Dale Mitchell
About Dale
Dale Mitchell grew up wanting to be an architect. In the mid-1960s, when he realized he was gay, he opted instead to be himself. Back then, being open about who you were pretty much ruled everything else out. And while Mitchell went on to have a long and fruitful career, he still believes leaving the closet behind years before Stonewall and living his life as an out, proud gay man is his most significant accomplishment.
Mitchell spent over forty years as an advocate and change-agent in the public and non-profit sectors in and around Boston, MA. He was a policy analyst and lobbyist for poor people’s issues, a senior-level public housing administrator, and for twenty-five years, the chief executive officer of a Boston-based non-profit dedicated to keeping the elderly and disabled out of nursing homes. He has an extensive track record of policy and program innovations in social welfare and human service delivery. In recognition of his many accomplishments in the field of LGBT aging, of which he was a national leader, Mitchell was honored as Grand Marshal of Boston’s 2019 Pride.
Mitchell is retired and lives in Jamaica Plain, MA with his longtime partner and husband, David Imming. Together, they enjoy gardening, cooking, traveling, art, film, music, entertaining friends and doing what they can to make the world more tolerant, equitable, sustainable and peaceful. Despite a long career as a political and organizational “insider,” Mitchell still considers himself a revolutionary. Hippie Faggot Freak: The Making of a Gay Liberationist is his first book.
Dale Mitchell grew up wanting to be an architect. In the mid-1960s, when he realized he was gay, he opted instead to be himself. Back then, being open about who you were pretty much ruled everything else out. And while Mitchell went on to have a long and fruitful career, he still believes leaving the closet behind years before Stonewall and living his life as an out, proud gay man is his most significant accomplishment.
Mitchell spent over forty years as an advocate and change-agent in the public and non-profit sectors in and around Boston, MA. He was a policy analyst and lobbyist for poor people’s issues, a senior-level public housing administrator, and for twenty-five years, the chief executive officer of a Boston-based non-profit dedicated to keeping the elderly and disabled out of nursing homes. He has an extensive track record of policy and program innovations in social welfare and human service delivery. In recognition of his many accomplishments in the field of LGBT aging, of which he was a national leader, Mitchell was honored as Grand Marshal of Boston’s 2019 Pride.
Mitchell is retired and lives in Jamaica Plain, MA with his longtime partner and husband, David Imming. Together, they enjoy gardening, cooking, traveling, art, film, music, entertaining friends and doing what they can to make the world more tolerant, equitable, sustainable and peaceful. Despite a long career as a political and organizational “insider,” Mitchell still considers himself a revolutionary. Hippie Faggot Freak: The Making of a Gay Liberationist is his first book.
Books by Dale Mitchell Available from Rattling Good Yarns Press
Hippie Faggot Freak: The Making of a Gay Liberationist
Some little boys want to grow up to be firemen.
Some little boys want to grow up to be astronauts.
This little boy wanted to grow up to be a hippie faggot freak.
Eleven-year-old Dale Mitchell asked his father, "Why don't you just get it over with and tell me you hate me?" His father's response? "I hate you." Said so matter-of-factly, it seemed hardly worth mentioning.
Growing up in strait-laced, lily-white suburbs of the 1950s and early 60s America, Dale Mitchell was an outsider from the start. He learned at an early age the price one paid for being different. Bullied, harassed, and ostracized, Dale started seeking an escape even before puberty revealed just how dangerous his predicament was. By fifteen, taunts had turned into blows, and Dale lived under a near-constant threat of assault.
But there was hope. The whiff of revolution was everywhere. Black Power, Mao, free love, androgyny, LSD, and Haight Ashbury were all the rage. Freaks like Andy Warhol, Timothy Leary, Little Richard, and Janis Joplin were in; stuffed shirts like Billy Graham, Liberace, LBJ, and Lawrence Welk were out. It was the perfect time to come out.
Taking it all in, Mitchell embraced Sixties-style rebelliousness with a vengeful vigor. No outrage was too petty or extreme. From bullied teenager to gay barfly to hippie faggot freak to drug-addicted speed junkie, he kept at it, trying to secure an escape from his past. Not until he participated in the Stonewall riots did he finally glimpse something previously unimaginable—a rebellion by and for gay people.
Hippie Faggot Freak: The Making of a Gay Liberationist is the frank, raw, and sometimes harrowing account of a young man's struggle against seemingly insurmountable odds. New was the idea of living as an out, proud, in-your-face gay man. Dale's story is the story of one who was among the first. Thoroughly engaging, the account is also sometimes shocking. Dale's journey was improvised—traveling a path without blueprints or roadmaps, where there was only a thicket of hatred, lies, and repression. As often as not, it led to dead ends. Yet he emerged as something never before seen: a "gay liberationist." Ultimately, Hippie Faggot Freak is a story of transcendence—of bravery, perseverance, resilience, and, most importantly of all, an unquenchable thirst for freedom.
$28.95