As A Gay Man, The '80s Crippled My Inty | HuffPost Voic

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• U.S. REPRENTATIVE BARNEY FRANK COM OUTBARNEY FRANK WAS FIRST ELECTED TO THE MASSACHETTS HOE OF REPRENTATIV 1972 AND SERVED UNTIL HIS ELECTN TO THE U.S. HOE OF REPRENTATIV 1980, BUT DID NOT YET PUBLICLY INTIFY AS LGBTQ. AAID THAT G OUT MIGHT HURT HIS REER, FRANK LGERED THE CLOSET UNTIL 1987, WHEN HE BEME THE FIRST MEMBER OF CONGRS TO VOLUNTARILY E OUT PUBLICLY AS LGBTQ+.“FOR MANY YEARS, I WAS ASHAMED OF MYSELF FOR HIDG MY MEMBERSHIP A UNIVERSALLY SPISED GROUP. I’D BEEN AAID OF EXPOSURE, AND ANGRY AT MYSELF FOR MY SELF-NIAL. I’D FELT SHAME AS I WATCHED YOUNGER GAY MEN AND LBIANS NONT THE BIGOTS OPENLY WH A URAGE THAT I LACKED. AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS, LYG TO PEOPLE WAS MUCH EASIER EMOTNALLY THAN FALLY ADMTG MY LIE,” FRANK WROTE POLI ON MARCH 12, 2015, AN EXCERPT OM HIS BOOK, FRANK: A LIFE POLICS OM THE GREAT SOCIETY TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE.BUT FRANK RECEIVED UNEXPECTED SUPPORT AND LUXURIATED BEG AN OUT GAY REPRENTATIVE. “I’M ED TO BEG A MORY. HEY, I’M A LEFT-HAND GAY JEW. I’VE NEVER FELT, TOMATILLY, A MEMBER OF ANY MAJORY,” FRANK SAID A NEW YORK TIM MAGAZE TERVIEW FEBARY 4, 1996. WHEN REPUBLIN HOE MAJORY LEAR DICK ARMEY REFERRED TO HIM AS “BARNEY FAG,” FRANK REFED TO ACCEPT THE RIGHT-WGER’S APOLOGY, AND THE SLUR REBOUND ON ARMEY. OVER TIME, FRANK WOULD BEE ONE OF THE MOST FLUENTIAL MEMBERS OF THE U.S. CONGRS, PLAYG A KEY ROLE AS CHAIR OF THE HOE FANCIAL SERVIC COMMTEE. HE WOULD BE REELECTED 12 TIM.‍JOHN LAIRD ELECTED ONE OF FIRST GAY MAYORS THE U.S.JOHN LAIRD’S LONG REER PUBLIC SERVICE BEGAN 1981 WH A SUCCSFUL RACE FOR THE SANTA CZ CY COUNCIL, WHERE HE SERVED UNTIL 1990. BUT HE WAS PUBLICLY CLOSETED UNTIL 1983, WHEN HE RPOND TO A REPORTER’S QUTN ABOUT HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATN BY TELLG THEM HE WAS GAY. LAIRD LATER TOLD “I SAID Y, AND EMBARKED ON AN UNPLANNED MEDIA ROLLER-ASTER RI. I WAS ON THE ONT PAGE OF MOST CALIFORNIA NEWSPAPERS AND MA THE PL HARVEY NEWS. SAN FRANCIS TELEVISN REPORTS REFERRED TO ME AS "AN AVOWED HOMOSEXUAL." AND I WAS VED TO SPEAK AT THE FIFTH MILK/MOSNE NDLELIGHT MARCH.”YET SHORTLY AFTER, FELLOW CY UNCILMEMBERS ELECTED HIM TO A ONE-YEAR TERM AS MAYOR, MAKG HIM ONE OF THE FIRST OUT LGBTQ+ MAYORS U.S. HISTORY. HE WOULD SERVE AGA AS MAYOR OM 1987 TO 1988. IN 2002, HE WAS ELECTED TO THE CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY AND SERVED UNTIL 2008. IN 2020, HE WAS ELECTED TO THE CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE, MAKG HIM ONE OF THE LONGT SERVG OUT LGBTQ+ ELECTED OFFICIALS.KEY WT MAK HISTORY ELECTG RICHARD HEYMAN
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
• GAY RIGHTS
• AS A GAY MAN, THE '80S CRIPPLED MY INTY
• HISTORY OF THE ANTI-GAY MOVEMENT SCE 1977

U.S. REPRENTATIVE BARNEY FRANK COM OUTBARNEY FRANK WAS FIRST ELECTED TO THE MASSACHETTS HOE OF REPRENTATIV 1972 AND SERVED UNTIL HIS ELECTN TO THE U.S. HOE OF REPRENTATIV 1980, BUT DID NOT YET PUBLICLY INTIFY AS LGBTQ. AAID THAT G OUT MIGHT HURT HIS REER, FRANK LGERED THE CLOSET UNTIL 1987, WHEN HE BEME THE FIRST MEMBER OF CONGRS TO VOLUNTARILY E OUT PUBLICLY AS LGBTQ+.“FOR MANY YEARS, I WAS ASHAMED OF MYSELF FOR HIDG MY MEMBERSHIP A UNIVERSALLY SPISED GROUP. I’D BEEN AAID OF EXPOSURE, AND ANGRY AT MYSELF FOR MY SELF-NIAL. I’D FELT SHAME AS I WATCHED YOUNGER GAY MEN AND LBIANS NONT THE BIGOTS OPENLY WH A URAGE THAT I LACKED. AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS, LYG TO PEOPLE WAS MUCH EASIER EMOTNALLY THAN FALLY ADMTG MY LIE,” FRANK WROTE POLI ON MARCH 12, 2015, AN EXCERPT OM HIS BOOK, FRANK: A LIFE POLICS OM THE GREAT SOCIETY TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE.BUT FRANK RECEIVED UNEXPECTED SUPPORT AND LUXURIATED BEG AN OUT GAY REPRENTATIVE. “I’M ED TO BEG A MORY. HEY, I’M A LEFT-HAND GAY JEW. I’VE NEVER FELT, TOMATILLY, A MEMBER OF ANY MAJORY,” FRANK SAID A NEW YORK TIM MAGAZE TERVIEW FEBARY 4, 1996. WHEN REPUBLIN HOE MAJORY LEAR DICK ARMEY REFERRED TO HIM AS “BARNEY FAG,” FRANK REFED TO ACCEPT THE RIGHT-WGER’S APOLOGY, AND THE SLUR REBOUND ON ARMEY. OVER TIME, FRANK WOULD BEE ONE OF THE MOST FLUENTIAL MEMBERS OF THE U.S. CONGRS, PLAYG A KEY ROLE AS CHAIR OF THE HOE FANCIAL SERVIC COMMTEE. HE WOULD BE REELECTED 12 TIM.‍JOHN LAIRD ELECTED ONE OF FIRST GAY MAYORS THE U.S.JOHN LAIRD’S LONG REER PUBLIC SERVICE BEGAN 1981 WH A SUCCSFUL RACE FOR THE SANTA CZ CY COUNCIL, WHERE HE SERVED UNTIL 1990. BUT HE WAS PUBLICLY CLOSETED UNTIL 1983, WHEN HE RPOND TO A REPORTER’S QUTN ABOUT HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATN BY TELLG THEM HE WAS GAY. LAIRD LATER TOLD “I SAID Y, AND EMBARKED ON AN UNPLANNED MEDIA ROLLER-ASTER RI. I WAS ON THE ONT PAGE OF MOST CALIFORNIA NEWSPAPERS AND MA THE PL HARVEY NEWS. SAN FRANCIS TELEVISN REPORTS REFERRED TO ME AS "AN AVOWED HOMOSEXUAL." AND I WAS VED TO SPEAK AT THE FIFTH MILK/MOSNE NDLELIGHT MARCH.”YET SHORTLY AFTER, FELLOW CY UNCILMEMBERS ELECTED HIM TO A ONE-YEAR TERM AS MAYOR, MAKG HIM ONE OF THE FIRST OUT LGBTQ+ MAYORS U.S. HISTORY. HE WOULD SERVE AGA AS MAYOR OM 1987 TO 1988. IN 2002, HE WAS ELECTED TO THE CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY AND SERVED UNTIL 2008. IN 2020, HE WAS ELECTED TO THE CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE, MAKG HIM ONE OF THE LONGT SERVG OUT LGBTQ+ ELECTED OFFICIALS.KEY WT MAK HISTORY ELECTG RICHARD HEYMAN

Sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act 1988 stated that lol thori uld not "tentnally promote homosexualy or publish material wh the tentn of promotg homosexualy" or "promote the teachg any mataed school of the acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship". (date unknown)Censorship of LGBT Issu be archaic 1988 law "banng homosexual or gay topics wh school classrooms" was donatns by MSMs be banned (fe ferral) 1988, Denmark had a life-time ban on blood donatns for men who have sex wh men. Homosexual activy be illegal (ath penalty as punishment) homosexualy is punishable by stong; female homosexualy is punishable by f or imprisonmentsJuly 8Servg openly ary be homosexualy is illegal, servg the ary by LGBTQ+ dividuals are also illegalJune 26Homosexual activy be Supreme Court lg issued Lawrence v.

Acrdg to Amerin Pk(date unknown)Blood donatns by MSMs be banned (fe ferral) on blood donatns om MSMs appli to any man who has had sex, even once, wh another man on or after January 1, donatns by MSMs be banned (fe ferral) on blood donatns om MSMs appli to any man who has had sex, even once, wh another man on or after January 1, employment discrimatn be sexual orientatn and genr law prohibs employment discrimatn on the basis of "homosexualy" and "transgenr stat". Missg non bary to change legal genr be legal, but requir is legal for dividuals to change their legal genr whout havg to go through genr reassignment 4Equal age of nsent be age of nsent France is 15 for both male-male, female-female, and male-female 8Homosexual activy be illegal (imprisonment as punishment) to 5 years imprisonment and/or 1, 000, 000 anc 14Right to change legal genr be legal, but requir surgery.

Sectn 8 § 1 of the German Transsexuellengetz (Transsexuals Act of September 10, 1980) stat that transgenr people n change their first nam and genr entry unr the ndn of genr-affirmg surgery, sterilizatn, and 13Homosexual activy be male illegal, female legal. Homosexual acts were legalized prr to the feral lg which legalized homosexualy for all feral jurisdictns donatns by MSMs be banned (fe ferral) to November 2011, a lifetime ban was place for MSMJanuary 1Homosexual activy be legal.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

The Gay Black Group (formed 1981 by a number of Black and Asian gay and lbian people who found that most LGBTQ+ groups had a lack of mory members, makg hard for them to fd empathy and people to talk to who would unrstand) approached the Greater London Council 1982 to requt fundg.

In 2003, Stonewall was granted charable stat and has sce gone on to help achieve the equalisatn of the age of nsent, lift the ban on LGB people servg the ary, secure legislatn which allowed same-sex upl to adopt, helped secure civil partnerships and then same-sex marriage and ensured that the recent Equaly Act protected lbian, gay and bi people terms of goods and servic.

After all those years, lyg to people was much easier emotnally than fally admtg my lie, ” Frank wrote Poli on March 12, 2015, an excerpt om his book, Frank: A Life Polics om the Great Society to Same-Sex Frank received unexpected support and luxuriated beg an out gay reprentative.

GAY RIGHTS

In the UK, the Thatcher ernment created Sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act, makg illegal for lol thori to support anythg that might promote homosexual relatnships as a viable alternative to heterosexual ‘fay life’. For example, the UK’s ernment add Sectn 28 to their Lol Government Act that ma illegal for lol thori to support anythg that promoted homosexual relatnships as an alternative to a heterosexual “fay life”.

By 1989, the number of gay and bisexual men nvicted for nsentg same-sex behavur was almost as great as 1954-55, when male homosexualy was totally illegal and when the untry was gripped by a McCarthye anti-gay wch-hunt. Where homosexual activy or viance om tablished genr rol/drs was banned by law or tradnal ctom, such nmnatn might be munited through sensatnal public trials, exile, medil warngs, and language om the pulp. However, throughout 150 years of homosexual social movements (roughly om the 1870s to today), lears and anizers stggled to addrs the very different ncerns and inty issu of gay men, women intifyg as lbians, and others intifyg as genr variant or nonbary.

Such eyewns acunts the era before other media were of urse riddled wh the bias of the (often) Wtern or Whe observer, and add to beliefs that homosexual practic were other, foreign, savage, a medil issue, or evince of a lower racial hierarchy.

AS A GAY MAN, THE '80S CRIPPLED MY INTY

The European powers enforced their own crimal s agast what was lled sodomy the New World: the first known se of homosexual activy receivg a ath sentence North Ameri occurred 1566, when the Spanish executed a Frenchman Florida.

Biblil terpretatn ma illegal for a woman to wear pants or a man to adopt female drs, and sensatnalized public trials warned agast “viants” but also ma such martyrs and hero popular: Joan of Arc is one example, and the chillg origs of the word “faggot” clu a stick of wood ed public burngs of gay men. ” In Wtern history, we fd ltle formal study of what was later lled homosexualy before the 19th century, beyond medil texts intifyg women wh large cloris as “tribas” and severe punishment s for male homosexual acts. Their wrgs were sympathetic to the ncept of a homosexual or bisexual orientatn occurrg naturally an intifiable segment of humankd, but the wrgs of Krafft-Ebg and Ellis also labeled a “third sex” generate and abnormal.

The blu mic of Ain-Amerin women showsed varieti of lbian sire, stggle, and humor; the performanc, along wh male and female drag stars, troduced a gay unrworld to straight patrons durg Prohibn’s fiance of race and sex s speakeasy clubs. This creasg awarens of an existg and vulnerable populatn, upled wh Senator Joseph McCarthy’s vtigatn of homosexuals holdg ernment jobs durg the early 1950s outraged wrers and feral employe whose own liv were shown to be send-class unr the law, cludg Frank Kameny, Barbara Gtgs, Allen Gsberg, and Harry Hay.

HISTORY OF THE ANTI-GAY MOVEMENT SCE 1977

Awarens of a burgeong civil rights movement (Mart Luther Kg’s key anizer Bayard Rt was a gay man) led to the first Amerin-based polil mands for fair treatment of gays and lbians mental health, public policy, and employment. Studi such as Aled Ksey’s 1947 Ksey Report suggted a far greater range of homosexual inti and behavrs than prevly unrstood, wh Ksey creatg a “sle” or spectm rangg om plete heterosexual to plete homosexual. In 1951, Donald Webster Cory published “The Homosexual Ameri, ” assertg that gay men and lbians were a legimate mory group, and 1953 Evelyn Hooker, PhD, won a grant om the Natnal Instute of Mental Health to study gay men.