For generatns, livg openly as a gay person the Uned Stat was difficult, and often dangero. But there's been a dramatic change public attus toward gay people. This week, we explore one of the most strikg transformatns of public attu ever rerd. And we nsir whether the strategi ed by gay rights activists hold lsons for other groups seekg change.
Contents:
- GROUPS OPPOSED TO GAY RIGHTS RAKE LNS AS STAT BATE ANTI-LGBTQ BILLS
- RADILLY NORMAL: HOW GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS CHANGED THE MDS OF THEIR OPPONENTS
- 10 ANTI-GAY ACTIVISTS... WHO WERE OUTED AS GAY
- 18 ANTI-GAY GROUPS AND THEIR PROPAGANDA
- GAY RIGHTS
GROUPS OPPOSED TO GAY RIGHTS RAKE LNS AS STAT BATE ANTI-LGBTQ BILLS
In today’s heightened culture war, the ffers of the anti-gay movement are overflowg. * anti gay activists *
“Many of those, while not specifilly tied to a church, are rooted the nservative Christian, biblil sense of human sexualy, ” said Stt McCoy, the terim puty legal director for LGBTQ rights and special ligatn for the SPLC and the SPLC Actn Fund, the group’s polil actn simply holdg a relig belief that views homosexualy or transgenr inty as sful do not tomatilly land a church or an anizatn on the SPLC’s list of hate groups.
Among those exampl are a parison of same-sex marriage to a marriage between “a man and his horse”; llg the “It Gets Better” project, an iative signed to help LGBTQ young people pe wh bullyg and margalizatn, “disgtg” and a “ncerted effort” to rec kids to the gay “liftyle”; and claimg that the “blood” of “young Mar” would be on the hands of lawmakers who voted to repeal the ary’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” Fay Rearch Council did not rpond to a requt for ment. Another “anti-LGBTQ hate group” named the report is the Alliance Defendg Freedom, a nservative Christian legal group wh attorneys across the untry and a long track rerd of ligatg agast LGBTQ a lawsu that ma natnal headl last year, ADF reprented Jack Phillips, a Christian baker who refed to make a ke for a gay weddg, a narrow victory at the Supreme Court. Acrdg to Ta Fetner, a soclogy profsor at Canada’s McMaster Universy, anti-LGBTQ activists began anizatn “not too long after Stonewall, ” the 1969 uprisg at the Stonewall Inn, a New York Cy gay bar.
RADILLY NORMAL: HOW GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS CHANGED THE MDS OF THEIR OPPONENTS
* anti gay activists *
“Along the same l that you see today, they put forward stereotyp and vilify, pecially gay men, as predators and predators of children, and e that to jtify the tactics of takg rights way om LGBTQ people, ” Fetner ced as an early example the activism of Ana Bryant Florida.
10 ANTI-GAY ACTIVISTS... WHO WERE OUTED AS GAY
A small terie of groups now prise the hard re of the anti-gay movement * anti gay activists *
The sger-turned-anti-gay-activist was behd the “Save Our Children” mpaign, which 1977 helped overturn a newly passed lol ordance Miami-Da County that prohibed discrimatn based on sexual orientatn employment, hog and public servic. Ttg a Theory of Public Reactns to Activist Vlence, " by Brent Simpson, Robb Willer, and Matthew Feberg, 2018 The Gay Revolutn: The Story of the Stggle, by Lilian Farman, 2015 "Christiany, Social Tolerance, and Homosexualy, " by John Boswell, 1980 Why Civil Ristance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonvlent Conflict, by Eri Chenoweth and Maria J.
18 ANTI-GAY GROUPS AND THEIR PROPAGANDA
Activists who long cried gay rights, often assailg them as a threat to nservative fay valu and procreatn, said they’ve found new alli, particularly their efforts to lim medil re and athletic opportuni for transgenr youth. In the 1970s, Christian sger and anti-gay activist Ana Bryant lnched the “Save Our Children” mpaign to fight back agast a lol Da County, Florida, ordance that banned discrimatn based on sexual orientatn hog and employment. Issu that people mpaign for and agast tend to be very rog, prsg and often divisive on - abortn, women's rights and gay marriage are a few of the most current and most discsed qutns North Ameri today.
GAY RIGHTS
Whatever their reasons are for their homophobia and hate, we n only hope that as society exorably progrs towards greater equaly, the people on this list will not only learn to e to peace wh marriage equaly but will accept, embrace, and love themselv for who they are. Even as some well-known anti-gay groups like Foc on the Fay morate their views, a hard re of smaller groups, most of them religly motivated, have ntued to pump out monizg propaganda aimed at homosexuals and other sexual mori.
The book mak a seri of claims that virtually no ser historian agre wh: that Hler was gay, that “the Nazi Party was entirely ntrolled by aristic homosexuals, ” and that gays were pecially selected for the SS bee of their nate btaly. Takg a page om the anti-gay fabulist Stt Lively (see Abidg Tth Mistri, above), Fischer claimed a blog post last May 27 that “[h]omosexualy gave Adolph Hler, and homosexuals the ary gave the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war mache and 6 ln ad Jews.