How the Gay-Rights Movement Won - The Amerin Prospect

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• GAY RIGHTS
• 5 WNG STRATEGI FEMISTS CAN LEARN FROM THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• HOW GAY ACTIVISTS CHALLENGED THE POLICS OF CIVILY
• HOW THE GAY-RIGHTS MOVEMENT WON
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT: ONE VICTORY AT A TIME
• DIFFERENT FIGHT, 'SAME GOAL': HOW THE BLACK EEDOM MOVEMENT SPIRED EARLY GAY ACTIVISTS
• THE STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS IS OVER
• THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

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. 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). 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.

GAY RIGHTS

”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 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 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 early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr followg year, Print Dwight D.

”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 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 Stonewall Inn A few years later, 1969, a now-famo event talyzed the gay rights movement: The Stonewall clanste gay club Stonewall Inn was an stutn Greenwich Village bee was large, cheap, allowed dancg and weled drag queens and homels the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn.

5 WNG STRATEGI FEMISTS CAN LEARN FROM THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

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 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 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.

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 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 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 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, 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) 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 Matthew Shepard ActCourty of the Matthew Shepard FoundatnMatthew Shepard, who was btally killed a hate crime 2003, gay rights proponents had another b of happy news: the U. In the early 1970s, most zaps foced on prottg negative reprentatns of gays and lbians televisn shows, films and newspapers, like ABC's "Marc Welby MD" (zapped 1973 for s nflatn of homosexualy and illns), and NBC's "Police Woman" (zapped 1974 by the Lbian Femist Liberatn group, for pictg a gang of lbian murrers targetg elrly people a nursg home).

HOW GAY ACTIVISTS CHALLENGED THE POLICS OF CIVILY

Massachetts Department of Public Health (2003) lawsu, which lnched the first same-sex marriag legally rerd the Uned Stat; and David Boi and Ted Olson, the natnally proment lawyers om oppose sis of the polil aisle who uned a splashy lawsu to overturn Proposn 8, the statewi California referendum that had end marriag like Phyllis and Del' Hirshman miss the steady ph om the grass roots that eventually forced marriage-averse lbian and gay lears to take up this fight.

HOW THE GAY-RIGHTS MOVEMENT WON

Both groups expand the meang of the foundg Amerin dictum: All of are created equal, endowed wh certa unalienable rights, cludg life, liberty, and the pursu of illtrate her belief that the LGBT movement has been unique, Hirshman quot gay activist Arthur Evans as sayg, "It was more than jt beg gay and havg gay sex. Key potsIn the late 1960s and 1970s, Native Amerins, gay men, lbians, and women anized to change discrimatory laws and pursue ernment support for their terts, a strategy known as inty groups, whose aims and tactics posed a challenge to the existg state of affairs, often met wh hostily om dividuals, lol officials, and the US ernment.

Shortly thereafter, the Gay Liberatn Front and Gay Activists’ Alliance were formed; the anizatns began to prott discrimatn, homophobia, and vlence agast gay people, and promoted gay liberatn and gay advocy anizatns lled for gay men and lbians to e out—reveal their sexual orientatn—gay and lbian muni moved om the urban unrground to the polil sphere. “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. 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.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT: ONE VICTORY AT A TIME

On April 25, 1965, three teenagers refed to leave Dewey’s Rtrant Philalphia after employe repeatedly nied service to “homosexuals and persons wearg nonnformist clothg, ” acrdg to Dm magaze, which was created by the Jan Society, an early gay rights teens were arrted and charged wh disorrly nduct, and Jan Society members protted outsi of the rtrant for the next five days, acrdg to Marc Ste, a history profsor at San Francis State Universy. (In fact, 1979, activists would anize a Natnal March on Washgton for Gay and Lbian Rights, which drew an timated 200, 000 protters, acrdg to the Natnal LGBT Chamber of Commerce) hold signs as they participate the Natnal March on Washgton for Lbian & Gay Rights Washgton, DC, on Oct.

”“This ia of a aln between the two anizatns — that the Black Freedom Movement might be spirg this other group of Amerin cizens who are also margalized, and the fact that they may both be takg to the streets, perhaps ordatn — that is what sred them the most, ” Cervi said of the FBI and Southern racist Kameny and Mattache Society of Washgton members marchg New York, June Tob Lahen / NYPLHowever, the homophile movement, at least New York and Washgton, never ma that aln a realy, Cervi said he the word “plagiarism” to scribe how Kameny ed civil rights tactics whout workg wh or credg the activists whose tactics he ed. Kuromiya -found the Gay Liberatn Front’s Philalphia chapter and beme a spokperson for a homosexual workshop at the Black Panther’s Revolutnary People's Constutnal Conventn September 1970, acrdg to gave a prentatn “to the huge dience of the nventn to applse, ” Ste said of Kuromiya, cg this as one of many exampl showg that the movements weren’t agmented or divid at the time some ci.

Outlg the group’s posn on the two emergg movements, Newton wrote: “Whatever your personal opns and your securi about homosexualy and the var liberatn movements among homosexuals and women (and I speak of the homosexuals and women as opprsed groups), we should try to une wh them a revolutnary fashn.

DIFFERENT FIGHT, 'SAME GOAL': HOW THE BLACK EEDOM MOVEMENT SPIRED EARLY GAY ACTIVISTS

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 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.

THE STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS IS OVER

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. 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.

”One of the first groups to emerge the aftermath of Stonewall, the Gay Liberatn Front, adopted s name as an homage to the munist Natnal Liberatn Front of North Vietnam, rid marriage as “one of the most sid and basic staers of the system, ” nounced the “dirty, vile, fucked-up palist nspiracy, ” and donated funds to the Black Panthers, an anizatn not exactly known for holdg progrsive views on homosexualy.

THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT

The language of gay activists durg this perd, wh s emphasis on rights and rponsibili, was all about fdg a place at the table, not overturng leadg gay wrers and tellectuals at this time of unprecented polil progrs and social advancement weren’t the vote of queer theory and tersectnaly who domate llege mp and fe the voice of gay activism and journalism today, but nservativ and classil liberals like Bawer, Sullivan, David Bdnoy, Jonathan Rch, Norah Vcent, Cale Paglia and other wrers affiliated wh the Inpennt Gay Fom.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

”Like the Ain Amerin civil-rights movement (which had s own separatnist analogue the form of black natnalism) before , the e of gay equaly has been most succsful when s spokmen and women addrsed the Amerin majory as fellow cizens seekg the same rights and rponsibili they take for that posss cultural and polil power, the gay-rights movement is revertg to the ntrol of s radil element, wh many the vanguard bent on upendg the Amerin social orr that only recently accepted .

Succs has lowered the stak; rponsible lears (cludg many of the morate and nservative gays who played an unsung role the movement’s succs) have retired om the fight, clearg the field for the sort of culture-war topics roilg the left at Tmp, the gay-rights movement is bet by missn creep. Take, for example, the Wleyan Universy Open Hoe, which once scribed self as “a safe space for Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, Transsexual, Queer, Qutng, Flexual, Asexual, Genrfuck, Polyamouro, Bondage/Disciple, Domance/Submissn, Sadism/Masochism (LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM) muni and for people of sexually or genr dissint muni. Would forever be ashamed of utterg on natnal televisn, “queer” is now affirmatively ployed by homosexual and heterosexual alike spe the disfort still many gays—due not jt to s history as a slur, but the polil and liftyle radilism aga, there’s the unfortable merger of sorts wh the transgenr movement.