OAH Commtee on the Stat of LGBTQ Historians and Histori Co-Issu Statement on “Don’t Say Gay” Laws - Organizatn of Amerin Historians

Contents:

• A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
• OAH COMMTEE ON THE STAT OF LGBTQ HISTORIANS AND HISTORI CO-ISSU STATEMENT ON “DON’T SAY GAY” LAWS
• THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED
• THE COMMTEE ON LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR HISTORY
• GAY RIGHTS

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

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. 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.

OAH COMMTEE ON THE STAT OF LGBTQ HISTORIANS AND HISTORI CO-ISSU STATEMENT ON “DON’T SAY GAY” LAWS

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. 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.

THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED

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.

THE COMMTEE ON LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR HISTORY

Fstrated wh the male learship of most gay liberatn groups, lbians fluenced by the femist movement of the 1970s formed their own llectiv, rerd labels, mic ftivals, newspapers, bookstor, and publishg ho, and lled for lbian rights mastream femist groups like the Natnal Organizatn for Women. And polil actn explod through the Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, the electn of openly gay and lbian reprentativ like Elae Noble and Barney Frank, and, 1979, the first march on Washgton for gay rights.

GAY RIGHTS

The creasg expansn of a global LGBT rights movement suffered a setback durg the 1980s, as the gay male muny was cimated by the Aids epimic, mands for passn and medil fundg led to renewed alns between men and women as well as angry street theatre by groups like Aids Coaln to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and Queer Natn. In the same era, one wg of the polil gay movement lled for an end to ary expulsn of gay, lbian, and bisexual soldiers, wh the high-profile se of Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer publicized through a ma-for-televisn movie, “Servg Silence. Wh greater media attentn to gay and lbian civil rights the 1990s, trans and tersex voic began to ga space through works such as Kate Boernste’s “Genr Outlaw” (1994) and “My Genr Workbook” (1998), Ann Fsto-Sterlg’s “Myths of Genr” (1992) and Llie Feberg’s “Transgenr Warrrs” (1998), enhancg shifts women’s and genr studi to bee more clive of transgenr and nonbary inti.

While he ially lost an electn for the San Francis Board of Supervisors, Milk would ntue to serve his lol gay muny through other means, foundg the San Francis Gay Democratic Club and eventually wng a seat on the Board of Supervisors. Johnson then beme a -founr of the Gay Liberatn Front and Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari, workg to provi shelter and safety to trans youth via STAR Hoe and beg a prolific performer—unfortunately, Johnson was found ad the Hudson River 1992, and while police led her ath a suici, iends and many observers spect foul play led to the revolutnary figure's untimely passg. Anizatns for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) history scholarship and teachg nounce a new wave of proposed “Don’t Say Gay” laws targetg K-12 schools and curriculum as profoundly harmful to accurate, clive, and relevant history tn.