The Stggle for Gay Rights is Over · Jam Kirchick

Contents:

• THE STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS IS OVER
• THE STGGLE FOR ‘GAY RIGHTS’ IS NOT OVERNEON GAY TELLECTUAL N’T IMAGE REAL LGBTQ EQUALYJAM FN·FOLLOWPUBLISHED JAM FN - THE BLOG·10 M READ·JUL 2, 2019--8SHAREA UNIFORMED POLICE OFFICER AT THE SAN FRANCIS PRI PARA, OM WIKIMEDIA COMMONSWHAT DO LGBTQ EQUALY MEAN TO YOU?DO YOU DREAM OF WORKG FOR RPORATE AMERI, LIVG AN URBAN CENTER, KNOWG THAT IF YOU AND YOUR PARTNER ACT LIKE A TRADNAL STRAIGHT UPLE YOU’LL EARN RPECT AND AFFIRMATN?OR DO YOU DARE DREAM BIGGER DREAMS?DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THAT ONE DAY GENR AND SEXUAL MORI WON’T HAVE TO FIGHT FOR RPECT? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE WILL STOP NMNG AND DISPARAGG THEIR FELLOW HUMAN BEGS JT BEE THEY’RE DIFFERENT?I BELIEVE. I FIGHT FOR THAT DAY!I KNOW OUR STGGLE ISN’T EVEN CLOSE TO BEG OVER. I’M SADNED THAT A RPECTABLE PUBLITN LIKE THE ATLANTIC JT PROVID A PLATFORM TO A MAN WHO DON’T SHARE OUR DREAM, WHO DON’T KNOW WHAT OUR OBJECTIV ARE, BUT WHO IS WILLG TO CLARE THE FIGHT FISHED.A GAY NEON CALLS ‘GAY RIGHTS’ A DONE DEALJAM KIRCHICK, WRG LAST FRIDAY THE ATLANTIC, ASSERTS THAT THE STGGLE FOR “GAY RIGHTS” IS OVER. HE CLAIMS THAT ACTIVIST “GRAN” ARE HANT TO “EXULT THEIR VICTORI.” HE IMPLI THAT ADVOT HAVE A STAKE SEEG THE STGGLE NTUE, AND THAT THE STAKE IS LARGELY FANCIAL.KIRCHICK, A GAY NEONSERVATIVE AND VISG SCHOLAR AT THE BROOKGS INSTUTN, ULD NOT BE MORE WRONG.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 WON. EDOR’S…MEANWHILE, AT THE SAN FRANCIS LGBT PRI PARA ON SUNDAY,A GROUP OF NEARLY 40 ACTIVISTS SHUT DOWN THE EVENT FOR ALMOST AN HOUR, LYG DOWN THE STREET TO LL ATTENTN TO THE LACK OF TE LGBTQ EQUALY THE UNED STAT AND TO PROTT PARA ANIZERS’ PRRI.HOW N THOSE ACTIVISTS AND JAM KIRCHICK BE ON SUCH DIFFERENT PAG?
• GAY REPUBLIN GROUP CLAR “STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS” IS OVER & ANNOUNC NEW FOC ON MIDDLE EAST
• THE STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS IS OVER
• THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
• THE U.S. & JAMAI ARE FIGHTG OVER GAY RIGHTS
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• LEGIMACY OF ‘CTOMER’ SUPREME COURT GAY RIGHTS SE RAIS ETHIL AND LEGAL FLAGS
• UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS
• GAY RIGHTS

THE STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS IS OVER

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.

THE STGGLE FOR ‘GAY RIGHTS’ IS NOT OVERNEON GAY TELLECTUAL N’T IMAGE REAL LGBTQ EQUALYJAM FN·FOLLOWPUBLISHED JAM FN - THE BLOG·10 M READ·JUL 2, 2019--8SHAREA UNIFORMED POLICE OFFICER AT THE SAN FRANCIS PRI PARA, OM WIKIMEDIA COMMONSWHAT DO LGBTQ EQUALY MEAN TO YOU?DO YOU DREAM OF WORKG FOR RPORATE AMERI, LIVG AN URBAN CENTER, KNOWG THAT IF YOU AND YOUR PARTNER ACT LIKE A TRADNAL STRAIGHT UPLE YOU’LL EARN RPECT AND AFFIRMATN?OR DO YOU DARE DREAM BIGGER DREAMS?DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THAT ONE DAY GENR AND SEXUAL MORI WON’T HAVE TO FIGHT FOR RPECT? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE WILL STOP NMNG AND DISPARAGG THEIR FELLOW HUMAN BEGS JT BEE THEY’RE DIFFERENT?I BELIEVE. I FIGHT FOR THAT DAY!I KNOW OUR STGGLE ISN’T EVEN CLOSE TO BEG OVER. I’M SADNED THAT A RPECTABLE PUBLITN LIKE THE ATLANTIC JT PROVID A PLATFORM TO A MAN WHO DON’T SHARE OUR DREAM, WHO DON’T KNOW WHAT OUR OBJECTIV ARE, BUT WHO IS WILLG TO CLARE THE FIGHT FISHED.A GAY NEON CALLS ‘GAY RIGHTS’ A DONE DEALJAM KIRCHICK, WRG LAST FRIDAY THE ATLANTIC, ASSERTS THAT THE STGGLE FOR “GAY RIGHTS” IS OVER. HE CLAIMS THAT ACTIVIST “GRAN” ARE HANT TO “EXULT THEIR VICTORI.” HE IMPLI THAT ADVOT HAVE A STAKE SEEG THE STGGLE NTUE, AND THAT THE STAKE IS LARGELY FANCIAL.KIRCHICK, A GAY NEONSERVATIVE AND VISG SCHOLAR AT THE BROOKGS INSTUTN, ULD NOT BE MORE WRONG.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 WON. EDOR’S…MEANWHILE, AT THE SAN FRANCIS LGBT PRI PARA ON SUNDAY,A GROUP OF NEARLY 40 ACTIVISTS SHUT DOWN THE EVENT FOR ALMOST AN HOUR, LYG DOWN THE STREET TO LL ATTENTN TO THE LACK OF TE LGBTQ EQUALY THE UNED STAT AND TO PROTT PARA ANIZERS’ PRRI.HOW N THOSE ACTIVISTS AND JAM KIRCHICK BE ON SUCH DIFFERENT PAG?

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. 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. 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.

GAY REPUBLIN GROUP CLAR “STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS” IS OVER & ANNOUNC NEW FOC ON MIDDLE EAST

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. 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.

THE STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS IS OVER

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.

THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE

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. ”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. But by the time the worst years of the epimic were over, gays unrstood how much they had to ga om mastream social acceptance the form of hospal-visatn rights and relatnship regnn—and had monstrated that they had more mon wh the straight majory than perhaps eher si had regnized.

THE U.S. & JAMAI ARE FIGHTG OVER GAY RIGHTS

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. Texas, the 2003 Supreme Court se strikg down sodomy laws, told me that the wng legal team “nscly chewed argument rooted sexual liberatn favor of arguments that emphasized mment, love, and fay—and pecially the ia that lbians, gays and bisexuals are ‘jt like’ heterosexuals. ”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.

Meanwhile, has bee an annual rual for followers of the Black Liv Matter movement to halt gay-pri paras major ci across North Ameri to prott the very prence of uniformed police officers, spe a recent survey fdg that 79 percent of LBTQ people (and 77 percent of nonwhe LGBTQ people) support a police prence at Pri celebratns. Consirg that law enforcement ed to terrorize gays—ed, that one such episo of police btaly advertently helped stir the morn gay-rights movement 50 years ago this week— is the height of absurdy to antagonize police partments eager to protect gay people, much ls monize gay ps.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

“Buttigieg don’t seem terribly sold on the ia of gayns as a cultural amework, formative inty, or anythg more than a tegory of sexual and romantic behavr, ” plas Christa Ctecci of Slate, assailg Buttigieg for unrstandg homosexualy by s leral fn. ” A culture that once preached dividualy and personal eedom has bee nformist and hectorg, s self-appoted queer missars nstantly policg the language and brgg prsure to bear on those who n afoul of their ever-evolvg end of gay rights do not mean the end of homophobia.

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

But do boost those polil forc bent on nvcg Amerins that the gay-rights movement will only be satisfied once every dividual cizen agre wh s precepts (a tough proposn a relig untry), and that gays will e strong-arm tactics to achieve this ’s promise to protect relig liberty om a hegemonic secular left is one of the major reasons why so many evangelil Christians supported a thrice-married sexual reprobate 2016, and li at the heart of a recent bate among nservative tellectuals over whether they ought abandon civily altogether and, the words of s stigator, “fight the culture war wh the aim of featg the enemy and enjoyg the spoils the form of a public square re-orred to the mon good and ultimately the Hight Good. Acrdg to a study of same-sex upl Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, “Married and unmarried participants alike articulated a pervasive feelg that havg accs to legal marriage had greatly dimished the sense of need that had fueled anized LGBQ muny the past” and that “sce gag the right to marry there was ls need to anize for rights and acceptance.

Devoid of genue bigotry to nmn and substantive asslts on equaly to rist, they rort to ever more sperate accatns and pettier ncerns, plag about a directive om the State Department prohibg embassi om flyg the rabow flag (but not om displayg on embassy walls), or cynilly misnstg a printial joke told at the vice print’s expense as a wish for gay people to be lynched.

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. 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.

UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS

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.

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.

GAY RIGHTS

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).

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.