What the Stggle for Gay Rights Teach Us About…

Contents:

• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• LEGIMACY OF ‘CTOMER’ SUPREME COURT GAY RIGHTS SE RAIS ETHIL AND LEGAL FLAGS
• GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law.

LEGIMACY OF ‘CTOMER’ SUPREME COURT GAY RIGHTS SE RAIS ETHIL AND LEGAL FLAGS

The ernor and his supporters have labeled as a “groomer” anyone who believ children n learn LGBTQ+ people exist, argug that simply by talkg about gay relatnships to a child, you are sexualizg that child. He was followed by Arizona’s ernor, Doug Ducey, who, after barrg mors om genr-affirmatn treatment, wouldn’t even state for the rerd that trans people were Florida lawmaker Michele Rayner-Goolsby, left, hugs her wife, Bian Goolsby, durg a march at cy hall St Petersburg agast the ‘don’t say gay’ bill.

GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children” rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”. The Republin US reprentative Marjorie Taylor Greene vowed to troduce a feral “don’t say gay” bill if Republins w the Hoe this November, only to one-up herself days later by tweetg that for people to be pro-trans is to be pro-pedophilia. ”The bs-iendly wg of the GOP that would quietly team up wh Democrats to scuttle rabidly homophobic bills is now outnumbered, and legislators a dozen or more stat that lean even farther to the right than DeSantis are takg, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights legal director, believ Florida is the tt se for a renewed ph for an aggrsive, Christian-natnalist program.

”The “don’t say gay” bill, Mter not, is very siar to what’s been passed Rsia, tetherg Amerin nservativ to their thorarian unterparts who have succsfully rolled back mocratic norms across eastern Europe. “I’ve seen this movie before over the last 30 years: The right wg cid to target the LGBTQ muny, whether ’s around marriage or adoptn or trans kids playg sports or bathrooms, ” says the California state senator Stt Wiener, who is gay.

“I thought was really important to ph back on the policy level, and to send a clear signal that California and other stat really re about the kids, ” he believ that “don’t say gay” is “patently unnstutnal” but also ntends that relyg on the judicial system to protect human rights may no longer be a sound optn.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

“I am eply alarmed by a wispread, profoundly negative ripti created by liberate actns to roll back the human rights of LGBT people at state level, ” he said, notg that the clu eply discrimatory measur seekg to rebuild stigma agast lbian and gay persons, limg prehensive sexual and genr tn for all, and accs to genr-affirmg treatment, sports and sgle-sex facili for trans and genr diverse persons. The Ugandan Parliament passed the Sexual Offens Bill, further crimalizg same-sex sexual has remaed stnchly homophobic both terms of legislatn and the general sentiment of ernment officials. Acrdg to the Frankl & Marshall Global Barometer of Gay Rights, which measur how well untri protect the rights of LGBTQ+ people, Uganda sr 11%, meang the natn persecut people based on their sexual orientatn or genr inty.

Consensual, same-sex relatns are illegal Uganda as a rult of lonial-age laws that still exist the untry, but that has not stopped polins om attemptg to further crimalize homosexualy. ” While the Anti-Homosexualy Act was eventually stck down 2014, vlence agast LGBTQ+ people Uganda surged due to the outspoken, homophobic remarks promoted by ernment, the Ugandan Parliament has once aga passed a bill that seeks to further crimalize homosexualy. — Sexual Mori Uganda | SMUG (@SMUG2004) May 5, 2021LGBTQ+ rights anizatns like Sexual Mori Uganda have highlighted the homophobic language and lled on the ternatnal muny to speak out agast the bill.

While many human rights advot believe that Print Yoweri Meveni will not assent to the bill, they are also worried that the nature of homophobia prented by ernment officials will lead to an crease vlence and discrimatn agast LGBTQ+ people, as the se of the 2014 Anti-Homosexualy Act. In addn to statg he would be “pable of lovg a homosexual son, ” Bolsonaro has ed rogatory terms meant to cricize LGBTQ+ people and cricized the Brazilian Supreme Court for crimalizg homophobia.

A vlent crime agast an openly gay man the cy of Florianópolis earlier this month has prompted wir discsn of the paradox between the promotn of LGBTQ+ rights and discrimatn agast queer people. Thoands of LGBTQ+ people across the world are unable to celebrate Pri bee of vlence, discrimatn, and harrassment, particularly one of the 69 untri that ntue to crimalize homosexualy. ”As the number of anti-LGBTQ bills hs rerd highs, rearch shows that so, too, has support for LGBTQ rights and polici prohibg discrimatn agast lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people.

The fight for gay rights the Uned Stat has e a long way sce the Stonewall Uprisg of 1969, when gay and trans patrons of the Stonewall Inn New York Cy fought back agast police tryg to arrt night marked the begng of the gay rights movement the US, a s-long fight that jt a few years ago rulted the momento 2015 Supreme Court cisn legalizg gay marriage the lg on June 26, 2015, didn’t end the stggle for equaly and protectn.

Across the untry, LGBTQ Amerins still face legalized discrimatn unr the law when to hog, jobs, parentg, and even June, ’s important to celebrate how far the US has e regnizg gay rights — and to be proud of that fact — but only if we also remember how far we still have to go to ensure that the equal rights and digny of LGBTQ Amerins are regnized unr the are some of the battl for equaly that are still beg fought across the untry. At the heart of the issue is the right of all Amerins to public acmodatns—that is, safe accs to goods, servic, facili, and privileg the public ’s a b wonky, but the battle beg fought over bathrooms is about whether trans and gay dividuals have a right to e all of the facili the rt of Amerins e a way that acmodat their needs. They found that “heterosexuals who had experienced terpersonal ntact wh gay men or lbians exprsed signifintly more favorable general attus toward gay people than did heterosexuals whout ntact.

Their rearch validated the strategy proposed by lears like the late Harvey Milk, an openly gay San Francis polician who urged gays and lbians to “e out” to their parents, neighbors, iends, and workers.

“We pos that this is bee the Inter facilat workg and people-to-people munitn, which turn n brg about shifts societal views as people learn that people who are close to them may be gay, ” says Jenifer Whten Woodrg, a polil scientist at the Universy of Massachetts, Lowell, who helped nduct the study. One of the shows that Schiappa studied was Will & Grace, which is often creded alongsi Ellen as programmg that normalized the prence of gay and lbian characters televisn.

In their book, Listen, We Need to Talk: How to Change Attus about LGBT Rights, rearchers Brian Harrison and Melissa Michelson offered their own mol for how public acceptance towards homosexualy has advanced so quickly—one that emphasiz -group learship om people like Portman. In an experiment they performed wh a gay rights anizatn lled One Iowa, some phone-bankg volunteers intified themselv on the le as gay, lbian, bisexual, or transgenr, and some did not.

They found that “relig participants exposed to the quotatn attributed to Reverend Lawrence were more likely to say that they supported marriage equaly, more likely to say that they would likely vote for a ballot measure their state tablishg marriage equaly, and more likely to approve of gay and lbian parentg.