Gay rights in the United States

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The gay rights movement in the United States, sometimes called the LGBT rights movement in the United States, seeks to achieve equality for all Americans, regardless of their sexual orientations (heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgendered).

Contents 1 History 2 Homophile movement 3 Gay liberation 4 Gay migration 5 The movement today 6 U.S. political parties and gay rights 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] History

In the United States, as early as the turn of the twentieth century several groups worked in hiding to avoid persecution to advance the rights of homosexuals, but little is known about them (Norton 2005).

A better documented group is Henry Gerber’s Society for Human Rights formed in Chicago in 1924), which was quickly suppressed (Bullough 2005). Serving as an enlisted man in occupied Germany after World War II, Henry Gerber had learned of Hirschfeld’s pioneering work. Upon returning to the U.S. and settling in Chicago, Gerber organized the first documented public homosexual organization in America and published two issues of the first gay publication, entitled Friendship and Freedom.

In 1948, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was published by Alfred Kinsey, a work which was one of the first to look scientifically at the subject of sexuality. Kinsey's incredible assertion, backed by a great deal of research, that approximately 10% of the adult male population (and about half that number among females) were predominantly or exclusively homosexual for at least three years of their lives, was a dramatic departure from the prevailing beliefs of the time. Before its publication, homosexuality was not a topic of discussion, generally, but afterwards it began to appear even in mainstream publications such as Time Magazine, Life Magazine, and others.

Despite the entry of the subject into mainstream consciousness very little actual change in the laws or mores of society was seen until the mid-1960s, the time the Sexual revolution began. This was a time of major social upheaval in many social areas, including views of sexuality.

[edit] Homophile movement

Migrations to the cities following the Second World War allowed gay communities to form in urban centers. Gay bars became more common, and the sense of gay identity strengthened during the 1950s and 1960s. Some gay people began to develop a sense of themselves as an oppressed minority group.

The first era of the gay rights movement is generally considered to have begun in the fifties. The homophile movement, as it was called, emerged with the formation in Los Angeles and San Francisco of the Mattachine Society, the Daughters of Bilitis and ONE, Inc.. ONE Inc. was the first public homosexual organization in the U.S. (Percy & Glover 2005), and ONE Magazine the first widely circulated gay and lesbian magazine. The homophile movement had a liberal-reformist philosophy, similar to the civil rights movement for African Americans, and likewise was anti-Communist and organized its public lectures and protests in a respectable and orderly fashion (Matzner 2004).

These early gay rights organization did have a few successes; the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Mattachine Society magazine was protected by the First Amendment, In 1961 the State of Illinois legalized homosexual sexual conduct between consenting adults in private, and some gay people started to campaign for public office. Some heterosexual clergy and lawyers began to take up the cause of gay rights and a few books were published about homosexuality and the gay rights movement. In the mid-to-late 1960s dozens of homophile organizations existed, with their own publications, such as the NACHO and the Society for Individual Rights (Bullough 2002), yet the mainstream media generally ignored the gay rights movement. A 1965 gay march held in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, according to some historians, marked the beginning of the modern gay rights movement. Meanwhile in San Francisco in 1966, transgender street prostitutes in the poor neighborhood of Tenderloin rioted against police harassment at a popular all-night restaurant, Gene Compton's Cafeteria.

[edit] Gay liberation

In the late 1960s, the more socialistic "liberation" philosophy that had started to create different factions within the civil rights, black power, anti-war, and feminist movements, also engulfed the homophile movement. A new generation of young gay and lesbian Americans saw their struggle within a broader movement to dismantle racism, sexism, western imperialism, and traditional mores regarding drugs and sexuality. This new perspective on gay liberation had a major turning point with the Stonewall riots in 1969.

On Friday, June 27, 1969 a police raid of a gay bar, a common practice and, like this particular raid, often conducted during city elections had a new development as some of the patrons in the bar began actively resisting the police arrests. Some of what followed is in dispute, but what is not in dispute is that for the first time, a large group of LGBT Americans who had previously had little or no involvement with the organized gay rights movement, rioted for three days against police harassment and brutality. These new activists were not polite or respectable, but rather angry activists that confronted the police and distributed flyers attacking the Mafia control of the gay bars and the various anti-vice laws that allowed the police to harass gay men and gay drinking establishments. This second wave of the gay rights movement is often refereed to as the Gay Liberation movement to draw a distinction between the previous homophile movement.

New gay liberation organization were created such as the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in New York City and the Gay Activists' Alliance (GAA). In keeping with the mass frustration of LGBT people, and the adoption of the socialistic philosophies that were being propagated in the late 1960s - 1970s, these new organizations engaged in colorful and outrageous street theater (Gallagher & Bull 1996). The GLF published "A Gay Manifesto" that was influenced by Paul Goodman working titled “The Politics of Being Queer” (1969).

The gay liberation movement spread to countries throughout the world, and heavily influence many of the modern gay rights organizations. Today, GLBT people commemorate the Stonewall riots by annual marches that became known as Pride parades and marches. However, the split among gay rights organization between the liberal-reformist homophile versus the socialistic gay liberationist philosophy still exists. Today, organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign follow a more respectable reformist tradition, while other organizations such as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) are slightly more to the left of the HRC.

[edit] Gay migration

In the 1970s many gay people moved to San Francisco, where they rapidly acquired considerable political influence, including getting one of their number, Harvey Milk, elected to the city's Board of Supervisors, a legislative chamber often known as a City Council in other municipalities. Milk was assassinated in 1978 along with the city's mayor, George Moscone. The White Night Riot on May 21, 1979 was a reaction to the manslaughter conviction and sentence given to the assassin, Dan White, which were thought to be too lenient.

The first national gay rights march in the United States took place on October 14, 1979 in Washington, DC, involving perhaps as many 100,000 people.

Historian William A. Percy considers that a third epoch of the gay rights movement began in the early 1980s, when AIDS received the highest priority and decimated its leaders, and lasted until 1998, when HAART made AIDS a chronic illness in developed countries (Percy & Glover 2005). It was during this era that direct action groups such as ACT UP were formed.

[edit] The movement today

In the 21st century, defending homosexuals against anti-gay bias and gay-bashing and other forms of discrimination is a major element of American gay rights, something gay rights groups see as part of a broader struggle for human rights. Indeed, one of the most influential gay rights groups in the U.S. is called the Human Rights Campaign. The gay rights movement is often divided on ideological lines. Progressive gay rights organizations include the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and various local gay community centers. Conservative gay rights organizations include the Log Cabin Republicans, the Independent Gay Forum and even some libertarian gay rights organizations have arisen such as Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty and the Outright Libertarians.

The movement has been successful in some areas. By the end of the 20th century, Sodomy laws were repealed or overturned in most American states, and those that remained were ruled unconstitutional in the June 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. Many companies and local governments have clauses in their nondiscrimination policies that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In some jurisdictions in the U.S., gay bashing is considered a hate crime and given a harsher penalty.^{[citation needed]}

The state of Massachusetts allows same-sex marriage, and the states of Vermont, Connecticut, and New Jersey provide civil union as an alternative to marriage. California grants same-sex couples most of the rights associated with civil union under the auspices of domestic partnership law. However, in many states, laws and constitutional amendments have been passed forbidding any recognition of same-sex marriage. Laws in Virginia and Ohio, the most far-reaching, forbids recognition of any benefits similar to those of marriage between people of the same sex.

Gay people are now permitted to adopt in some locations, although there are fewer locations where they may adopt children jointly with their partners. Other states have moved to ban gay adoption and foster care.

In the cultural arena, similar changes have taken place. Positive and realistic gay characters appear in some television programs and movies, although stereotypes and negative depictions are still visible.

The main opponents of the advances of the gay rights movement in the US have, in general, been the Christian right and other social conservatives, often under the aegis of the Republican Party. The Roman Catholic Church, or at least its hierarchy, has also been prominent among the movement's adversaries as opponents of gay marriage and same-sex acts. In the Roman Catholic Church, gay people themselves are not condemned, and are encouraged to live in celibacy, while the Church does condemn gay relationships and the sexual actions performed by gays. Regionally, opposition to the gay rights movement has been strongest in the Southern states.

The United States has no federal law protecting against discrimination in employment by private sector employers based on sexual orientation. However, 17 states, the District of Columbia, and over 140 cities and counties have enacted such bans. As of February 2006, the states banning sexual orientation discrimination in private sector employment are California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin (the first state to do so, in 1982).[1]. Many of these laws also ban discrimination in other contexts, such as housing or public accommodation. A proposed bill to ban anti-gay employment discrimination nationwide, known as the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), has been introduced in the U.S. Congress, but its prospects of passage are not believed to be good in the current Republican-controlled Congress. However, the Democratic victory at the 2006 mid-term elections may present a new opportunity for the bill to pass.

On March 4, 1998, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in the case Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also applied when both parties are the same sex. The lower courts, however, have reached differing conclusions about whether this ruling applies to harassment motivated by antigay animus.

On November 7, 2003 the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled in Blanchflower v. Blanchflower that sex between people of the same gender, one of whom is married, does not constitute adultery under New Hampshire law.

[edit] U.S. political parties and gay rights

Among the two major parties, The Democratic Party has endorsed some gay rights legislation in its national party platform since the 1980s. The Republican Party has close ties to the religious right and thus tends to oppose gay rights legislation, as does its national party platform. However, there are some variations among individual politicians, i.e., a Democrat in a more rural district is less likely to support gay rights, while a Republican in a more urban district may be more likely to support gay rights. The Republican, Barry Goldwater, had expressed his views on gay rights which are more concurrent with a left-wing approach; he said gays should be allowed in the military, etc.

In the early 1970s, the Youth International Party and the Libertarian Party became the first two political parties to formally endorse the legalization of homosexual relations between consenting adults in private, as part of a larger critic of victimless crime laws.

Today, active minor political parties have wide ranging views on gay rights. The Libertarian Party has endorsed a libertarian perspective on gay rights since it was created in 1972, and the Green Party also has endorsed gay rights since it was created in the 1980s. While many American Socialist and Communist political parties initially preferred to ignore the issue, most support gay rights causes. The Constitution Party strongly opposes gay rights and is tied to the Christian Reconstructionist movement.

[edit] References

• Bullough, Vern, “When did the Gay Right Movement Begin?”, April 18, 2005. Accessed on December 30, 2005.

• Bullough, Vern L. (ed.) Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context. Harrington Park Press, 2002. <http://williamapercy.com/pub-Stonewall.htm >

• Gallagher, John & Chris Bull, Perfect Enemies: The Religious Right, the Gay Movement, and the Politics of the 1990s, 1996, Crown, 300 pp. Accessed on December 30, 2005.

• Matzner, Andrew, “Stonewall Riots”, glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, & Queer Culture, Claude J. Summers, ed. 2004. Accessed on December 30, 2005.

• Norton, Rick, “The Suppression of Lesbian and Gay History”, February 12, 2005, updated April 5, 2005. Accessed on December 30, 2005.

• Percy, William A. & William Edward Glover, “Before Stonewall by Glover & Percy”, November 5, 2005. Accessed on December 30, 2005. <http://williamapercy.com/pub-Comments-PercyGlover.htm>

[edit] See also

• LGBT movements in the United States
• History of LGBT civil rights in the United States
• Same-sex marriage in the United States
• Domestic partnerships in the United States
• Don't ask, don't tell
• United States gay rights cases
• Log Cabin Republicans
• Stonewall Democrats
• Human rights in the United States
• Gay Blue Jeans Day
• Adoption by same-sex couples

[edit] External links

• Gay Straight Alliance Network International (International)
• Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute (USA)
• Gay Marriages: Equality For All Americans (USA)
• GLAAD - Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (USA)
• glsen.org Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (USA)
• Gay Rights Watch (USA)
• Human Rights Campaign (USA)
• National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (USA)
• Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (USA)
• LGBT Political Investment Caucus (USA)
• Culture Battles Daily news.
• The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society