People around the world face vlence and equaly—and sometim torture, even executn—bee of who they love, how they look, or who they are. Sexual orientatn and genr inty are tegral aspects of our selv and should never lead to discrimatn or abe. Human Rights Watch works for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr peopl' rights, and wh activists reprentg a multiplicy of inti and issu. We document and expose ab based on sexual orientatn and genr inty worldwi, cludg torture, killg and executns, arrts unr unjt laws, unequal treatment, censorship, medil ab, discrimatn health and jobs and hog, domtic vlence, ab agast children, and nial of fay rights and regnn. We advote for laws and polici that will protect everyone’s digny. We work for a world where all people n enjoy their rights fully.
Contents:
- GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
- AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
- WHY GAY MARRIAGE IS IMPORTANT FOR ALL AMERINS
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
- GAY RIGHTS TIMELE: KEY DAT THE FIGHT FOR EQUALY
- THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
- GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT: ONE VICTORY AT A TIME
- THE AMERIN GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Gay rights movement, civil rights movement that advot equal rights for LGBTQ persons—that is, for lbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenr persons, and queer persons—and lls for an end to discrimatn agast LGBTQ persons employment, cred, hog, public acmodatns, and other areas of life. * why is the gay rights movement important *
In many s, a lack of aquate legal protectns bed wh hostile public attus leads to wispread discrimatn agast lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex people – cludg workers beg fired om jobs, stunts bullied and expelled om schools, and patients nied sential healthre[2]. This means that is unlawful to make any distctn of people’s rights based on the fact that they are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (LGBT), jt as is unlawful to do so based on sk lour, race, sex, relign or any other stat. Remendatn v the member stat to guarantee that the prcipl and measur set out s appendix are applied natnal legislatn, polici and practic relative to the protectn of the human rights of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr persons and the promotn of tolerance towards them.
The non-bdg rolutns and remendatns has adopted so far regardg LBGT rights aimed at elimatg discrimatn on the ground of sexual orientatn (Remendatn 924/1981); ensurg that persecutn on grounds of homosexualy would be regnized as a ground for asylum (Remendatn 1470/2000); fightg homophobic attus sports (Remendatn 1635/2003); ensurg that sexual orientatn is nsired a profound part of the inty of each and every human beg (Rolutn 1728/2010). Except legal documents Council of Europe has published a publitn Combatg discrimatn on grounds of sexual orientatn and genr inty about standards and mechanisms which seeks to promote and ensure rpect for the human rights of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr persons[11]. E., for lbians, gays [homosexual mal], bisexuals, transgenr persons, and queer persons); seeks to elimate sodomy laws; and lls for an end to discrimatn agast LGBTQ persons employment, cred, hog, public acmodatns, and other areas of life.
AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
A slew of bills are rollg back recently won eedoms for gay people. Is Ameri ready to fight for LGBTQ+ rights all over aga? * why is the gay rights movement important *
) Gay rights prr to the 20th century Relig admonns agast sexual relatns between dividuals of the same sex (particularly men) long stigmatized such behavur, but most legal s Europe were silent on the subject of homosexualy and bisexualy. Dpe Paragraph 175 and the failure of the WhK to w s repeal, homosexual and bisexual men and women experienced a certa amount of eedom Germany, particularly durg the Weimar perd, between the end of World War I and the Nazi seizure of power. 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. In Bra 1957 a missn chaired by Sir John Wolfenn issued a groundbreakg report (see Wolfenn Report) remendg that private homosexual liaisons between nsentg adults be removed om the doma of crimal law; a later the remendatn was implemented by Parliament the Sexual Offenc Act.
WHY GAY MARRIAGE IS IMPORTANT FOR ALL AMERINS
LGBTQ Pri Para, also known as Gay Pri paras, events, and ftivals take over the Uned Stat durg the month of June. * why is the gay rights movement important *
In the 1970s and ’80s, gay polil anizatns proliferated, particularly the Uned Stat and Europe, and spread to other parts of the globe, though their relative size, strength, and succs—and toleratn by thori—varied signifintly.
Now headquartered Geneva and renamed the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA World), plays a signifint role ordatg ternatnal efforts to promote human rights and fight discrimatn agast LGBTQ and tersex persons. This support, along wh mpaigns by gay activists urgg gay men and women to “e out of the closet” (ed, the late 1980s, Natnal Comg Out Day was tablished, and is now celebrated on October 11 most untri), enuraged gay men and women to enter the polil arena as ndidat. At the lol and natnal levels, the number of openly gay policians creased dramatilly durg the 1990s and 2000s, and 2009 Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir beme prime mister of Iceland, which ma her the world’s first openly gay head of ernment.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
The legalizatn of gay marriage will not, by self, alleviate all our society's imbalanc. What will do, is create a more expand sense for what we hold as sacred and worthy of rpect. * why is the gay rights movement important *
In Ai, Asia, and Lat Ameri, openly gay policians have had only limed succs wng office; notable electns to natnal legislatur clud Patria Jiménez Flor Mexi (1997), Mike Waters South Ai (1999), and Clodovil Hernans Brazil (2006).
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).
GAY RIGHTS TIMELE: KEY DAT THE FIGHT FOR EQUALY
* why is the gay rights movement important *
Ary’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (1993–2011), which had permted gay and lbian dividuals to serve the ary if they did not disclose their sexual orientatn or engage homosexual activy; the repeal effectively end the ban on homosexuals the ary. 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.
THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
Gay Rights Movement: • 1960s • 1970s • UK • USA • Liberatn • Activists • Lears • History • Vaia Magaze * why is the gay rights movement important *
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.
GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT: ONE VICTORY AT A TIME
“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. The police nstantly abed gay, lbian, and trans* dividuals and not many people were advotg for this margalized EVERETT COLLECTION; AP IMAGESAt the time, New York refed to provi licens to bars that served members of the LGBTQ muny.
This was the begng of a movement meant to outlaw discrimatory laws and practic agast the LGBT first Gay Pri paraFive months after the Stonewall rally New York, activists Craig Rodwell, Fred Sargeant, Ellen Brody, and Lda Rhos me up wh the ia of anizg a march New York to memorate the one-year anniversary of the uprisg. It’s also about rememberg those who have ma this possible through hard work, ditn, and mment to the e, and those who have lost their liv to hate crim, mental health, substance e, homelsns, hog securi, food securi, or HIV/ Gay Pri event celebrat the past but looks to the future, a future wh no discrimatn, vlence, and hate towards the muny. Pri celebratns and muny events are anized to serve as a remr that the LGBT muny is jt as “normal” as the rt of , and no one should be margalized bee of their sexualy or genr the paras fill the streetsMany feel that not much would have changed if polil activism and the gay rights movement hadn’t gotten lour and stronger.
THE AMERIN GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, this piece of legislatn has found s echo stat like Alabama, Geia, Oh, and Louisiana, and led to siar seems that stead of gog forward, some members of our society want to drag back to the Dark Ag of the LGBTQ muny.
While most mentators see Proposn 8 as a temporary setback the ntext of an otherwise clear march towards equaly, do provi an appropriate moment to reflect upon why gay marriage is important not jt for gay people but for all the re of the bate is the right of same-sex upl to marry and receive the full benefs and blsgs acrd others unr the law. One of my close iends om high school, who me out to me and a few others llege, was one of those suici statistics and his sexual orientatn certaly played a role his eventual we multiply negative self-teem effects by lns, we realize how many social problems arise when homosexual feelgs are fed as sful or bad.
This will not only have benefs for gay cizens but lerally for all relig Christians who tend to be more strongly oriented to prervg the social orr, legalizg same-sex marriage will ultimately allow an expansn of their heart. However, throughout 150 years of homosexual social movements (roughly om the 1870s to today), lears and anizers stggled to addrs the very different ncerns and inty issu of gay men, women intifyg as lbians, and others intifyg as genr variant or nonbary. Such eyewns acunts the era before other media were of urse riddled wh the bias of the (often) Wtern or Whe observer, and add to beliefs that homosexual practic were other, foreign, savage, a medil issue, or evince of a lower racial hierarchy.