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

Contents:

• THE GAY AGENDA BLUEPRT: A PLAN TO TRANSFORM AMERI
• GAY RIGHTS
• THE 10 GAYEST STAT IN AMERI FOR 2020
• THE 10 GAYEST CI IN AMERI FOR 2020
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

THE GAY AGENDA BLUEPRT: A PLAN TO TRANSFORM AMERI

Well-rearched surveys (as opposed to some wh markedly skewed sampl and/or methodology) have nsistently placed the homosexual populatn of Ameri at around 2 to 3 percent—yet the fluence of homosexuals on Amerin culture is vastly out of proportn wh their actual numbers. A USA Today article last year reported 32 regularly appearg bisexual or homosexual characters primetime work scripted seri for the 2014-15 televisn season, wh another 64 appearg ble TV shows (Bill Keveney, “Y, You Really Are Seeg More LGBT Characters on TV, ” Oct. They then add this utn for those who would want to ph the gay agenda too far: “It almost go whout sayg that groups on the fartht marg of acceptabily such as NAMBLA [the North Amerin Man-Boy Love Associatn, which as s name suggts promot adult-child homosexual sex] mt play no part at all such a mpaign: spected child-molters will never look like victims...

GAY RIGHTS

But an addnal theme of the mpaign should be more aggrsive and upbeat: to offset the creasgly bad prs that the tim have brought to homosexual men and women, the mpaign should pat gays as superr pillars of society. To this end, they then suggted that those who oppose the homosexual agenda be lked wh imag such as the Ku Klux Klan, “bigoted southern misters droolg wh hysteril hatred, ” thugs and nvicts, and Nazi ncentratn mps.

This strategy—aid and abetted by sympathetic news media and ernment agenci—has led to enterg a stage of aggrsive attacks by some the gay muny agast those who scerely believe that homosexual behavr vlat the laws, stctns and prcipl of God. Yet at the same time, they ma a statement showg that gays really aren’t the opprsed, victimized group Kirk and Madsen advote they be portrayed as: “Bee those gays not supportg fai ually have more discretnary e than average, they uld afford to ntribute much more.

THE 10 GAYEST STAT IN AMERI FOR 2020

The impact of this is also beg felt the polil arena, where wealthy gays help bankroll mpaigns for sympathetic ndidat who will advance their terts and fund ads attackg those who stand for tradnal and biblil valu. “Bee most straightforward appeals are impossible, the Natnal Gay Task Force has had to cultivate quiet backroom liaisons wh broadst pani and newsrooms orr to make sure that issu important to the gay muny receive some verage.

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. 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.

THE 10 GAYEST CI IN AMERI FOR 2020

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.

" This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay reportg the events, The New York Daily News rorted to homophobic slurs s tailed verage, nng the headle: “Homo Nt Raid, Queen Be Are Stgg Mad.

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

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. Siar groups followed, cludg the Gay Activists Alliance, Radilbians, and Street Transvt Actn Revolutnari (STAR) 1970, at the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, New York Cy muny members marched through lol streets memoratn of the event. 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.