After years of progrs on gay rights, how did the US bee so anti-LGBTQ+? | US news | The Guardian

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• HOE PASS SWEEPG GAY AND TRANSGENR EQUALY LEGISLATN
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• LEGIMACY OF ‘CTOMER’ SUPREME COURT GAY RIGHTS SE RAIS ETHIL AND LEGAL FLAGS

GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

The Rpect for Marriage Act, as is lled, won Senate approval last legislatn won the support of LGBT advot as well as a number of relig anizatns and enti cludg the Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats, though many Amerin relig nservativ still oppose gay marriage as unter to biblil is narrowly wrten to act as a limed backstop for the 2015 Supreme Court cisn that legalized same-sex marriage natnwi, known as Obergefell v. ”On his first day office, Bin signed an executive orr directg feral agenci to implement the Supreme Court’s Bostock lg and to enforce any regulatns banng sex discrimatn on the basis of sexual orientatn and genr inty, as last October, Bin told Philalphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal that passg the Equaly Act would ensure “no future print n ever aga roll back civil rights and protectns for LGBTQ+ dividuals.

Ernment signated Gerber’s Chigo hoe a Natnal Historic Landmark.The Pk TriangleCorbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, 1938.The gay rights movement stagnated for the next few s, though LGBT dividuals around the world did e to the spotlight a few tim.For example, English poet and thor Radclyffe Hall stirred up ntroversy 1928 when she published her lbian-themed novel, The Well of Lonels. And durg World War II, the Nazis held homosexual men ncentratn mps, brandg them wh the famo pk triangle badge, which was also given to sexual predators.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 heterosexual.The Homophile Years In 1950, Harry Hay found the Mattache Foundatn, one of the natn’s first gay rights group. The Los Angel anizatn ed the term “homophile,” which was nsired ls clil and foced on sexual activy than “homosexual.”Though started off small, the foundatn, which sought to improve the liv of gay men through discsn groups and related activi, expand after foundg member Dale Jenngs was arrted 1952 for solicatn and then later set ee due to a adlocked jury.At the end of the year, Jenngs formed another anizatn lled One, Inc., which weled women and published ONE, the untry’s first pro-gay magaze.

Post Office, which 1954 clared the magaze “obscene” and refed to liver .The Mattache Society Mattache Foundatn members rtctured the anizatn to form the Mattache Society, which had lol chapters other parts of the untry and 1955 began publishg the untry’s send gay publitn, The Mattache Review. That same year, four lbian upl San Francis found an anizatn lled the Dghters of Bilis, which soon began publishg a newsletter lled The Ladr, the first lbian publitn of any kd.The early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr 1952.The followg year, Print Dwight D.

HOE PASS SWEEPG GAY AND TRANSGENR EQUALY LEGISLATN

In fact, gay men and women New York Cy uld not be served alhol public due to liquor laws that nsired the gatherg of homosexuals to be “disorrly.”In fear of beg shut down by thori, bartenrs would ny drks to patrons spected of beg gay or kick them out altogether; others would serve them drks but force them to s facg away om other ctomers to prevent them om socializg.In 1966, members of the Mattache Society New York Cy staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue. They were nied service at the Greenwich Village tavern Juli, rultg much publicy and the quick reversal of the anti-gay liquor laws.The Stonewall Inn A few years later, 1969, a now-famo event talyzed the gay rights movement: The Stonewall Rts.The clanste gay club Stonewall Inn was an stutn Greenwich Village bee was large, cheap, allowed dancg and weled drag queens and homels youths.But the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn.

After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village." This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay rights.In reportg the events, The New York Daily News rorted to homophobic slurs s tailed verage, nng the headle: “Homo Nt Raid, Queen Be Are Stgg Mad.” The amed newspaper article hangs near the entrance of Stonewall Inn to this day.An unintified group of young people celebrate outsi the board-up Stonewall Inn after the rts. More and more supporters gathered outsi the bar, chantg slogans like “gay power” and “we shall overe.”Over the next several nights, gay activists ntued to gather near the Stonewall, takg advantage of the moment to spread rmatn and build the muny that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement.

1 / 12: NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagChristopher Street Liberatn Day Shortly after the Stonewall uprisg, members of the Mattache Society spl off to form the Gay Liberatn Front, a radil group that lnched public monstratns, protts and nontatns wh polil officials.Siar groups followed, cludg the Gay Activists Alliance, Radilbians, and Street Transvt Actn Revolutnari (STAR).In 1970, at the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, New York Cy muny members marched through lol streets memoratn of the event. In 1977, for stance, the New York Supreme Court led that transgenr woman Renée Richards uld play at the Uned Stat Open tennis tournament as a woman.Addnally, several openly LGBTQ dividuals secured public office posns: Kathy Kozachenko won a seat to the Ann Harbor, Michigan, Cy Council 1974, beg the first out Amerin to be elected to public office.Harvey Milk, who mpaigned on a pro-gay rights platform, beme the San Francis cy supervisor 1978, beg the first openly gay man elected to a polil office California.Milk asked Gilbert Baker, an artist and gay rights activist, to create an emblem that reprents the movement and would be seen as a symbol of pri. Baker signed and stched together the first rabow flag, which he unveiled at a pri para 1978.The followg year, 1979, more than 100,000 people took part the first Natnal March on Washgton for Lbian and Gay Rights.Outbreak of AIDS The outbreak of AIDS the Uned Stat domated the stggle for gay rights the 1980s and early 1990s.

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn published a report about five prevly healthy homosexual men beg fected wh a rare type of pnmonia.By 1984, rearchers had intified the e of AIDS—the human immunoficiency vis, or HIV—and the Food and Dg Admistratn licensed the first mercial blood tt for HIV 1985.

But after failg to garner enough support for such an open policy, Print Clton 1993 passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, which allowed gay men and women to serve the ary as long as they kept their sexualy a secret.Gay rights advot cried the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, as did ltle to stop people om beg discharged on the grounds of their sexualy.In 2011, Print Obama fulfilled a mpaign promise to repeal DADT; by that time, more than 12,000 officers had been discharged om the ary unr DADT for refg to hi their sexualy.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was officially repealed on September 20, 2011.Gay Marriage and Beyond In 1992, the District of Columbia passed a law that allowed gay and lbian upl to register as domtic partners, grantg them some of the rights of marriage (the cy of San Francis passed a siar ordance three years prr and California would later extend those rights to the entire state 1999).In 1993, the hight urt  Hawaii led that a ban on gay marriage may go agast the state’s nstutn. In 1994, a new anti-hate-crime law allowed judg to impose harsher sentenc if a crime was motivated by a victim’s sexual orientatn.The Matthew Shepard ActCourty of the Matthew Shepard FoundatnMatthew Shepard, who was btally killed a hate crime 1998.In 2003, gay rights proponents had another b of happy news: the U.S.

LEGIMACY OF ‘CTOMER’ SUPREME COURT GAY RIGHTS SE RAIS ETHIL AND LEGAL FLAGS

The murr was thought to be driven by Shepard’s perceived homosexualy.In 2011, Print Obama fulfilled a mpaign promise to repeal DADT; by that time, more than 12,000 officers had been discharged om the ary unr DADT for refg to hi their sexualy.A uple of years later, the Supreme Court led agast Sectn 3 of DOMA, which allowed the ernment to ny feral benefs to married same-sex upl. ImageLorie Smh said her Christian fah requir her to turn away ctomers seekg servic to celebrate same-sex Woolf for The New York TimThe Supreme Court sid on Friday wh a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right to refe to sign weddg webs for same-sex upl spe a state law that forbids discrimatn agast gay people.

The liberal jtic viewed as somethg else entirely — a dispute that threatened societal protectns for gay rights and rolled back some recent an impassned dissent, Jtice Sonia Sotomayor warned that the oute signaled a return to a time when people of lor and other mory groups faced open discrimatn.

Kavangh and Amy Coney Barrett, shifted the urt to the urts have generally sid wh gay and lbian upl who were refed service by bakeri, florists and others, lg that potential ctomers are entled to equal treatment, at least parts of the untry wh laws forbiddg discrimatn based on sexual owners of bs challengg those laws have argued that the ernment should not force them to choose between the requirements of their fahs and their livelihoods. Addnally, several stat terpret existg laws agast sex discrimatn to apply to bias relatg to sexual orientatn and genr inty, even though they do not have laws explicly forbiddg such stat that do not offer protectns to gay and transgenr people on those grounds, municipal laws ver many Human Rights Campaign, an L.