Ameri Se Shas of Gay: A Once-Invisible Group Fds the Spotlight
Contents:
HOW AMERI GOT PAST THE ANTI-GAY POLICS OF THE '90S
1990s timele of major events LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr) rights history, cludg homosexualy, gay marriage, gay adoptn, servg the ary, sexual orientatn discrimatn protectn, changg legal genr, donatg blood, age of nsent, and more. * 1990s gay culture *
The activist group was created om the anger at ntual vlence towards the gay muny, particular the murr of Michael Boothe, who was kicked to ath Wt London, and the rise numbers of gay and bisexual men beg arrted and nvicted for nsentg, victimls behavur.
The group was mted to radil, non-vlent direct actn and civil disobedience - one of their first protts was June 1990 at the toilets Hy Park, where they protted agast the Metroplan Police and their entrapment of gay men.
Their objectiv were to: promote equal oppotunti for gay and bisexual men and women the police service; offer advice and support to gay and bisexual men and women the police service; and improve relatns between the police service and the wir gay muny. Back 1948, the World Health Organisatn (WHO) published the Internatnal Classifitn Of Diseas (ICD-6) which classified homosexualy as a sexual viatn that was prumed to reflect an unrlyg personaly disorr.
SPECIAL REPORT: THE GAY 90'S
Conservative Member of Parliament Edwa Currie troduced an act to lower the age of nsent for gay men - which at the time was 21 years old - to be the same as the age of nsent for heterosexual acts - 16 years old. Such as handcuffg themselv to sks wh the Sunday Tim offic, prottg MPs, and ridg an open top b around london wh a megaphone, prottg Clse 28 - the banng of any tnal promotnal of homosexualy the UK. Even though gay sex had been crimilised, Gary Abdie, David Godey, Mark Love, Jonathon Moore, Craig Turner, Norman Williams and Terry Connell were all nvicted unr sectn 13 of the 1956 Act bee more than two men had sex togehter, which still remaed illegal.
In 1991, he endowed the Gay and Lbian Center at the San Francis Public Library, which would go on to bear his name when nomatn snagged on the Republin learship Congrs, then bily seekg Print Clton's impeachment over his affair wh Moni Lewsky.
Senator Jse Helms, the Senate Foreign Relatns Commtee chairman well known for his public opposn to the "homosexual liftyle" and the people he lled, Newsweek 1994, "generat" and "weak, morally sick wretch, " vowed to block the appotment. But the "Stone Age, " as Jodi Foster has lled , which gay people were seen as perverts jtifiably targeted for vlence or vective, is a none too distant a memory, and too many quarters is still extremely difficult for people -- pecially very young people -- to be out and gay whout experiencg severe social, physil, or enomic repercsns (as the documentary Bully showed this past year, se any one had any doubt), acrdg to Washgton Post-ABC News pollg, 58 percent support gay marriage, up om 41 percent 2004, while opposn has dropped om 55 to 36 percent. A March CNN/ORC Internatnal survey puts the jump as an crease om 40 to 56 percent support om 2007 through so the qutn aris: How do Ameri addrs s homophobic past as mov forward to a more tolerant future?