Clark Philip Polak (15 October 1937 – 18 September 1980) was an American businessman, publisher, journalist, and LGBT activist.
[1] He was an active and outspoken member of the gay community in Philadelphia,[1][2] and was the second president of the Philadelphia-based homophile organization called the Janus Society.
Those denied service were variously described at the time as “homosexuals,” “masculine women,” “feminine men,” and “persons wearing non-conformist clothing.” Three teenagers (reported by the Janus Society and Drum to be two males and one female) staged a sit-in that day.
The Janus Society said the protests were successful in preventing further arrests and the action was deemed “the first sit-in of its kind in the history of the United States” by Drum magazine.
[2][6] In 1969, after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on 18 counts of publishing and distributing obscene material, Polak ceased publication of Drum and moved to Los Angeles,[4] where he became a real estate investor and art collector.