Special Rights: The Extreme Demands of Gay Activists

Contents:

• THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
• GAY CULTURE HAS GROWN TOXIC WH UNCHECKED PRIVILEGE. IT'S TIME FOR TO RET
• SUPREME COURT JTICE CLARENCE THOMAS SAYS GAY RIGHTS, NTRACEPTN LGS SHOULD BE RENSIRED AFTER ROE IS OVERTURNED
• HOW SPECIAL ARE “GAY RIGHTS”?

THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE

In 1992 Colorado enacted Amendment 2, which repealed existg state laws and barred future laws protectg lbians, gay men and bisexuals om discrimatn. Durg a typil “raid, ” police tried to arrt people for their mere prence at a gay bar, but the patrons of the Stonewall Inn fought back – and the gay rights movement was lnched.

Usg many of the grass-roots and ligatn strategi employed by other 20th century activists, gay rights advot have achieved signifint progrs:. In 1986, after more than two s of support for lbian and gay stggl, the Amerin Civil Liberti Unn tablished a natnal Lbian and Gay Rights Project. This Amendment protects the right to anize and urge ernment to end discrimatn, to regnize lbian and gay relatnships, and to adopt laws prohibg discrimatn the private sector.

It also clus the rights to form social and polil anizatns, to socialize bars and rtrants, to march or prott peacefully, to produce art wh gay them and to speak out publicly about LGBT issu. Nothg is more important than makg schools safe and welg plac for gay and lbian youth, who often face tremendo hostily om their fay and muny durg their formative years. This means protectg stunts om vlence, guaranteeg their right to anize events and clubs like other stunts, and makg sure that gay teachers who might serve as healthy role mols are not themselv victimized by discrimatn.

GAY CULTURE HAS GROWN TOXIC WH UNCHECKED PRIVILEGE. IT'S TIME FOR TO RET

The ACLU has fought harassment of stunts California, Nevada, Oh and Washgton, fend gay teachers California, Idaho and Utah, and advoted for gay stunt groups Alabama, Indiana, Mnota, Utah and Wisns. Reprented by the ACLU’s Lbian and Gay Rights Project, Mary Jo hop to tablish that public employe have a nstutnal right to be ee om discrimatn and harassment the workplace. ” In addn to reprentg David before the Mississippi Supreme Court, the ACLU will ntue fightg on behalf of lbian and gay parents, and to elimate state sodomy laws.

But somehow do not work out that way stat like Florida and Arkansas, which ban gays and lbians om adoptg and beg foster parents, rpectively. As a remr of what is supposed to be the sence of child-welfare policy, the ACLU’s Lbian and Gay Rights Project 1998 published a report entled In the Child’s Bt Intert: Defendg Fair and Sensible Adoptn Polici. Y, twelve stat (California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachetts, Mnota, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Jersey, Rho Island, Vermont and Wisns), the District of Columbia, many municipali, and hundreds of bs and universi have enacted laws that protect gay, lbian and bisexual people om employment discrimatn.

Perhaps as important, the polici give some small acknowledgement to the timate, mted relatnships central to the liv of so many lbians and gay men, which society otherwise ignor. Denyg lbian and gay upl the right to wed not only priv them of the social and spirual signifince of marriage; has ser, often tragic, practil nsequenc. Sce they n not marry, the partners of lbians and gay men are not next of k tim of crisis; they are not nsulted on ccial medil cisns; they are not given leave to re for each other; they are not each other’s legal heirs, if, like most Amerins, they do not have wills.

SUPREME COURT JTICE CLARENCE THOMAS SAYS GAY RIGHTS, NTRACEPTN LGS SHOULD BE RENSIRED AFTER ROE IS OVERTURNED

The ACLU believ that sce we have attached such enormo social nsequenc to marriage, vlat equal protectn of the law to ny lbian and gay upl the right to wed. But even though the nversatns that muted this lumn for six weeks are nowhere close to beg over, I do feel like some thgs that me up durg that time of ntemplatn are worth sayg now — particularly to my fellow whe gay cis out more stori on LGBTQ+ ins and activistsHowever, the ghost of Larry Kramer very much remaed my own head as I ma my way through a Pri month unlike any other. I spent a few quiet afternoons readg his 1978 but novel Faggots, a satiril (yet clearly tobgraphil) look at the liv of gay men 1970s New York Cy that he wrote jt before AIDS ma him a figurehead of Amerin activism.

HOW SPECIAL ARE “GAY RIGHTS”?

Followg a man his late 30s (based on Kramer himself) who is seekg out a lovg, long-term relatnship a sea of hedonism, the novel has a clear msage: gay men need to start lovg each other stead of beg so obssed wh gettg fucked up and (lerally and figuratively) fuckg each other. - Larry Kramer his but novelUpon publitn, Faggots was dismissed by many as puranil and self-loathg for s cricism of gay men's obssn wh vany, promiscuy and recreatnal dg e. And while, on one level, the book is a wild (if at tim problematic) wdow to an era of gay culture 40 years the past, also felt like had a lot to say about gay culture today.

In mastream gay media, the phrase almost always refers to a fairly specific subset of the LGBTQ "muny" largely ma up of whe gay cis men — even though many of the battl won around queer rights were fought by people of lour, trans and genr-nonnformg folks, and queer women, and fact the morn Pri movement self was large part iated by Black trans women. If an imprsn of a monolhic "gay culture" fed by such a homogeneo mographic exists, is bee whe gay cis men have until very recently domated mastream reprentatn unr the LGBTQ umbrella and have, general, been hand a level of privilege the last that is wildly disproportnate to any other mographic unr said umbrella.

When was the last time I actually had a good time at gay bar full of people I have fely spoken to on social media or apps but who act like I'm pletely sane when I se or say hello person?