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

Contents:

• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENG OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE: AN TEGRATED LERATURE REVIEW
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH ISSU
• ARTICL ON GAY

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

Wispread acceptance of same-sex marriage rights, gay people servg the ary and the need for protectns for LGBTQ+ people followed.

As recently as 2020, the urt, then wh two Tmp appote, led that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protected gay, lbian and transgenr workers. 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. The ernor and his supporters have labeled as a “groomer” anyone who believ children n learn LGBTQ+ people exist, argug that simply by talkg about gay relatnships to a child, you are sexualizg that child.

”To be gay, their view, is to be herently sexualized, a threat to nocence a way that straight Amerins are vehemence has ught even veteran LGBTQ+ advot by surprise. 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.

MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENG OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE: AN TEGRATED LERATURE REVIEW

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. ”The “don’t say gay” bill, Mter not, is very siar to what’s been passed Rsia, tetherg Amerin nservativ to their thorarian unterparts who have succsfully rolled back mocratic norms across eastern Europe. “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.

“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. Human Rights Watch works for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr peopl' rights, and wh activists reprentg a multiplicy of inti and issu.

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH ISSU

LattSearchSearchFlorida Schools Try to Adapt to New Rul on Genr, Bathrooms and PronounsAs schools start, ’s been more paperwork, a cullg of readg lists, as well as new regulatns about Dana GoldsteAmos Bartscher, Who Documented a Sexual Unrground, Di at 86He took timate photographic portras of htlers, prostut and drag queens on Baltimore’s streets and gay Richard SandomirTwist Dancer’s Killg as Key Detail About Spect Is CorrectedWhen O’Shae Sibley was killed, ial reports said that his attacker was Mlim, and officials feared that relatns between gay people and Mlims New York uld be Hubie Meko and Wley ParnellMorn LoveTy Love Stori: ‘Take a Bath Wh Me’Morn Love miature, featurg rear-submted stori of no more than 100 PolgreenWhy Is Everyone Sudnly Listeng to a Staple of My Angsty Adolcence? Jane Coaston terviews Jennifer Williams about what’s happeng to the Jane CoastonMourners Pay Tribute to O’Shae Sibley at the Scene of His Murr“Vogueg is not a crime, ” an activist said, before the crowd danced through the cy streets honor of the sla Alex VadulTimVioTeen Charged Wh Murr As Hate Crime Brooklyn Dancer’s KillgA group of men yelled homophobic slurs and anti-Black statements at O’Shae Sibley, a gay Black man who was dancg at a gas statn, before a 17-year-old fatally stabbed The Associated PrsTeenager Is Charged Killg of Dancer at Brooklyn Gas StatnHe fac a charge of send-gree murr, which has been charged as a hate crime, the fatal stabbg of O’Shae Sibley, a gay man, last Hubie MekoAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT.

Sendly, ele learship enuraged members of their -groups to be more acceptg of gay and lbian Amerins, providg the example need to change attus. Although there are exampl of socially accepted homosexualy distant history, for most of morn history, gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr people faced tense prejudice. They found that “heterosexuals who had experienced terpersonal ntact wh gay men or lbians exprsed signifintly more favorable general attus toward gay people than did heterosexuals whout ntact.

ARTICL ON GAY

Their rearch validated the strategy proposed by lears like the late Harvey Milk, an openly gay San Francis polician who urged gays and lbians to “e out” to their parents, neighbors, iends, and workers. In subsequent s, more and more heterosexual people me to disver how many of their loved and rpected iends, fay, and lleagu were gay or lbian. “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.

Several studi by Universy of Mnota amic Edward Schiappa found that the prence of gay characters major televisn programmg was associated wh ls prejudice among viewers.

One of the shows that Schiappa studied was Will & Grace, which is often creded alongsi Ellen as programmg that normalized the prence of gay and lbian characters televisn.

In their book, Listen, We Need to Talk: How to Change Attus about LGBT Rights, rearchers Brian Harrison and Melissa Michelson offered their own mol for how public acceptance towards homosexualy has advanced so quickly—one that emphasiz -group learship om people like Portman. In an experiment they performed wh a gay rights anizatn lled One Iowa, some phone-bankg volunteers intified themselv on the le as gay, lbian, bisexual, or transgenr, and some did not.

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.

It’s difficult, even for the rearchers, to say for sure if grassroots g out drove ele nversn to the e of gay rights—or if aly went the other directn.

What is clear is that a batn of greater exposure and ntact wh gay and lbian Amerins, alongsi social cu by -group lears, were associated wh a large crease bias among Amerins. “The succsful e of ‘g out’ wh the gay rights movement was precisely why undocumented immigrant youth activists elected to borrow the term for their purpos, ” says Enriquez, a soclogist at the Universy of California, Irve. As Tsa Charlworth not about her study, attus toward the disabled haven’t seen much change—but there is a movement toward adoptg gay-rights tactics disabily rights.