Founded 1957 Website www.satyrsmc.org | Founder Chapin "Smitty" Smith | |
Location Los Angeles, California Activities Oldest, continuously-running gay organization in the United States of America. | ||
The Satyrs Motorcycle Club was founded in 1954. On November 5, 1954 at the home of Chapin "Smitty" Smith along with seven founding members, the Satyrs Motorcycle Club held its first official club meeting. The club's incarnation began around a pool-party a few weeks before after a night of drinking, party and sex. It is the oldest continuously operating gay organization in the United States. It was the first gay organization with a set of Bylaws and a Club Constitution, not using the Mattachine Society's "cell structure" developed by Harry Hay to avoid the homosexual/communism witch hunt between 1947 and 1957.
The founding members were: Chapin "Smitty" Smith, Clint "Bud" Olsen, Roy Whitney, Dub Keith, Randy Kinney, Raoul Vasquez and Don Gath. Don Gath is recorded in the minutes of the Oedipus Motorcycle Club of Los Angeles, the second oldest continuously running gay motorcycle club as their founding member in 1958.
The Satyrs Motorcycle Club helped spawn many motorcycle clubs across the nation in the early years. Many groups "borrowed and copied" the club's Bylaws in the early years as many clubs were unsure how to establish themselves after McCarthyism of the 1950s.
The Satyrs Motorcycle Club continues to sponsor activities including the Labor Day, Badger Flats Run which is one of their most well known activities, plus charity fundraising activities, community involvement and motorcycle relevant events.