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Hay's developing belief in the cultural minority status of homosexuals led him to take a stand against the [[Cultural assimilation|assimilationism]] advocated by the majority of gay rights campaigners. He subsequently became a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of the [[Gay Liberation Front]] in 1969, although in 1970 he moved to [[New Mexico]] with his longtime partner [[John Burnside (inventor)|John Burnside]]. Hay's ongoing interest in American Indian religion led the couple to co-found the Radical Faeries in 1979 with [[Don Kilhefner]] and [[Mitchell L. Walker]]. Returning to Los Angeles, Hay remained involved in an array of activist causes throughout his life, and became a well-known, albeit controversial, elder statesman within the country's gay community. Hay has been described as "the Founder of the Modern Gay Movement"{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=295}} and "the father of gay liberation".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Haggerty|first1=George E.|last2=Beynon|first2=John|last3=Eisner|first3=Douglas|title=Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures, Vol. 2|date=2000|publisher=Garland Publishing|location=New York|url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=JwB5AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA668&lpg=PA668&dq=%22the+father+of+gay+liberation%22&source=bl&ots=Un7QDUxUkP&sig=XhkAc2UlvKm26_rcI6dCWmDhHfQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjy_42E_5_WAhWCbSYKHYftCo8Q6AEIUDAI#v=onepage&q=%22the%20father%20of%20gay%20liberation%22&f=false|accessdate=12 September 2017}}</ref>
Controversially, Hay was an active supporter of the [[North American Man/Boy Love Association]] (NAMBLA), a pedophile advocacy organization.<ref name="Advocate1994">{{cite magazine|last=Weir|first=John|title=Mad About the Boys|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KmMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37|date=23 August 1994|magazine=[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]|page=37|issn=0001-8996}}</ref><ref name= rhh/><ref name=NonasLeVay>{{cite book|author1=Simon LeVay|author2=Elisabeth Nonas|title=City of Friends: A Portrait of the Gay and Lesbian Community in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cl-4yFFql8gC&pg=PA181&dq=Harry+Hay+NAMBLA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjb4enV94XjAhVnTt8KHWyVCHUQ6AEITTAH#v=onepage&q=Harry%20Hay%20NAMBLA&f=false|year=1997 |publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0262621137|page=181|quote=Although some prominent gay leaders such as Harry Hay have supported NAMBLA's right to participate in gay rights marches, the link between NAMBLA and the mainstream gay rights movement has always been tenuous.}}</ref><ref name=Bullough/> He protested the group being banned from [[Pride parade]]s, wearing a sign protesting the banning during the 1986 [[Los Angeles Pride]],{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=295}}<ref name="rhh" /><ref name="LAPridePhoto">{{cite web|url=https://www.wthrockmorton.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Harryhaysignnambla2.jpg|title=Photos by Sandy Dwyer |last=Timmons |first=Stuart|date=1990|work=The Trouble with Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement|accessdate=2010-06-24|quote=The sign Harry tried to wear in the 1986 L.A. Gay Pride Parade}}</ref> and boycotting [[NYC Pride March|New York Pride]] in 1994 for their refusal to include NAMBLA.<ref name= rhh/> He spoke out in support of relationships between adult men and boys as young as thirteen,<ref name=Spectator>{{Cite news | last = Lord | first = Jeffrey | title = When Nancy Met Harry | work = The American Spectator | date = 2006-10-05 | url = http://spectator.org/archives/2006/10/05/when-nancy-met-harry | accessdate = 2009-04-14 | deadurl = yes | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090329000719/http://spectator.org/archives/2006/10/05/when-nancy-met-harry | archivedate = 2009-03-29 | quote=Said Harry: "Because if the parents and friends of gays are truly friends of gays, they would know from their gay kids that the relationship with an older man is precisely what thirteen-, fourteen-, and fifteen-year-old kids need more than anything else in the world."}}</ref> and spoke at several NAMBLA meetings, including panels in 1984 and 1986, and another in 1994 about helping the group strategize a name change to help with their public image.<ref name="Advocate1994"/>
== Early life ==
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Hay came to be viewed as an elder statesman within the gay community, and was regularly invited to give speeches to LGBT activist and student groups. He was the featured speaker at the [[San Francisco Gay Pride Parade]] in 1982, and Grand Marshal of the [[Long Beach Gay Pride Parade]] in 1986. In 1989, [[West Hollywood]] city council awarded him an honor for his years of activism while that year he was invited to give a lecture at the [[Sorbonne]] in Paris, France, which he turned down.{{Sfn|Timmons|1990|p=293}}
He nevertheless remained highly critical of the mainstream gay rights movement, and took controversial and, at times, divisive positions, including his consistent support of the [[North American Man/Boy Love Association]] (NAMBLA) being included in Pride parades.<ref name= rhh>{{cite news|url=http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/documents/02511115.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302214758/http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/documents/02511115.htm|archivedate=2012-03-02|title=The real Harry Hay|date=2002-11-07|accessdate=2008-11-16|first=Michael|last=Bronski|authorlink=Michael Bronski|newspaper=[[The Phoenix (newspaper)|The Phoenix]]|quote=He was, at times, a serious political embarrassment, as when he consistently advocated the inclusion of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) in gay-pride parades.|dead-url=no}}</ref> When speaking at the 1983 [[Gay Academic Union]] forum at [[New York University]], his speech included, "If the parents and friends of gays are truly friends of gays, they would know from their gay kids that the relationship with an older man is precisely what thirteen-, fourteen-, and fifteen-year-old kids need more than anything else in the world", as well as highlighting his own relationship with an adult man when he was fourteen,"I send to all of you my love and deep affection for what you offer to the boys, in honor of this boy when he was fourteen, and when he needed to know best of all what only another gay man could show him and tell him"
[[Los Angeles Pride|Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade]] he wore two signs; on his front one that read "[[Valerie Terrigno]] walks with me", referring to the politician who agreed to withdraw from the event lest being barred, and on his back "NAMBLA Walks With Me",{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=310}}<ref name="LAPridePhoto"/> after organizers banned the pedophile advocacy group from joining the march. The organisers complained to police and he narrowly avoided arrest.{{sfn|Timmons|1990|p=295}} In ''Before Stonewall'', biographer [[Vern L. Bullough]] writes, "Getting him to agree to simply wear a sign [supporting NAMBLA] rather than carry a banner took considerable negotiation by the parade organizers, who wanted to distance the gay and lesbian movement from pedophilia, yet wanted Harry to participate."<ref name=Bullough>{{cite book|author=Vern L. Bullough|authorlink=Vern Bullough|title=Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-1560231936|page=74}}</ref>
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