13 Facts About Dick Leitsch

Dick Leitsch was president of gay rights group the Mattachine Society in the 1960s.

Dick Leitsch conceptualized and led the "Sip-In" at Julius' Bar, one of the earliest acts of gay civil disobedience in the United States, LGBT activists used "sip-ins" to attempt to gain the legal right to drink in bars in New York.

Dick Leitsch was known for being the first gay reporter to publish an account of the Stonewall Riots and the first person to interview Bette Midler in print media.

Richard Joseph Leitsch was born on May 11,1935, in Louisville, Kentucky to Joseph Leitsch, who owned a wholesale tobacco business, and Ann Leitsch.

Dick Leitsch graduated from high school in 1953 and went on to Bellarmine University, though he did not finish his degree.

Dick Leitsch would call Rodwell and ask him if he wanted to go to the movies, only to be told by Rodwell that he was going to the Mattachine meetings.

Dick Leitsch had been to a Mattachine meeting in 1962 where he heard Albert Ellis give a lecture on homosexuality as an illness.

Dick Leitsch felt revolted when Ellis received a standing ovation and had no further interest in an organization which he viewed as out of step with the times.

Dick Leitsch wrote frequently for the first gay newspaper based in New York City, named Gay.

Dick Leitsch primarily worked as a bartender but held various occupations including journalist, author, painter and holiday decorator.

Dick Leitsch retired in 2000, thereafter volunteering much of his time at the Episcopal Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in Manhattan.

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

Dick Leitsch is interred at the Church of St Luke in the Fields, an Episcopal Church in Greenwich Village.