One Institute

As of 2025, ONE Institute’s goal is to “connect LGBTQ+ history and contemporary culture to effect social change” through exhibitions, educational initiatives, and other projects. It also offers K-12 teacher trainings, curriculums, and youth mentorship programs to instill “queer history” in the American school system. ¹

Background

LGBT activist and archivist Jim Kepner began collecting materials related to LGBT history and interests in 1942. In 1951, Kepner came into contact with the members of the Mattachine Society, a leading organization in the early gay advocacy “homophile” movement which had been founded that year. Shortly after, Mattachine member W. Dorr Legg, a landscape architect and one of the founders of the U.S. gay movement, held meetings to discuss the creation of a “magazine for homosexuals.” Legg along with Kepner and Thomas M. Merritt founded ONE Inc. in 1952. In 1953, they launched the first issue of ONE Magazine, the first widely distributed gay publication in the United States. Later, Legg, Merritt, and Kepner formed the ONE Institute to hold seminars and publish a journal, thereby serving as the educational arm of ONE Inc. ²

ONE Magazine ceased publication in 1967, but Legg continued to manage the Institute. It began issuing advanced academic degrees in “Homophile Studies.” ONE Institute was formally incorporated with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1979. In the 1970s, Kepner moved his “Western Gay Archives” to a storefront in Hollywood, California, at which point it was renamed the National Gay Archives, later known as the International Gay & Lesbian Archives. The archive was acquired by ONE Institute in 1994. In 2000, the Archives were transferred to a site provided by the University of Southern California (USC), where it remained as of 2025. ^{2 3}

In 2010, the University of Southern California (USC) Libraries formally acquired One Institute’s “ONE Archives” and integrated the archives into its library system. The university claims the ONE Archives is “the largest repository of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer materials in the world.” As of 2025, it houses millions of materials related to the history of LGBT political and social movements, including books, magazines, journals, films, audio recordings, artworks, and personal papers.  ⁴

Activities

As of 2025, ONE Institute was primarily dedicated to celebrating LGBT history and promoting social initiatives aligned with the LGBT movement. Its goal is to “connect LGBTQ+ history and contemporary culture to effect social change” through a variety of exhibitions, educational initiatives, and other projects. It offers K-12 teacher trainings, curriculums, and youth mentorship programs to instill “queer history” in the American school system. ¹

The organization is also aligned with left-of-center narratives concerning racial justice, promoting the critical race theory-derived concept of “social equity” and designing educational material that “highlight[s] the intersectional narratives of Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), women, gender- nonconforming and transgender people, people of various abilities, youth, and elders across all socio-economic classes.” ¹

Financials

In 2023, One Institute reported a revenue of $453,486, expenses of $701,431, and net assets of $384,006. ⁵

Funding

ONE Institute reports that it has received funding from the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, the City of West Hollywood, the Getty Foundation, California Arts Council, LA Arts Recovery Fund, California Humanities, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, David Bohnett Foundation, Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, and LGBT Tech’s PowerOn Community Tech Grant. ¹

Leadership

As of 2023, Tony Valenzuela was the executive director of the organization. ⁶