Stephen Donaldson was born Robert Anthony Martin Jr, but he made his mark on history fighting for gay rights, and recognition of bisexual people using the pseudonym of Donaldson, and he was also known as Donny the Punk.
Warning: This report includes details of sexual assault.
He is remembered as a LGBT rights pioneer, his campaigns for prison reform, and his writing about pubk rock and other subculture.
He grew up in many different seaport cities on the east coast of America, and also spent time in Germany in his youth. He was sent to live in Germany, under the watch of his stepmother’s relatives, when at age 12 he was expelled from the Boy Scouts for engaging in sexual behavior.
After spending several years in a boy’s boarding school in Germany, he finished his high school years in Florida where he lived with his grandparents. Realising he was gay, while he was on a school trip to New York City, he slipped away from his classmates and signed up as a member of the Mattachine Society, one of the earliest gay rights organisations.
As a student he had excellent grades, and was accepted to Columbia University. When his grandmother found out he was in a relationship with another man, she outed him to his family, and wrote to the university informing them about her grandson’s homosexuality.
After spending time in New York, Donaldson write to the university and asked them if they would let him enroll, knowing that he was a homosexual. The university agreed, on the condition that he attended psychological counselling, and promise not to attempt seducing other students.
At university he started using the name Stephen Donaldson, so as not to embarrass his father whom he shared his name with. He began writing about gay rights, and in 1967 founded a student organisation called the Student Homophile League, a first for any American university. It still exists today, and is now called the Columbia Queer Alliance.
Within four years of the student organisation at Columbia forming over 150 universities across America has similar groups. Donaldson playing a leading role in their organisation. During his time in university, and after graduation he worked as a writer for a range of publications, but also engage in sex work.
He also recognised more about his own sexuality, falling in love with a woman Judith ‘JD Rabbit” Jones, he began to describe himself as bisexual, and also spoke about his discomfort with biphobia among the gay liberation movement.
Donaldson joined the navy, but was the subject of an investigation into his sexuality after a letter he’d written to a friend was found by another serviceman, who passed it on to his superiors. It led to a general discharge from the service. It was later upgraded to an honourable discharge.
After leaving the navy he resumed his activism, now as a campaigner for the recognition of bisexual people. Alongside activists Brenda Howard and L. Craig Schoonmaker, he is credited with popularising the word “Pride” to describe LGBT parades and protests. He also continued working as a journalist.
In 1973 took part in a series of “pray-ins” where peace activists staged protests at The White House. Arrested, Donaldson refused to post bail, arguing that the US bail laws were unjust because they favour people from wealthy backgrounds.
While in prison he experienced a violent sexual assaults. He later said he believed prison guards had deliberately moved him to to more dangerous part of the prison as punishment for articles he’d previously written about corruption within the prison system.
After he left prison he spoke about his experiences of sexual assault in the media, but declined to work with prosecutors to bring charges against the men who had committed the assaults.
He later wrote about his anguish between wanting to hold authorities to account, but not wanting to be responsible for increasing the sentences of his attackers, who were already being punished for the crimes that landed them in the prison system.
In the 1970s he became involved in the underground punk scene in New York, and also struggled with mental health and substance abuse. In 1980 he was arrested at the Veteran’s Hospital in The Bronx. After being turned away from the facility, he returned with a gun and fired off a shot at a window.
While nobody was hurt in the incident, he was charged with attempted murder, and was sentence to ten years in prison. Here he experienced further sexual assault.
He continued writing while he was incarcerated, and after he was released on parole in 1984 he became a counsellor for male victims of rape, and continued to campaign for reform in the prison system.
Stephen Donaldson, aka Donny the Punk, died on the 18th July 1996 from a bronchial infection, he had been living with HIV. He was 49 years old.
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