Jim Kepner

Who was Jim Kepner?

James Lynn 'Jim' Kepner, Jr. was a journalist, author, historian, archivist and leader in the gay rights movement. His work was intertwined with One, Inc. and One Magazine, and eventually contributed to the formation of the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.

In a review of Kepner’s 1998 book, Rough News, Daring Views: 1950s' Pioneer Gay Press Journalism, historian William Armstrong Percy III wrote, "the Gay rights movement had three remarkable pioneers. Two—Harry Hay and Dorr Legg—have long been recognized, whereas the contribution of the third—Jim Kepner—has never been adequately documented…" Percy goes on to say “Kepner’s articles record not only the past of the gay rights movement but also its soul.”

In September 1923, Kepner was found wrapped in newspaper under an oleander bush in Galveston, Texas, though he didn't find out he was adopted until he was nineteen. That year, 1942, he followed his adopted father to San Francisco, where, wandering around the libraries of the city, Kepner could not find anything objective that focused on the way he was. Later, he would record that he had been "aware of being different from age four." Kepner recognized he was gay and long before most, he didn’t mind. His search for information and then community and culture led him to begin a private collection of gay-related materials unlike anything previously compiled. Upon settling in Los Angeles in the early 1950s, Kepner became an essential part of the emergence of modern gay culture through journalism, writing, activism and pioneering archival work. He became one of the main writers for ONE Magazine. Before falling out with ONE in 1961, Kepner wrote many of the magazines’ articles and served as co-editor of the magazine. ONE Magazine’s documents and Kepner’s research materials formed the beginning of today’s ONE Archives.