14 Facts About Hal Call

Harold Leland "Hal" Call was an American businessperson, LGBT rights activist, and US Army veteran.

Hal Call received a Purple Heart for his service in the Pacific War.

Hal Call enlisted in the United States Army in June 1941 as a private.

Hal Call was promoted to sergeant within the year and, after completing Officer Candidate School, was promoted to lieutenant.

Hal Call saw combat in the Pacific War, where he was wounded and received the Purple Heart.

Hal Call resigned his job, and he and his lover Jack moved to San Francisco.

Hal Call frequently appeared on local television programs in the 1950s as one of the few openly gay men who spoke about gay issues, and appeared both in The Rejected, the first-ever television documentary on homosexuality, and "CBS Reports: The Homosexuals", the first network broadcast on the subject.

In 1955, Hal Call co-founded Pan Graphic Press, which printed The Mattachine Review, The Ladder and other homophile publications.

Hal Call founded Dorian Book Service, a gay and lesbian literature clearinghouse.

Hal Call expanded the business to include peep shows, adding the Rooster Room for chicken films which was later renamed to the Circle J club in the 1980s.

Hal Call began filming pornographic "loops" of men masturbating on a gold couch in his office.

The June 1964 Paul Welch Life article entitled "Homosexuality In America" was the first time a national publication reported on gay issues; Lifes photographer was referred to the gay leather bar in San Francisco called the Tool Box for the article by Hal Call, who had long worked to dispel the myth that all homosexual men were effeminate.

Hal Call died of congestive heart failure in San Francisco on December 18,2000, at the age of 83.

Hal Call was survived by three brothers who did not approve of him.