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

Contents:

• GROUPS OPPOSED TO GAY RIGHTS RAKE LNS AS STAT BATE ANTI-LGBTQ BILLS
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• GAY RIGHTS

GROUPS OPPOSED TO GAY RIGHTS RAKE LNS AS STAT BATE ANTI-LGBTQ BILLS

The multiln-dollar war cht has bolstered a movement that jt a few years ago appeared to be losg ground Ameri’s slong culture war around lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer rights. “Many of those, while not specifilly tied to a church, are rooted the nservative Christian, biblil sense of human sexualy, ” said Stt McCoy, the terim puty legal director for LGBTQ rights and special ligatn for the SPLC and the SPLC Actn Fund, the group’s polil actn simply holdg a relig belief that views homosexualy or transgenr inty as sful do not tomatilly land a church or an anizatn on the SPLC’s list of hate groups.

'The hard re of the anti-gay movement' When the SPLC began trackg anti-LGBTQ hate the early 2010s, the anizatn noted that “a small terie of groups now prise the hard re of the anti-gay movement.

C., that, acrdg to s webse, believ “homosexual nduct is harmful to the persons who engage ” and “is also harmful to society at large” — jumped om over $12 ln to more than $23 ln. “The groups that are opposed to LGBTQ equaly did their msage ttg and found that attackg gay people is no longer the broadly popular culture war totem that they ed the ’90s, ” Gberg said. Among those exampl are a parison of same-sex marriage to a marriage between “a man and his horse”; llg the “It Gets Better” project, an iative signed to help LGBTQ young people pe wh bullyg and margalizatn, “disgtg” and a “ncerted effort” to rec kids to the gay “liftyle”; and claimg that the “blood” of “young Mar” would be on the hands of lawmakers who voted to repeal the ary’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” Fay Rearch Council did not rpond to a requt for ment.

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

Another “anti-LGBTQ hate group” named the report is the Alliance Defendg Freedom, a nservative Christian legal group wh attorneys across the untry and a long track rerd of ligatg agast LGBTQ a lawsu that ma natnal headl last year, ADF reprented Jack Phillips, a Christian baker who refed to make a ke for a gay weddg, a narrow victory at the Supreme Court. ”Wtboro Baptist Church, known for s public protts that nsistently feature signs wh homophobic msag like “God Hat Fags, ” also appears on the SPLC’s list. Regardg homosexualy, “ is an abomatn, ” Phelps said SPLC stands by s “hate group” signatns and dismissed cricisms that the anizatn disproportnately foc on relig groups.

Acrdg to Ta Fetner, a soclogy profsor at Canada’s McMaster Universy, anti-LGBTQ activists began anizatn “not too long after Stonewall, ” the 1969 uprisg at the Stonewall Inn, a New York Cy gay bar. “Along the same l that you see today, they put forward stereotyp and vilify, pecially gay men, as predators and predators of children, and e that to jtify the tactics of takg rights way om LGBTQ people, ” Fetner ced as an early example the activism of Ana Bryant Florida.

The sger-turned-anti-gay-activist was behd the “Save Our Children” mpaign, which 1977 helped overturn a newly passed lol ordance Miami-Da County that prohibed discrimatn based on sexual orientatn employment, hog and public servic. Reached a tippg pot for acceptance of homosexualy, acrdg to a Pew study, and by 2016, LGBTQ advot had solidified many civil rights gas, such as the legalizatn of same-sex are we seeg a surge?

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

“I thk that anti-gay activism is swept up as part of this new social embrace of tolerance and right-wg attus of all kds, ” Fetner said. The chang are associated wh creased visibily of openly gay characters on televisn, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the Supreme Court cisn that legalized same-sex marriage. For every highly publicized act of vlence toward sexual mori, such as the recent mass shootg at a gay nightclub Orlando, there are many more physil and verbal asslts, attempted asslts, acts of property damage or timidatns which are never reported to thori, let alone publicized by the media.

GAY RIGHTS

For example, relig views that homosexual behavr is immoral support heteronormative norms, which ultimately stigmatize sexual mori. This legislatn, which fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman, nied homosexuals the rights held by heterosexuals.

But when we back up and thk about this aggrsn wh the amework of sexual stigma, we n see that the of antigay vlence n eper and are more plex than a simple “prejudice” explanatn. For example, heterosexuals may fear that pro-gay polici such as the legalizatn of same-sex marriage will make harr to advance their own alternative polil agendas.