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.
Contents:
- KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND
- ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
- AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
- THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
- THE STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS IS OVER
- GAY RIGHTS
KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND
A slew of bills are rollg back recently won eedoms for gay people. Is Ameri ready to fight for LGBTQ+ rights all over aga? * straight person for gay rights *
The film won’t say , but a post-creds punchle about Ken’s handwrg, plete wh hearts and stars surroundg his name, tells what we need to heavily implied nature of Ken’s gayns Toy Story 3 harkens back to Hollywood’s tradnal gay bt iend-type characters. In the Hays Co era, explic referenc to homosexualy weren’t allowed, so characters like Van Buren (Frankl Pangborn) 1937’s Easy Livg, Kip (David Wayne) 1949’s Adam’s Rib, or Addison (Gee Sanrs) 1950’s All About Eve stead were imbued wh effemate characteristics, offerg a glimpse outsi of heteronormativy whout explicly beg of the characters were the same—some were tty, others sweet. As a rult, gay men bought the doll drov, and spe Mattel ultimately rellg the doll and wipg away any trace of Earrg Magic Ken, was near-impossible to see Ken as anythg but the glor homosexual he was born to be om then on.
While there is no way to “drs gay, ” there are several dolls that seem to suggt otherwise, such as:Fashnista Ken #193, who looks very exced to tell you about his new obssn, Troye Sivan;Travel Ken Doll, who has a satchel perfect for bathho and a purple overnight bag that lerally proclaims he’s “extra;”Ken Looks Doll, servg “I’m gonna give you a makeover”-type realns while sportg black pleather pants;This Ken, who wears the least heterosexual double nim I have a feelg the new Barbie movie will put the work to nvce that Ken is a hetero du who lov nothg life more than Barbie herself, the wrg’s already on the wall: Ken is, and always will be, Barbie’s gay bt obssg! “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer.
Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN. “There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said. ”Human Rights Watch terviewed more than 20 members of the island’s LGBTQ muny who shared their stori but were not intified to protect them, notg that lol police are often openly discrimatory toward gay people who seek help.
ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
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. * straight person for gay rights *
Vcent, anal sex is punishable by up to 10 years prison, while “gross cency” wh another person of the same sex is punishable by up to five years, acrdg to lonial-era laws that are mon the socially nservative Caribbean rarely voked, the rights group and a lol activist said the laws help legimize hostily and abe agast gay people. Several reported that their fai are homophobic and physilly and verbally abed them, g them to bee homels and promptg some to nsir also stggle to fd jobs amid a high unemployment rate and said they face discrimatn, cludg a 19-year-old gay man who said he has rorted to beggg: “Sometim I am so hungry. 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.
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. 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.
AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
“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. 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. The Stggle for Gay Rights Is OverFor those born to a form of adversy, sometim the harst thg to do is admtg that they’ve Tsironis / RtersEdor’s Note: This article is part of a seri about the gay-rights movement and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprisg.
For this childhood fan, was a marvel: A sport wh heavily oiled men nng around spanx tights that was neverthels notor for crassly homophobic stereotyp now celebrat gay day seems to brg wele exampl of how Amerins are beg more relaxed about sexual orientatn.
THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
Sce gays began anizg polilly the 1950s—meetg secret, g psdonyms, and unr nstant surveillance by the FBI—their movement for legal equaly and societal acceptance has arguably advanced faster than any other Amerin history. After the ary’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was repealed, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a group that reprented gay soldiers discharged unr the directive, merged wh OutServe, an advocy group for gay ary personnel.
Aga, ” clared the headle of a characteristilly psimistic Tim op-ed by the legendary gay activist and playwright Larry this glooms li the 2016 electn, which many gay activists believe threatened to halt, if not reverse, all of the progrs they have ma.
It was an obv joke about Pence’s religsy and social nservatism, an example not of Tmp’s purported homophobia but the lack of rpect he has for even his most loyal followers, up to and cludg his own vice print, whom he is apparently willg to mock before a group of Whe Hoe visors. Days later, the Natnal Coaln of Anti-Vlence Programs (NCAVP), a group mted to batg antigay hate crim, published a report claimg a shockg 86 percent crease “hate vlence related homicis of LGBTQ people” om 2016 to fdgs would be alarmg, if te.
THE STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS IS OVER
Likewise, the portn of heterosexual rponnts who said they would feel unfortable “learng a fay member is LGBTQ” was 27 percent 2016, and rose to 30 percent the followg for the report on LGBTQ homicis, is unclear how many of the murrs clud the report were actually motivated by antigay anim.
But is the nflatn of transgenr issu wh the gay-rights movement, a recent velopment and not one unrtaken whout some ntroversy among gays and lbians themselv, which acunts for much if not most of the evince ced as reprentg regrsn on gay to marriage equaly and other protectns for gays advanced by the Supreme Court, Jtice Anthony Kennedy’s “opns seem secure bee his jurispnce largely mirrors chang society, ” Saikrishna Prakash of the Universy of Virgia Law School told Poli, referrg to the former Supreme Court jtice’s majory opns the 2003 se strikg down sodomy laws and the 2015 se legalizg same-sex marriage. The ia that gay Amerins might have achieved somethg approachg equaly go agast a central assumptn of the zegeist, which, this age of Tmp, Brex, and a risg global ti of natnalism and illiberalism, postulat that Enlightenment valu are on the cle. When I asked the Human Rights Campaign, the untry’s leadg gay-rights group, for statistics on the number of LGBTQ people annually nied employment, hog, or service at a hotel or rtrant due to their sexualy or genr inty, the group was unable to provi me wh any.
GAY RIGHTS
In a 7–2 cisn, all the more damng for havg been wrten by the judicial hero of the morn gay-rights movement, Anthony Kennedy, the Court cisively led agast a gay uple’s attempt to force a Christian baker Colorado to make a ke for their weddg ceremony.
The urt assailed Colorado burecrats for nng roughshod over the First Amendment rights of the baker, whose relig nvictns forba him not om servg gay people—he offered to make the uple all the baked goods they uld ever wish to nsume—but om exprsg approval for somethg he nsirs gay people are expected to be grievoly offend by the behavr of Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakhop. Ameri is a land of some 330 ln people, and I do not require every small-bs owner across the untry to reject 2, 000 years of relig teachg orr to pursue my by a moral absolutism remblg the relig zeal of those they oppose, some gay activists and their progrsive alli have taken a zero-sum approach to the issue of antidiscrimatn, seekg to punish and stigmatize people who hold the exact same view of marriage that Barack Obama exprsed up until May 2012. Meanwhile, the state of New York is threateng to close an evangelil adoptn agency that ref to place children wh gay upl, spe the fact that the agency do not even accept ernment fundg and that no gay uple had ever even plaed about beg nied you had told gay activists 10 or even five years ago that their energi would center upon mpaigns related to var foods—forcg p pastry chefs to make k and boyttg Chick-Fil-A, or “hate chicken, ” bee s Christian owner has donated money to efforts opposg same-sex marriage—most would have nsired their missns plete.
To unrstand why so many the movement refe to accept victory, helps to unrstand the tensns that have long existed at s the emergence of “homophile” activists the 1950s, the tenor and aims of the Amerin gay-rights e have alternated between two tennci: tegratnist and separatist. If tegratnists believe that gay people are pretty much the same as straight people and th want the same thgs out of life, separatists ntend there is somethg herently distct about “queerns” obligatg s adherents to pursue polil paths and romantic and social arrangements divergent om the Amerin mastream. Galvanized four years later by the Stonewall rts, when the patrons of a Greenwich Village bar fought back agast police harassment, the gay movement veloped a more radil and antagonistic attu toward straight society as s lears me unr the sway of the untercultural New Left.