Senate’s approval of gay rights bill reflects changg attus | PBS NewsHour

Contents:

• SENATE VOT TO BAN DISCRIMATN AGAST GAY AND TRANSGENR WORKERS
• SENATE’S APPROVAL OF GAY RIGHTS BILL REFLECTS CHANGG ATTUS
• HOW 2013 BEME THE GREATT YEAR IN GAY RIGHTS HISTORY
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• GAY RIGHTS BILL PASS FIRST MAJOR HURDLE CONGRS
• RSIA PASS LAW BANNG GAY 'PROPAGANDA'
• GAY RIGHTS
• 319 (113TH): REGNIZG BAYARD RT FOR HIS LIFELONG LEARSHIP THE CIVIL RIGHTS, LABOR, AND LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR (LGBT) RIGHTS MOVEMENTS AND FOR HIS EXEMPLARY DITN TO REALIZG TE EQUALY AND EEDOM THE UNED STAT.
• GAY RIGHTS
• US HOE OF REPRENTATIV PASS BILL TO PROTECT GAY MARRIAGE RIGHTS

SENATE VOT TO BAN DISCRIMATN AGAST GAY AND TRANSGENR WORKERS

The Senate passed a historic piece of gay rights legislatn Thursday that would ban workplace discrimatn agast gay and transgenr employe, another tone victory for a gay rights movement that has been gag favor the urts and electoral 64 to 32 vote to approve the Employment Non-Discrimatn Act marked the first time feral lawmakers had approved legislatn to advance gay rights sce repealg the ary's ban on gay men and lbians uniform late 2010.

Hundreds of the natn’s largt pani also have siar mpaign to enact feral workplace protectns for gay men and lbians began 17 years ago, and supporters have stggled ever sce to earn a vote. Dpe the bill’s uncerta fate the Hoe, the Senate vote was a poignant moment for gay rights activists who were disappoted that siar legislatn failed the upper chamber by jt one vote 1996.

SENATE’S APPROVAL OF GAY RIGHTS BILL REFLECTS CHANGG ATTUS

The Senate phed toward a historic vote on legislatn outlawg workplace discrimatn agast gay, bisexual and transgenr Amerins, monstratg the natn’s quickly evolvg attu toward gay rights nearly two s after Congrs rejected same-sex marriage. If the Hoe fails to act on the bill, gay rights advot are likely to prs Print Barack Obama to act unilaterally and issue an executive orr barrg anti-gay workplace discrimatn by feral ntractors.

Likely Senate approval of the overall bill reflects the natn’s growg tolerance of gays and the GOP’s polil lculatn as looks for supporters beyond s re base of olr voters. A Pew Rearch survey June found that more Amerins said homosexualy should be accepted rather than disuraged by society by a marg of 60 percent to 31 percent. " This has been "the gayt year gay history, " the words of Fred Saz, vice print of the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, and not only bee dividual stat and the U.

HOW 2013 BEME THE GREATT YEAR IN GAY RIGHTS HISTORY

There have been substantive chang policy and personnel, wh Print Obama sentially doublg the number of openly gay dividuals who have served as feral judg and ambassadors.

This year has also seen symbolic ton, cludg Obama enshrg the e of gays the civil rights pantheon his send gural addrs, and the first profsnal athlet major sports g out. Gays and lbians had once plaed about feelg visible, but as lns of dividuals have e out, they not only have ma their polil sir more tangible but also have won sympathetic alli among many straights. Durg his first term, Obama sometim me across as a reluctant warrr on gay issu, takg his time to "evolve" his posn on marriage, his timg perhaps prodd by remarks om Vice Print Joe Bin.

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

Obama had already been the rare natnal polician to e the word "we" when speakg of the gay rights e before announcg his support for same-sex marriage last year. In his gural addrs January, he referred the same breath to Stonewall, Selma and Sene Falls (rpectively, landmarks the stggl for rights for gays, Ain-Amerins and women).

Obama has been the "gays' LBJ, " says Jonathan Rch, a rint scholar at the Brookgs Instutn, parg the current print to Lyndon Johnson, who signed to law the Civil Rights and Votg Rights Acts of the 1960s. This year's Supreme Court cisns on gay marriage might well have turned out differently if the ernment still had an active tert argug for discrimatn, says Aaron Belk, director of the Palm Center at San Francis State Universy, which studi transgenr ary service. "They realized the ary is so wily revered Amerin society that if they uld draw the le the sand there, they uld prevent gays om lockg rights other parts of society.

"Our journey is not plete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else unr the law, " he said, "for if we are tly created equal, then surely the love we m to one another mt be equal as well. Marriage helped gays "change the subject om beg primarily about rights and nondiscrimatn to beg about love, fay and muny, " says Rch, who has wrten books about same-sex marriage and growg up gay.

GAY RIGHTS BILL PASS FIRST MAJOR HURDLE CONGRS

But the fact that support for gays and gay marriage has been risg — particularly among young people — may leave opposn to their movement ls heated, activists say. If the bill ultimately pass the Senate, would mark the most signifint victory for gay rights advot on Capol Hill sce Congrs voted 2010 to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on gays and lbians servg openly the ary.

Whe Hoe prs secretary Jay Carney did not le out an executive orr that would extend protectn om anti-gay discrimatn only for feral ntractors but said would be “preferable and better” to do legislatively. 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.

RSIA PASS LAW BANNG GAY 'PROPAGANDA'

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. ”To be gay, their view, is to be herently sexualized, a threat to nocence a way that straight Amerins are vehemence has ught even veteran LGBTQ+ advot by surprise. 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.

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.

GAY RIGHTS

“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. The Senate voted to proceed wh a landmark anti-bias gay rights bill Monday, reflectg the dramatic shift natnal attus towards the acceptance of homosexualy that has taken place sce siar anti-discrimatn legislatn was rejected by lawmakers two s ago.

Hours before Monday's Senate procral vote, Print Barack Obama issued a h plea for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimatn Act, the first signifint gay rights bill sce Congrs lifted the ban on gays servg openly the ary nearly three years ago.

Openg Senate bate, Senate Majory Lear Harry Reid, D-Nev., quoted sla gay rights lear Harvey Milk, who argued that eedom and dividual rights shouldn't hge on polil als and opn polls. A Pew Rearch survey June found that more Amerins said homosexualy should be accepted rather than disuraged by society, by a marg of 60 percent to 31 percent. Rsia's parliament has unanimoly passed a feral law banng gay "propaganda" amid a Kreml ph to enshre eply nservative valu that crics say has already led to a sharp crease anti-gay law passed 436-0 on Tuday, wh jt one puty abstag om votg on the bill, which bans the spreadg of "propaganda of non-tradnal sexual relatns" among law effect mak illegal to equate straight and gay relatnships, as well as the distributn of material on gay rights.

319 (113TH): REGNIZG BAYARD RT FOR HIS LIFELONG LEARSHIP THE CIVIL RIGHTS, LABOR, AND LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR (LGBT) RIGHTS MOVEMENTS AND FOR HIS EXEMPLARY DITN TO REALIZG TE EQUALY AND EEDOM THE UNED STAT.

Mut after passg the anti-gay legislatn, the Duma also approved a new law allowg jail sentenc of up to three years for "offendg relig feelgs", an iative lnched the wake of the trial agast the anti-Kreml punk band Psy two laws were wily cricised by Rsia's margalised liberal and human rights muni and e amid a wir crackdown agast pennt civil activy the untry. Put, who often mak a show of his fah, has creasgly lled upon the church to fill his own iologil vacuum followg a ntted printial electn last year, acpanied by unprecented protts agast se agast Psy Rt – which three members were found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by relig hatred" after performg an anti-Put anthem si a Mosw church – was wily seen as the lnch of an ultra-nservative 's anti-gay law, whose text was softened to remove explic referrals to "homosexual propaganda", troduc f of up to 100, 000 roubl (£1, 975) for dividuals who have ed the media or ter to promote "non-tradnal relatns".

Internatnal gay rights activists, cludg Brish mpaigner Peter Tatchell and US activist Dan Choi, have regularly travelled to Rsia to support the untry's stgglg gay rights movement. ”On his first day office, Bin signed an executive orr directg feral agenci to implement the Supreme Court’s Bostock lg and to enforce any regulatns banng sex discrimatn on the basis of sexual orientatn and genr inty, as last October, Bin told Philalphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal that passg the Equaly Act would ensure “no future print n ever aga roll back civil rights and protectns for LGBTQ+ dividuals.

The Early Gay Rights Movement In 1924, Henry Gerber, a German immigrant, found Chigo the Society for Human Rights, the first documented gay rights anizatn the Uned Stat.

GAY RIGHTS

Army service World War I, Gerber was spired to create his anizatn by the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee, a “homosexual emancipatn” group ’s small group published a few issu of s newsletter “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter.

US HOE OF REPRENTATIV PASS BILL TO PROTECT GAY MARRIAGE RIGHTS

Ernment signated Gerber’s Chigo hoe a Natnal Historic Pk TriangleCorbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, gay rights movement stagnated for the next few s, though LGBT dividuals around the world did e to the spotlight a few example, English poet and thor Radclyffe Hall stirred up ntroversy 1928 when she published her lbian-themed novel, The Well of Lonels.

Addnally, 1948, his book Sexual Behavr the Human Male, Aled Ksey proposed that male sexual orientatn li on a ntuum between exclively homosexual to exclively Homophile Years In 1950, Harry Hay found the Mattache Foundatn, one of the natn’s first gay rights group. ”Though started off small, the foundatn, which sought to improve the liv of gay men through discsn groups and related activi, expand after foundg member Dale Jenngs was arrted 1952 for solicatn and then later set ee due to a adlocked the end of the year, Jenngs formed another anizatn lled One, Inc., which weled women and published ONE, the untry’s first pro-gay magaze. Post Office, which 1954 clared the magaze “obscene” and refed to liver Mattache Society Mattache Foundatn members rtctured the anizatn to form the Mattache Society, which had lol chapters other parts of the untry and 1955 began publishg the untry’s send gay publitn, The Mattache Review.

That same year, four lbian upl San Francis found an anizatn lled the Dghters of Bilis, which soon began publishg a newsletter lled The Ladr, the first lbian publitn of any early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr followg year, Print Dwight D. In 1961, Illois beme the first state to do away wh s anti-sodomy laws, effectively crimalizg homosexualy, and a lol TV statn California aired the first documentary about homosexualy, lled The 1965, Dr.