How 2013 Beme The Greatt Year In Gay Rights History : It's All Polics : NPR

Contents:

• MARCH FOR GAY RIGHTS; GAY MARCHERS THRONG MALL APPEAL FOR RIGHTS
• GAY RIGHTS
• HOW 2013 BEME THE GREATT YEAR IN GAY RIGHTS HISTORY
• RSIA REVOK LAW PUNISHG GAY SEX : HUMAN RIGHTS: STAL-ERA LAW HAD MANDATED PRISON TERMS OF UP TO FIVE YEARS FOR MAL. HOMOSEXUALS CHEER MOVE.
• LEGIMACY OF ‘CTOMER’ SUPREME COURT GAY RIGHTS SE RAIS ETHIL AND LEGAL FLAGS
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• HISTORY OF THE ANTI-GAY MOVEMENT SCE 1977
• GAY AND LBIAN MARCH ON WASHGTON
• THE PK TRIANGLE: FROM NAZI LABEL TO SYMBOL OF GAY PRI

MARCH FOR GAY RIGHTS; GAY MARCHERS THRONG MALL APPEAL FOR RIGHTS

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMARCH FOR GAY RIGHTSApril 26, New York Tim ArchivSee the article s origal ntext om April 26, 1993, Sectn A, Page 1Buy ReprtsTimMache is an exclive benef for home livery and digal the ArchiveThis is a digized versn of an article om The Tim’s prt archive, before the start of onle publitn 1996. Ocsnally the digizatn procs troduc transcriptn errors or other problems; we are ntug to work to improve the archived once fiant and ftive, hundreds of thoands of gay and lbian Amerins and their supporters rallied the pal today, celebratg the right to be homosexual and mandg eedom om discrimatn.

But the numbers were clearly swelled by reactn to recent anti-gay measur Oregon and Colorado, by creased opposn to homosexualy om relig groups and by the sharply anti-gay ments the fight over endg the ban on homosexuals the ary. The state has been an tense polil battleground, wh the passage last year of Amendment 2, which prohibs lol anti-discrimatory laws that are signed to protect lbians and gay Coloradans' black banners, one of them proclaimg "Unr Siege, " stretched almost the full width of the thoroughfare. Others took to chantg, "Shame, " over and over aga as they Christian Actn Network, a nservative relig group that oppos homosexual rights, labeled the march "a wake-up ll to the silent majory of Amerins whose dividual rights are at stake.

GAY RIGHTS

Schdler, a 22-year-old Navy radman beaten to ath last October near the Uned Stat Navy base Sasebo, Japan, exprsed fear for every gay and lbian service march -- officially lled the 1993 March on Washgton for Lbian, Gay and Bi-Equal Rights and Liberatn -- lled for the meetg of several mands, cludg passage of a civil rights bill and other antidiscrimatn measur; more money for AIDS tn, treatment and rearch; the cln of lbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgenr people the tnal system; reproductive eedom; and an end to discrimatn and vlent opprsn based on sexual orientatn, race, relign, sex, disabily, age, class or H. JuneHomosexual activy be 1Servg openly ary be n/ Irish Army changed their policy early 1993April 23Same-sex marriage be civil f marriage as a unn of people wh oppose sexApril 2LGBT employment discrimatn be sexual orientatn and genr inty. 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.

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.

HOW 2013 BEME THE GREATT YEAR IN GAY RIGHTS HISTORY

”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 fear of beg shut down by thori, bartenrs would ny drks to patrons spected of beg gay or kick them out altogether; others would serve them drks but force them to s facg away om other ctomers to prevent them om 1966, members of the Mattache Society New York Cy staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue.

RSIA REVOK LAW PUNISHG GAY SEX : HUMAN RIGHTS: STAL-ERA LAW HAD MANDATED PRISON TERMS OF UP TO FIVE YEARS FOR MAL. HOMOSEXUALS CHEER MOVE.

They were nied service at the Greenwich Village tavern Juli, rultg much publicy and the quick reversal of the anti-gay liquor Stonewall Inn A few years later, 1969, a now-famo event talyzed the gay rights movement: The Stonewall clanste gay club Stonewall Inn was an stutn Greenwich Village bee was large, cheap, allowed dancg and weled drag queens and homels the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn. " This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay reportg the events, The New York Daily News rorted to homophobic slurs s tailed verage, nng the headle: “Homo Nt Raid, Queen Be Are Stgg Mad. 1 / 12: NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagChristopher Street Liberatn Day Shortly after the Stonewall uprisg, members of the Mattache Society spl off to form the Gay Liberatn Front, a radil group that lnched public monstratns, protts and nontatns wh polil officials.

Siar groups followed, cludg the Gay Activists Alliance, Radilbians, and Street Transvt Actn Revolutnari (STAR) 1970, at the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, New York Cy muny members marched through lol streets memoratn of the event. Addnally, several openly LGBTQ dividuals secured public office posns: Kathy Kozachenko won a seat to the Ann Harbor, Michigan, Cy Council 1974, beg the first out Amerin to be elected to public Milk, who mpaigned on a pro-gay rights platform, beme the San Francis cy supervisor 1978, beg the first openly gay man elected to a polil office asked Gilbert Baker, an artist and gay rights activist, to create an emblem that reprents the movement and would be seen as a symbol of pri. In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn published a report about five prevly healthy homosexual men beg fected wh a rare type of 1984, rearchers had intified the e of AIDS—the human immunoficiency vis, or HIV—and the Food and Dg Admistratn licensed the first mercial blood tt for HIV 1985.

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

But after failg to garner enough support for such an open policy, Print Clton 1993 passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, which allowed gay men and women to serve the ary as long as they kept their sexualy a rights advot cried the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, as did ltle to stop people om beg discharged on the grounds of their 2011, Print Obama fulfilled a mpaign promise to repeal DADT; by that time, more than 12, 000 officers had been discharged om the ary unr DADT for refg to hi their sexualy.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was officially repealed on September 20, Marriage and Beyond In 1992, the District of Columbia passed a law that allowed gay and lbian upl to register as domtic partners, grantg them some of the rights of marriage (the cy of San Francis passed a siar ordance three years prr and California would later extend those rights to the entire state 1999) 1993, the hight urt  Hawaii led that a ban on gay marriage may go agast the state’s nstutn. In 1994, a new anti-hate-crime law allowed judg to impose harsher sentenc if a crime was motivated by a victim’s sexual Matthew Shepard ActCourty of the Matthew Shepard FoundatnMatthew Shepard, who was btally killed a hate crime 2003, gay rights proponents had another b of happy news: the U. Gay rights proponents mt also ntent wh an creasg number of “relig liberty” state laws, which allow bs to ny service to LGBTQ dividuals due to relig beliefs, as well as “bathroom laws” that prevent transgenr dividuals om g public bathrooms that don’t rrpond to their sex at birth.

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.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

We have long been wag for , ” said Vladislav Ortanov, 40, edor of the gay perdil unrground nightclub near a park northeastern Mosw that ters to gay men and lbians geared up to celebrate the legal 1934 law adopted unr Josef Stal that sent gay men to prison or labor mp “was an outright vlatn of human eedom, ” Rsian legislator Oleg V. Even the change had to take to acunt a wispread Rsian hostily to homosexualy, Plotnikov change was refully word so that didn’t say outright that was letg the article’s existg wordg--and thereby crimalizg homosexual acts between nsentg adult men.

HISTORY OF THE ANTI-GAY MOVEMENT SCE 1977

“That took a month for this to bee known jt go to show you the lack of clout of the gay muny here, ” said Kev Gardner, 28, a San Francis activist who heads the Mosw chapter of the Uned Stat-based Internatnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn. 1 as a threat to reputatns, erce cizens to beg stool pigeons or punish the law, public hostily and now wispread hysteria over AIDS have all bed to force Rsian gays to keep a low recently as 1990, 30% of Rsians believed that gays should be “stroyed, ” acrdg to a poll nducted by the pennt Center for Public Opn.

GAY AND LBIAN MARCH ON WASHGTON

“A ln gays monstrated Washgton, but we uldn’t get 1, 000 together Mosw for a rally celebratg the changg of this law, ” Ortanov edor himself the psdonym “Ortanov” for fear of beg tracked down by gay Ivanov, a lawyer on the parliamentary Commtee on Legislatn, was quoted by Gardner’s anizatn as sayg that the Supreme Soviet vote means gay men now prison unr Article 121. E., for lbians, gays [homosexual mal], bisexuals, transgenr persons, and queer persons); seeks to elimate sodomy laws; and lls for an end to discrimatn agast LGBTQ persons employment, cred, hog, public acmodatns, and other areas of life.

) Gay rights prr to the 20th century Relig admonns agast sexual relatns between dividuals of the same sex (particularly men) long stigmatized such behavur, but most legal s Europe were silent on the subject of homosexualy and bisexualy. Dpe Paragraph 175 and the failure of the WhK to w s repeal, homosexual and bisexual men and women experienced a certa amount of eedom Germany, particularly durg the Weimar perd, between the end of World War I and the Nazi seizure of power. In the Uned Stat this greater visibily brought some backlash, particularly om the ernment and the police: the ernment often fired gay civil servants, the ary attempted to purge s ranks of gay soldiers (a policy enacted durg World War II), and police vice squads equently raid gay bars and arrted their patrons.

THE PK TRIANGLE: FROM NAZI LABEL TO SYMBOL OF GAY PRI

In the Uned Stat the first major male anizatn, found 1950–51 by Harry Hay Los Angel, was the Mattache Society (s name reputedly rived om a medieval French society of masked players, the Société Mattache, to reprent the public “maskg” of homosexualy), while the Dghters of Bilis (named after the Sapphic love poems of Pierre Louÿs, Chansons Bilis), found 1955 by Phyllis Lyon and Del Mart San Francis, was a leadg group for women.

In Bra 1957 a missn chaired by Sir John Wolfenn issued a groundbreakg report (see Wolfenn Report) remendg that private homosexual liaisons between nsentg adults be removed om the doma of crimal law; a later the remendatn was implemented by Parliament the Sexual Offenc Act. Now headquartered Geneva and renamed the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA World), plays a signifint role ordatg ternatnal efforts to promote human rights and fight discrimatn agast LGBTQ and tersex persons.

This support, along wh mpaigns by gay activists urgg gay men and women to “e out of the closet” (ed, the late 1980s, Natnal Comg Out Day was tablished, and is now celebrated on October 11 most untri), enuraged gay men and women to enter the polil arena as ndidat. At the lol and natnal levels, the number of openly gay policians creased dramatilly durg the 1990s and 2000s, and 2009 Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir beme prime mister of Iceland, which ma her the world’s first openly gay head of ernment. In Ai, Asia, and Lat Ameri, openly gay policians have had only limed succs wng office; notable electns to natnal legislatur clud Patria Jiménez Flor Mexi (1997), Mike Waters South Ai (1999), and Clodovil Hernans Brazil (2006).

Other issu of primary importance for the gay rights movement sce the 1970s clud batg the HIV/AIDS epimic and promotg disease preventn and fundg for rearch; lobbyg ernment for nondiscrimatory polici employment, hog, and other aspects of civil society; endg the ban on ary service for gay and lbian dividuals; expandg hate crim legislatn to clu protectns for gays, cludg transgenr dividuals; and securg marriage rights for same-sex upl (see same-sex marriage). Ary’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (1993–2011), which had permted gay and lbian dividuals to serve the ary if they did not disclose their sexual orientatn or engage homosexual activy; the repeal effectively end the ban on homosexuals the ary. ” Durg his 20-year mpaign for gay rights Mnota, Spear “reassured lleagu that, ntrary to what his opponents suggted, [the MHRA] bill was not an endorsement of homosexualy, but ‘an affirmatn of the premise that all people have right[s].

But that didn’t mean the cy was drawg massive numbers of transgenr people to the area who were then, turn, prsurg the cy uncil for legal, as former alrman DeMars remembers , the effort to pass transgenr protectns was tacked onto, and largely overshadowed by, a far more ntroversial fight at the time for gay rights and same-sex marriage. Hagen / Jean-Nickols Tretter Collectn GLBT Studi/Universy of Mnota Librari1971 was also the year that Baker won his bid to bee the untry’s first openly gay stunt-body print when he was elected as a law stunt at the Universy of Mnota. Bill Humble, for example -- a member of the executive mtee of the nservative Amerin Party, which formed support of Gee Wallace's 1968 printial bid -- said a gay school teacher had “stroyed” a close relative of his, forhadowg arguments to e later that Ana Bryant’s anti-gay “Save Our Children” mpaign.

“Anythg like that ordance should be kicked so far out of the Uned Stat that ’ll never land, ” Humble told the Cy Council, acrdg to a clippg of the Mneapolis Star Tribune, provid to MSNBC by the Jean-Nickols Tretter Collectn Gay, Lbian, Bisexual and Transgenr Studi at the Universy of, the measure survived. At the first Congrsnal heargs on anti-gay vlence, Kathleen Sarris of Indianapolis tells of beg stalked and asslted by a "Christian soldier" who held her at gunpot, beat and raped her for three hours, explag that "he was actg for God; that what he was dog to me was God's revenge on me bee I was a 'queer' and gettg rid of me would save children. Callg lbians and gay men "the ultimate enemy, " Dannemeyer acc straight people of "surrenrg to this growg army whout a shot, " and predicts gay rights will "plunge our people, and ed the entire Wt, to a dark night of the soul that uld last hundreds of years.