIDS victims.

Amsel also worked to establish a Mattachine Society branch in Syracuse, which ultimately died out but was supplanted by newer organizations. He also was one of a group of four Mattachine workers who started the now-common practice of surveying political candidates for office on gay rights issues.

In 1978, the faltering relationship of Amsel and Leitsch ended when Amsel moved to London for several years. Amsel returned to New York in the summer of 1981, and then moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he purchased a house. He later moved to Steelton,. where he also received his master's degree in American Studies from Penn State Harrisburg.

Amsel authored and self-published two supernatural novels through iUniverse, Manhattan Pharaoh (2004) and Devil Goddess (2006).

See also

• LGBT history
• Lesbian American history
• Mattachine Society