Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Is Part of a Shameful History | Time

Contents:

• HOW TIME’S REPORTG ON GAY LIFE AMERI SHAPED—AND SKEWED—A GENERATN’S ATTUS
• GAY RIGHTS
• FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL IS PART OF THE STATE'S LONG, SHAMEFUL HISTORY
• LGBT LEARS WARN OF LOOMG GAY RIGHTS BACKLASH
• A HISTORY OF GAY RIGHTS THROUGH TIME COVERS

HOW TIME’S REPORTG ON GAY LIFE AMERI SHAPED—AND SKEWED—A GENERATN’S ATTUS

In the se of the Amerin gay rights revolutn, however, appears that this is an easy one to ll.

GAY RIGHTS

At least as far as the natnal media is ncerned, the view that gay rights have been cisively won has bee nventnal wisdom.

FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL IS PART OF THE STATE'S LONG, SHAMEFUL HISTORY

Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolutn is one of the bt-known journalistic acunts of the stggle for gay rights the U. That book’s premise is potedly echoed by a 2019 article The Atlantic tled “The Stggle for Gay Rights is Over. ” But Ameri’s gay rights revolutn seems unfished or plete the absence of a natnal reckong wh the untry’s shameful history of systemic discrimatn and vlence towards the LGBTQ muny.

In recent years, the ia of “gay reparatns, ” broadly unrstood as polici tend to make amends for the legaci of systemic gay discrimatn and vlence, has bee somethg of a global phenomenon. In 2017, the Brish Parliament enacted Turg Law, a legislatn that nveyed an apology and a posthumo pardon to those nvicted of “gross cency, ” a crimal charge timately associated Brish history wh the persecutn of gay men sce the Victorian era.

In 1952, Turg was nvicted of gross cency, after nfsg to a homosexual relatnship wh another man, and forced to unrgo chemil stratn. Germany has offered fancial pensatn to those who faced prosecutn unr Paragraph 175, the famo portn of the German Penal Co that crimalized same-sex attractn datg to 1871; also built a natnal monument to the victims of the so-lled “Gay Holot, ” the unknown number of gay mal who perished Nazi ncentratn mps. As part of a policy of “moral rehabilatn, ” Spa has pledged to wipe clean the crimal rerds of some 5, 000 gays and lbians imprisoned unr the homophobic laws of the Fran regime.

LGBT LEARS WARN OF LOOMG GAY RIGHTS BACKLASH

C., the most proment Amerin anizatn mandg gay reparatns, the Uned Stat should emulate the Brish example. In particular, the “Mattach, ” whose name referenc a pre-Stonewall gay rights anizatn that fought for acceptance of homosexualy wh the legal and medil tablishments, want an acknowledgement and an apology om the US Congrs for the Lavenr Sre, the wch-hunt of homosexuals triggered by Print Dwight Eisenhower’s 1953 executive orr banng “perverts” om workg the feral ernment. That orr ocsned the firg of thoands of feral employe on the spicn of beg homosexuals and forced many to unrgo lobotomi, sul-duced as, and gay nversn therapy wh the aim of changg their sexual orientatn at feral stutns such as Washgton, D.

An acknowledgment and apology, the Mattach ntend, will be a giant step toward realizg “full cizenship” for gay people, a type of ethil cizenship that is not only ncerned wh rights and rponsibili but also wh repairg digny and gradatn.

A HISTORY OF GAY RIGHTS THROUGH TIME COVERS

It’s hard to disagree wh the Mattach’ mand for an apology not only for the Lavenr Sre, but also for the many other digni and gradatns that the Amerin gay muny has endured at the hands of the ernment, such as “don’t ask, don’t tell. ” That notor 1993 policy forced gays and lbians to keep their homosexualy a secret if they wished to rema the ary.

Fally, as the most popular and least ntroversial form of gay reparatn, an apology is unlikely to trigger a backlash om the tradnal fo of the LGBTQ muny. The Christian Right has met every gay rights breakthrough Amerin history wh a vigoro phback. After the 1969 Stonewall Rts, the touchstone of the ntemporary gay rights movement, moral csars like Phyllis Schlafly, Ana Bryant, and Jerry Falwell clared war on homosexualy.

Texas, the 2003 Supreme Court cisn that stck down all remag sodomy laws across the US, lnched a wave of state nstutnal amendments banng gay marriage and an unsuccsful attempt to ban gay marriage the US Constutn.