A brief history of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr social movements

Contents:

• OP-ED: GAY MEN NEED TO BE FEMISTS, TOO
• OPINION: ON GAY MEN AND THE FEMIST MOVEMENT
• ROXANE GAY: WHAT DO IT MEAN TO INTIFY AS A FEMIST?
• #GAYS AGAST FEMISM: BEE GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT FEMIST PROPERTY
• GAYS AGAST FEMISM: BEE GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT YOUR PROPERTY, FEMISTS
• IN REARCH ON FEMISM AND GAY RIGHTS, A CASE FOR UNY
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

OP-ED: GAY MEN NEED TO BE FEMISTS, TOO

Even the all-male environments that I’ve equented, om golf urs to gay bars to locker rooms, I never enuntered the kd of btish sexism that Donald Tmp broadst as he mpaigned for office. And yet I know his ntug sults agast women are not sgular; attacks are fterg om a wi st of misogynists, om the Llie Moonv type to the “cel” type to the Alabama statehoe is forcg some soul searchg on me — namely nontg the worseng attus toward women next to the rapid-fire gas of gay male liberatn recent years. Knowg que a few gay men at the top of their profsns — media, fashn, philanthropy, amia — I wns a aterny of privilege ightengly different to the backlash agast women.

Another woman, an official at a major cultural stutn New York, told me earlier this year that she fds straight and gay men equally sexist, jt different ways.

People of all genrs who have clared themselv and the moment post-femist have spoken prematurely, jt like those who said the natn is gay man payg attentn uld have felt the war agast women brewg even back durg the Obama years.

OPINION: ON GAY MEN AND THE FEMIST MOVEMENT

Femists unrstand how all the rights are nnected, but gay men don’t always though gay men are not engeerg the recent surge of state laws rtrictg reproductive rights, nor mtg the alarmg number of sexual asslts agast women, we are implited the imagistic, mercial and workplace misogyny that is still stranglg women’s advancement. Today’s gay male el should be standg for women: batg sexual asslt; advancg women’s reproductive rights; mandg paid materny leave and support for child re; fendg immigrant women pg domtic vlence and rape; and supportg all those women who are cidly not “post-work, ” but rather reprent nearly two-thirds of the mimum-wage men shouldn’t domate the bate, but neher should we hang back apathy, fatigue or fear of sayg the wrong thg. Gay men may have bee more liberated, but femism hasn’t n s Benjam, the thor of “Searchg for Whopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of Whe Ameri, ” is at work on a new book.

This was rather nontg, but the few months sce she ma me aware of my own misogynistic tennci, I’ve tried my bt to be nsc of such thgs, and feel 's important to share this wh other gay men. I would not s idly by if any of their boyiends lled them any of those slurs, but the past, seems I thought the gay rd was a ‘get-out-of-jail-ee-rd’ when me to sexism and misogyny.

It’s possible ’s bee we, as a society, oversimplify the nature of opprsn and believe queer people are more opprsed than women so we n’t cricise them bee that would be ‘homophobic’. So, this Internatnal Women’s Day, I enurage everyone, but pecially gay men, to reflect on their behavur and attus and serly nsir what they n do to be better.

ROXANE GAY: WHAT DO IT MEAN TO INTIFY AS A FEMIST?

Back when there was an actual social and polil st to beg gay-iendly (let alone gay) I almost certaly would have been beat up badly had I shown someone that rd. I did not, although I did once rcue a dnk gay man whose abive boyiend had gotten him liquored up and then left him strand om home wh no money a tough workg-class blue-llar bar. So if you ever wonr why I’m almost pletely immune to hateful femist bigotry and disgtg attempts at shamg, and am 100% fortable the pany of gay, lbian, bi, whatever people, bear md that I remember fully and vividly how rmal vigilante lynchgs were somethg most people would jt look the other way at–if was a gay man.

But as a le, was gay men–y, the gay men–who were gettg thrown jail, thrown mental hospals, raped by “fag” bashers (y, that was and is still a thg), sometim even strated, lobotomized, hung, or jt pla beat to ath. When you watch or read histori of the Stonewall Rts, ’s fascatg to watch how hard they will generally work to move lbians up to the ont of the story, even though was overwhelmgly gay men who were beg most btally persecuted. Carefully read the -pth stori of how the first Stonewall rt began, and you will disver that at the very begng, at an unrground gay club, durg a police raid a p tried btg a lbian for beg among the other “crimal” homosexuals, and she was somewhat roughed up as they tried to put her to a paddy wagon.

There is of urse nothg wrong wh that–the ps were vlatg her human rights after all–but shows how the male protective stct toward women is part of even most gay men.

#GAYS AGAST FEMISM: BEE GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT FEMIST PROPERTY

Remember that the next time you hear about men’s herent vlence, or hear yet another radfem sist that gay men are misogynists–which they equently do.

And what’s so fascatg about the racism and gay-hate that’s been part of femism for s is that femists and their apologists tomatilly behave as if the were statistil outliers, and therefore “not real femists.

Jt as there were people who joed the Nazi Party (y, I jt went there) who didn’t particularly hate Jews, the misandrist assumptns of 1960s and 1970s femism fell jt as much agast gay men as they do today, if not more so.

GAYS AGAST FEMISM: BEE GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT YOUR PROPERTY, FEMISTS

It always has been, for is an pable ncln of their “Patriarchy” theory (or their new favore word, “tersectnaly”) that not jt gay men, but black men and brown men and “yellow” men often and routely rape and btalize women, or jt lgh at the btaly and accept –for real and not as dark humor or sarsm or irony. But as a le, was gay men–y, the gay men–who were gettg thrown jail, thrown mental hospals, raped by fag bashers (y, that was and is still a thg), sometim even strated, lobotomized, hung, or jt pla beat to ath.

And so now we fally see the rise of gay men who fight femism, not jt here on A Voice for Men (which has weled gay men om the day we opened our doors) but the wir world, wh the growg and fearls #GaysAgastFemism. It’s hearteng to see more and more gay men standg up, and not jt here on A Voice for Men, where they have done so for many years but out the world at large. Through archival rearch, she is evaluatg the legal and activist legaci of the femist reproductive jtice movement and their effect on gay rights activism and the eventual achievement of foundatnal Supreme Court lgs.

Morn Amerin Christians have a choice to make: do we accept the ntually evolvg sensibili of the culture around on the fundamental issu, or do we take God at His Word and thereby risk beg slapped wh ephets like bigot, sexist, misogynist, and homophobe? Yet crics have poted to rampant fily, divorce, and serial monogamy throughout morn Amerin society – even among profsg Amerin Christians – and subsequently cried opponents of “marriage equaly” as narrow-md hypocr who haven’t gotten the memo that heterosexuals have already trampled on tradnal marriage more than homosexuals ever uld. For two high-profile exampl om last year, nsir Kim Davis – the Kentucky clerk who had been married four tim and yet refed to grant marriage licens to homosexual upl – and Josh Duggar – elst son of the famo nservative Christian fay om TLC’s 19 Kids and Countg, ught cheatg on his wife when Ashley Madison acunts were leaked to the public by hackers.

IN REARCH ON FEMISM AND GAY RIGHTS, A CASE FOR UNY

It might surprise you to hear me say , but crics of Christians are not all wrong when they pot to a double-standard on the part of those opposg homosexualy as ungodly on the one hand, yet excg other ways of rejectg God’s plan for marriage and sexualy their own life. If we really believe that God ordaed marriage as beg one man and one woman for life – fahful to one another, raisg and trag children together love and tth and godls – we Christians would be the worst sort of hypocr to re only about “gay marriage.

Therefore, supposg we are voted to obeyg and honorg what God says ncerng marriage and fay life, we have to be opposed to not jt “gay marriage, ” but divorce and fily also. On Internatnal Women’s Day, March 8, we should highlight the protectn of sexual mory women who live at the tersectn of multiple opprsns by prrizg them the fight agast genr equaly and homophobia. LBQ women also have the add barriers of homophobia, which n rult fay isolatn, sexual vlence om men, and discrimatn while attemptg to accs health re.

Lbian femism, a subset of femism that emerged the mid-to-late 20th century at the nvergence of the women’s movement, the gay rights movement, and the sexual revolutn.

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

Before the 1960s, thrivg gay and lbian muni veloped across the Uned Stat, pecially urban areas, where they often centred on bars or private hom. Bee lbians were operatg wh a culture that viewed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr and a threat to the well-beg of Amerin society, their social, legal, and enomic ncerns—like those of their male unterparts—were believed better kept private.

Members of DOB anized for social and polil purpos, seekg to end the sense of isolatn many lbians felt, to te gay women about their legal rights, and to crease their social acceptance.