Gay rights movement - New World Encyclopedia

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• GAY RIGHTS
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
• GAY PRI
• THE AMERIN GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT SUMMARY
• THE PK TRIANGLE: FROM NAZI LABEL TO SYMBOL OF GAY PRI
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• THE AMERIN GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT: A TIMELE
• GAY RIGHTS TIMELE: KEY DAT THE FIGHT FOR EQUALY

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. 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.

GAY RIGHTS

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. 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.

Army service World War I, Gerber was spired to create his anizatn by the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee, a “homosexual emancipatn” group ’s small group published a few issu of s newsletter “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter.

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. Addnally, 1948, his book Sexual Behavr the Human Male, Aled Ksey proposed that male sexual orientatn li on a ntuum between exclively homosexual to exclively Homophile Years In 1950, Harry Hay found the Mattache Foundatn, one of the natn’s first gay rights group. ”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.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

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.

GAY PRI

1 / 12: NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagChristopher Street Liberatn Day Shortly after the Stonewall uprisg, members of the Mattache Society spl off to form the Gay Liberatn Front, a radil group that lnched public monstratns, protts and nontatns wh polil officials. 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.

Gay rights proponents mt also ntent wh an creasg number of “relig liberty” state laws, which allow bs to ny service to LGBTQ dividuals due to relig beliefs, as well as “bathroom laws” that prevent transgenr dividuals om g public bathrooms that don’t rrpond to their sex at birth. 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. Biblil terpretatn ma illegal for a woman to wear pants or a man to adopt female drs, and sensatnalized public trials warned agast “viants” but also ma such martyrs and hero popular: Joan of Arc is one example, and the chillg origs of the word “faggot” clu a stick of wood ed public burngs of gay men.

THE AMERIN GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

This creasg awarens of an existg and vulnerable populatn, upled wh Senator Joseph McCarthy’s vtigatn of homosexuals holdg ernment jobs durg the early 1950s outraged wrers and feral employe whose own liv were shown to be send-class unr the law, cludg Frank Kameny, Barbara Gtgs, Allen Gsberg, and Harry Hay. Fstrated wh the male learship of most gay liberatn groups, lbians fluenced by the femist movement of the 1970s formed their own llectiv, rerd labels, mic ftivals, newspapers, bookstor, and publishg ho, and lled for lbian rights mastream femist groups like the Natnal Organizatn for Women.

The creasg expansn of a global LGBT rights movement suffered a setback durg the 1980s, as the gay male muny was cimated by the Aids epimic, mands for passn and medil fundg led to renewed alns between men and women as well as angry street theatre by groups like Aids Coaln to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and Queer Natn. Wh greater media attentn to gay and lbian civil rights the 1990s, trans and tersex voic began to ga space through works such as Kate Boernste’s “Genr Outlaw” (1994) and “My Genr Workbook” (1998), Ann Fsto-Sterlg’s “Myths of Genr” (1992) and Llie Feberg’s “Transgenr Warrrs” (1998), enhancg shifts women’s and genr studi to bee more clive of transgenr and nonbary inti.

Morn velopments Attus toward homosexualy are generally flux, partially as a rult of creased polil activism (see gay rights movement) and efforts by homosexuals to be seen not as aberrant personali but as differg om “normal” dividuals only their sexual orientatn. The nflictg views of homosexualy—as a variant but normal human sexual behavur on one hand, and as psychologilly viant behavur on the other—rema prent most societi the 21st century, but they have been largely rolved ( the profsnal sense) most veloped untri.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT SUMMARY

The Ksey report of 1948, for example, found that 30 percent of adult Amerin mal among Ksey’s subjects had engaged some homosexual activy and that 10 percent reported that their sexual practice had been exclively homosexual for a perd of at least three years between the ag of 16 and 55. In rponse to their activism, many jurisdictns enacted laws banng discrimatn agast homosexuals, and an creasg number of employers Ameri and European untri agreed to offer “domtic partner” benefs siar to the health re, life surance and, some s, pensn benefs available to heterosexual married upl. However, most shared wh gay men the sire to have a secure place the world muny at large, unchallenged by the fear of vlence, the stggle for equal treatment unr the law, the attempt to silence, and any other form of civil behavur that impos send-class article was most recently revised and updated by Alison Eldridge.

Gay Pri typilly volv a seri of events and is often pped by a para volvg marchers and lourful floats om the LGBTQ muny and s the Stonewall rts, LGBTQ dividuals had generally not broadst their sexual orientatn or inty, but the event galvanized the gay muny and sparked greater polil activism (see gay rights movement). In 1970, on the first anniversary of the rts, several hundred monstrators marched along Greenwich Village’s Christopher Street, which ns past the Stonewall, what many nsir the first Gay Pri march (though other memoratns were also held that year). When the NYPD raid a gay bar Greenwich Village and started arrtg employe and drag performers, they got more than they bargaed for--a crowd of some 2, 000 lbian, gay, and transgenr supporters of the bar took on the police, forcg them to the club.

Democratic lears had everythg to ga and ltle to lose by supportg gay rights, so they serted a new plank the party platform: "All groups mt be protected om discrimatn based on race, lor, relign, natnal orig, language, age, sex or sexual orientatn. This timele provis rmatn about the gay rights movement the Uned Stat om 1924 to the prent: cludg the Stonewall rts; the ntributns of Harvey Milk; the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy; the first civil unns; the legalizatn of same-sex marriage Massachetts, Connecticut, New York; and more. Only one supervisor vot agast and Mayor Mosne signs to Briggs drops out of the California ernor's race, but receiv support for Proposn 6, also known as the Briggs Iniative, a proposal to fire any teacher or school employee who publicly supports gay rights.

THE PK TRIANGLE: FROM NAZI LABEL TO SYMBOL OF GAY PRI

1980 At the 1980 Democratic Natnal Conventn held at New York Cy's Madison Square Garn, Democrats took a stance supportg gay rights, addg the followg to their plank: "All groups mt be protected om discrimatn based on race, lor, relign, natnal orig, language, age, sex or sexual orientatn. Print Clton's origal tentn to revoke the prohibn agast gays the ary was met wh stiff opposn; this promise, which has led to the discharge of thoands of men and women the armed forc, was the April 25, an timated 800, 000 to one ln people participate the March on Washgton for Lbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberatn. The urt l that the state nnot ny gay and lbian upl the eedom to marry unr Connecticut's nstutn, and that the state's civil unn law do not provi same-sex upl wh the same rights as heterosexual November 12, same-sex marriag beg to be officially performed Connecticut.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

It is the first state to legalize gay marriage through the legislature; the urts of the other stat which the marriage is legal—Massachetts, Connecticut, and Iowa—gave May 6, the ernor of Mae legalized same-sex marriage that state Mae; however, cizens voted to overturn that law when they went to the polls November, and Mae beme the 31st state to ban the June 3, New Hampshire ernor John Lynch signs legislatn allowg same-sex marriage. Supreme Court prepar to nsir overturng Proposn 8, the California iative banng same-sex marriage, as well as overturng the Defense of Marriage Act, a feral law passed durg Bill Clton's princy, which f marriage as between a man and a 26, the Supreme Court begs two days of historil bate over gay marriage. A square box wh thick pk horizontal l, the mathematil symbol for equal, was offered for sharg [on social media foms such as Facebook or Twier] late March 2013 by the Human Rights Campaign as the US Supreme Court took up arguments key gay rights s.

Supporters of gay rights seek to elimate sodomy laws barrg homosexual acts between nsentg adults and ll for an end to discrimatn agast gay men and lbians employment, cred, lendg, hog, marriage, adoptn, public acmodatns, and other areas of life. As part of their missn to racially and culturally “purify” Germany, the Nazis arrted thoands of LGBT dividuals, mostly gay men, whom they viewed as Uned Stat Holot Memorial Mm timat 100, 000 gay men were arrted and between 5, 000 and 15, 000 were placed ncentratn mps. “There was no solidary for the homosexual prisoners; they belonged to the lowt ste, ” Pierre Seel, a gay Holot survivor, wrote his memoir I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual: A Memoir of Nazi ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, timated 65 percent of gay men ncentratn mps died between 1933 and 1945.

However, others wh LGBT movements have cricized inty polics as limed and flawed, [4] and have stead aimed to transform fundamental stutns of society (such as lbian femism) or have argued that all members of society have the potential for same-sex sexualy (such as Adolf Brand or Gay Liberatn) or a broar range of genr exprsn (such as the transgenr wrg of Kate Bornste). Important amers of the movement clu Karl Ulrichs, who wrote about gay rights the 1860s, the revived wtern culture followg World War II, the new social movements of the 1960s, and the unprecented level of acceptance of the LGBT muny the later twentieth century. [8] In the 1890s, English socialist poet Edward Carpenter and Sttish anarchist John Henry Mackay wrote fense of same-sex love and androgyny; Carpenter and Brish homosexual rights advote John Addgton Symonds ntributed to the velopment of Havelock Ellis's groundbreakg book Sexual Inversn, which lled for tolerance towards "verts" and was supprsed when first published England.

THE AMERIN GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT: A TIMELE

Their e of the word "gay" reprented a new unapologetic fiance—as an antonym for "straight" ("rpectable sexual behavr"), enpassed a range of non-normative sexuali and genr exprsns, such as transgenr street prostut, and sought ultimately to ee the bisexual potential everyone, renrg obsolete the tegori of homosexual and heterosexual. From 1970 activists protted the classifitn of homosexualy as a mental illns by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn their DSM, and 1974, was replaced wh a tegory of "sexual orientatn disturbance" then "ego-dystonic homosexualy, " which was also leted, although "genr inty disorr" remas.

From the anarchistic Gay Liberatn Movement of the early 1970s arose a more reformist and sgle-issue "Gay Rights Movement, " which portrayed gays and lbians as a mory group and ed the language of civil rights— many rpects ntug the work of the homophile perd. Many women of the Gay Liberatn movement felt trated at the domatn of the movement by men and formed separate anisatns; some who felt genr differenc between men and women uld not be rolved veloped "lbian separatism, " fluenced by wrgs such as Jill Johnston's 1973 book Lbian Natn.

The Gays and Lbians For Individual Liberty filed a Supreme Court brief support of the right of the Boy Suts of Ameri to refe to adm gays to s ranks (notg that if the BSA were forced by ernment to adm gay members, gay anizatns might also be forced to adm anti-gay members).

GAY RIGHTS TIMELE: KEY DAT THE FIGHT FOR EQUALY

Outright Libertarians, favor an approach that do not require ernment ercn and seek to lim ernment actn to the implementatn of equal rights—rather than "special rights" such as legally-required preferential treatment on the basis of sexual orientatn employment, hog or tn that are often mand by other gay anizatns. The libertarian posn on gay rights unrsr the divi between liberal groups (who favor ENDA and hate crim laws as a primary vehicle for gay rights) and libertarians (who generally view gay rights as equal treatment areas such as marriage equaly and other posns that are broadly opposed by both Democrats and Republins).

While mastream psychology has e around to the view that homosexualy is an nate ndn, although a dissentg mory regard as a disorr and have veloped specialized therapi that n enable those who are willg to al wh their same-sex attractn and settle to a heterosexual liftyle.

At the 1980 Democratic Natnal Conventn held at New York Cy's Madison Square Garn, Democrats took a stance supportg gay rights, addg the followg to their plank: "All groups mt be protected om discrimatn based on race, lor, relign, natnal orig, language, age, sex or sexual orientatn. McDarrah / Getty ImagFrom s begng wh rts agast police opprsn of gays New York Cy more than 40 years ago, the fight for gay rights ntu today on new onts: over marriage, therapi to “cure” homosexuals and one of the untry's most popular stutns, the Boy Suts of week, the U.