People around the world face vlence and equaly—and sometim torture, even executn—bee of who they love, how they look, or who they are. Sexual orientatn and genr inty are tegral aspects of our selv and should never lead to discrimatn or abe. Human Rights Watch works for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr peopl' rights, and wh activists reprentg a multiplicy of inti and issu. We document and expose ab based on sexual orientatn and genr inty worldwi, cludg torture, killg and executns, arrts unr unjt laws, unequal treatment, censorship, medil ab, discrimatn health and jobs and hog, domtic vlence, ab agast children, and nial of fay rights and regnn. We advote for laws and polici that will protect everyone’s digny. We work for a world where all people n enjoy their rights fully.
Contents:
- AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
- GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
- THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
- GAY RIGHTS
- “DO YOU HAVE A MOMENT TO SUPPORT GAY RIGHTS?” UM…
- TIMELE: KEY MOMENTS FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS
- LEGIMACY OF ‘CTOMER’ SUPREME COURT GAY RIGHTS SE RAIS ETHIL AND LEGAL FLAGS
- THE GAY MOMENT
- RSIA BANS MOSW GAY PRI CELEBRATNS FOR 100 YEARS
AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
A slew of bills are rollg back recently won eedoms for gay people. Is Ameri ready to fight for LGBTQ+ rights all over aga? * do you have a moment for gay rights *
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.
GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Gay rights movement, civil rights movement that advot equal rights for LGBTQ persons—that is, for lbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenr persons, and queer persons—and lls for an end to discrimatn agast LGBTQ persons employment, cred, hog, public acmodatns, and other areas of life. * do you have a moment for gay rights *
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.
THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
Read about key moments the history of the LGBTQ fight for rights Ameri, om the first gay rights group to prent day. * do you have a moment for gay rights *
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.
“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
The gay rights movement the Uned Stat began the 1920s and saw huge progrs the 2000s, wh laws prohibg homosexual activy stck down and a Supreme Court lg legalizg same-sex marriage. * do you have a moment for 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. 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. 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.
“DO YOU HAVE A MOMENT TO SUPPORT GAY RIGHTS?” UM…
* do you have a moment for gay rights *
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. In the 1970s and ’80s, gay polil anizatns proliferated, particularly the Uned Stat and Europe, and spread to other parts of the globe, though their relative size, strength, and succs—and toleratn by thori—varied signifintly. 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.
TIMELE: KEY MOMENTS FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS
June celebrat LGBT Pri Month, a look at some key moments gay rights. * do you have a moment for gay rights *
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).
LEGIMACY OF ‘CTOMER’ SUPREME COURT GAY RIGHTS SE RAIS ETHIL AND LEGAL FLAGS
A Christian graphic artist who the Supreme Court said n refe to make weddg webs for gay upl poted durg her lawsu to a requt om a man named “Stewart” and his hband-to-be. * do you have a moment for gay rights *
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 a time when most bars refed to serve gay people, the Mattache Society, one of the untry’s first gay rights anizatns, staged a “Sip-In, ” durg which activists entered a New York Cy bar, announced they were gay, orred drks, and waed to be Braerd/The Denver Post via GettyJune 28, 1969: The Stonewall rts spark the begng of the LGBT the early morng hours on June 28, 1969, police performed a raid of the Stonewall Inn, a New York Cy gay bar — and the ctomers and their supporters took a stand.
THE GAY MOMENT
The ACLU works to ensure that lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people n live openly whout discrimatn and enjoy equal rights, personal tonomy, and eedom of exprsn and associatn. * do you have a moment for gay rights *
Those “Stonewall rts” are largely nsired the start of the LGBTQ civil rights movement the Uned Hir/Getty1973: Homosexualy is no longer clared a mental years of studi, analysis, and changg cultural attus, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s board of directors removed homosexualy om the official list of mental illns, known as the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs, a move that was upheld wh a vote by the associatn’s membership. Armed, 2013: SCOTUS strik down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which beme a law 1996, clared that marriag between gay or lbian upl were not regnized by the feral ernment, meang those upl uld not receive legal benefs — like Social Secury and health surance — that straight married upl uld. Senators Jeff Merkley, Tammy Baldw, and Cory Booker, as well as Reprentative David Cicille formerly troduced The Equaly Act, which would make LGBTQ dividuals a protected class and grant them basic legal protectns areas of life cludg tn, hog, employment, cred, and, 2016: The Stonewall Inn will bee a natnal Obama admistratn announced that they are preparg to signate New York’s Stonewall Inn, the se of those historic rts 1969, the first-ever natnal monument dited to gay, 2016: The Obama admistratn publicly supports transgenr the midst of anti-transgenr movements throughout the untry, Print Obama and his admistratn issued a directive to all public schools that transgenr stunts should be allowed to e the rtrooms that reflect their genr inty.
RSIA BANS MOSW GAY PRI CELEBRATNS FOR 100 YEARS
The gay rights movement is the stggle for equaly and marriage rights for gay, lbian and transgenr people. Learn about the Stonewall Rts, Harvey Milk, the Pri flag and more. * do you have a moment for gay rights *
“We pos that this is bee the Inter facilat workg and people-to-people munitn, which turn n brg about shifts societal views as people learn that people who are close to them may be gay, ” says Jenifer Whten Woodrg, a polil scientist at the Universy of Massachetts, Lowell, who helped nduct the study.
Durg the era of 1969’s Stonewall Rts, police raids agast LGBTQ tablishments were mon. But when Stonewall patrons fought back, the morn gay rights movement was lnched. On Stonewall’s 50th anniversary, Judy Woodff gets perspective om Reverend Emma Chatt, activist and journalist Gee Johnson, The Anti-Vlence Project’s Beverly Tillery and Mark Segal of Philalphia Gay News. * do you have a moment for gay rights *
In their book, Listen, We Need to Talk: How to Change Attus about LGBT Rights, rearchers Brian Harrison and Melissa Michelson offered their own mol for how public acceptance towards homosexualy has advanced so quickly—one that emphasiz -group learship om people like Portman. They found that “relig participants exposed to the quotatn attributed to Reverend Lawrence were more likely to say that they supported marriage equaly, more likely to say that they would likely vote for a ballot measure their state tablishg marriage equaly, and more likely to approve of gay and lbian parentg.
The term LGBTI refers to a broad tegory of people, cludg those who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or tersex, although we regnize that there are many terms around the world that are ed by people to fe their sexual orientatn or genr inty. Y, twelve stat (California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachetts, Mnota, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Jersey, Rho Island, Vermont and Wisns), the District of Columbia, many municipali, and hundreds of bs and universi have enacted laws that protect gay, lbian and bisexual people om employment discrimatn. Sce they n not marry, the partners of lbians and gay men are not next of k tim of crisis; they are not nsulted on ccial medil cisns; they are not given leave to re for each other; they are not each other’s legal heirs, if, like most Amerins, they do not have wills.
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.