Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexuality and gender minorities.
LesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
,
gayThe term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
,
bisexualBisexuality is sexual behavior with or physical attraction to both sexes , or a bisexual orientation. People who have a bisexual orientation "can experience sexual, emotional, and affectional attraction to both their own sex and the opposite sex"; "it also refers to an individual’s sense of...
and
transgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to diverge from the normative gender roles....
(
LGBTLGBT is an initialism referring collectively to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. In use since the 1990s, the term “LGBT” is an adaptation of the initialism “LGB” which itself started replacing the phrase “gay community” which many within LGBT communities felt did not represent...
) people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called
LGBT rights, also called
gay rights and
gay and lesbian rights. Various communities have worked not only together, but also independent of each other in various configurations including
gay liberationGay Liberation is the name used to describe the radical lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s in North America, Western Europe, and Australia and New Zealand...
,
lesbian feminismLesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective, most popular in the 1970s and early 1980s , that questions the position of lesbians and women in society...
, the
queerQueer has traditionally meant odd or unusual, though modern use often pertains to LGBT people....
movement and
transgender activism. There is no one organization representing all LGBT people and interests, although arguably two organizations come close; InterPride by coordinating and networking
gay prideLGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
events worldwide, and
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights CommissionThe International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission is an international organisation addressing human rights violations against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people with HIV/AIDS....
(IGLHRC) which addresses
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
violations against LGBT and
HIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid,...
people and works with the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
are seen as broadly inclusive all LGBTI communities and interests.
A commonly stated goal is
social equalitySocial equality is a social state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in a certain respect. At the very least, social equality includes equal rights under the law, such as security, voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, and the...
for LGBT people; some have also focused on building LGBT communities, or worked towards liberation for the broader society from
sexual oppressionA sexual norm can refer to a personal or a social norm. Most cultures have social norms regarding sexuality, and define normal sexuality to consist only of certain legal sex acts between individuals who meet specific criteria of age, relatedness or social role and status.In most societies, the term...
. LGBT movements organized today are made up of a wide range of
political activismActivism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social change, political change, economic justice, or environmental wellbeing...
and cultural activity, such as
lobbyingLobbying is the practice of influencing decisions made by government . It includes all attempts to influence legislators and officials, whether by other legislators, constituents, or organized groups. A lobbyist is a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest or a...
and
street marchesA demonstration is a form of nonviolent action by groups of people in favor of a political or other cause, normally consisting of walking in a march and a meeting to hear speakers...
; social groups, support groups and community events; magazines, films and literature; academic research and writing; and even business activity.
Overview
Sociologist Mary Bernstein writes: "For the lesbian and gay movement, then, cultural goals include (but are not limited to) challenging dominant constructions of
masculinityMasculinity is manly character. It specifically describes men and boys, that is personal and human, unlike male which can also be used to describe animals, or masculine which can also be used to describe noun classes. When masculine is used to describe men, it can have degrees of comparison—more...
and
femininityFemininity refers to qualities and behaviors judged by a particular culture to be ideally associated with or especially appropriate to women and girls....
,
homophobiaHomophobia is defined as an "irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals", or individuals perceived to be homosexual; it is also defined as "unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality", "fear of or contempt for lesbians and gay...
, and the primacy of the gendered heterosexual
nuclear familyA nuclear family is a family group consisting of only a father and mother and their children, who share living quarters. This can be contrasted with an extended family. Nuclear families can be of any size, as long as the family can support itself and there are only children and two parents...
(
heteronormativityHeteronormativity is a term for a set of lifestyle norms which indicate or imply that people fall into only one of two distinct and complementary sexes with each having certain natural roles in life, and that heterosexuality is the only normal sexual orientation, thus making sexual and marital...
). Political goals include changing laws and policies in order to gain new
rightsRights are entitlements or permissions, usually of a legal or moral nature. Rights are of vital importance in the fields of law and ethics, especially theories of justice and deontology.-Theoretical distinctions:...
, benefits, and protections from harm." Bernstein emphasizes that activists seek both types of goals in both the civil and political spheres.
As with other social movements, there is also conflict within and between LGBT movements, especially about strategies for change and debates over exactly who comprises the constituency that these movements represent. There is debate over to what extent lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgendered people, intersexed people and others share common interests and a need to work together. Leaders of the lesbian and gay movement of the 1970s, 80s and 90s often attempted to hide masculine lesbians, feminine gay men, transgendered people, and bisexuals from the public eye, creating internal divisions within LGBT communities.
LGBT movements have often adopted a kind of
identity politicsIdentity politics refers to political arguments that focus upon the self interest and perspectives of social minorities, or self-identified social interest groups. Not all members of any given group are necessarily involved in identity politics....
that sees gay, bisexual and/or transgender people as a fixed class of people; a
minority groupA minority is a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant voting majority of the total population of a given society. A sociological minority is not necessarily a numerical minority — it may include any group that is subnormal with respect to a dominant group in terms of...
or groups. Those using this approach aspire to
liberalLiberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history...
political goals of freedom and
equal opportunityEquality of opportunity, sometimes known as Equal Opportunity, is a term which has differing definitions and there is no consensus as to the precise meaning...
, and aim to join the political mainstream on the same level as other groups in society. In arguing that
sexual orientationSexual orientation is a pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, both genders, neither gender, or another gender...
and
gender identityGender identity is the gender, or lack thereof, a person self-identifies as. It is not necessarily based on biological fact, either real or perceived, nor is it always based on sexual orientation...
are innate and cannot be consciously changed, attempts to change gay, lesbian and bisexual people into heterosexuals ("conversion therapy") are generally opposed by the LGBT community. Such attempts are often based in religious beliefs that perceive gay, lesbian and bisexual activity as immoral.
However, others within LGBT movements have criticised identity politics as limited and flawed, elements of the
queerQueer has traditionally meant odd or unusual, though modern use often pertains to LGBT people....
movement have argued that the categories of gay and lesbian are restrictive, and attempted to
deconstructDeconstruction is the name given by French philosopher Jacques Derrida to an approach which rigorously pursues the meaning of a text to the point of undoing the oppositions on which it is apparently founded, and to the point of showing that those foundations are irreducibly complex, unstable or ...
those categories, which are seen to "reinforce rather than challenge a cultural system that will always mark the nonheterosexual as inferior."
After the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
the anticlerical feeling in Catholic countries coupled with the liberalizing effect of the
Napoleonic CodeThe Napoleonic Code, or Code Napoléon is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified...
made it possible to sweep away sodomy laws. However, in Protestant countries, where the tyranny of the church was less severe, there was no general reaction against statutes that were religious in origin. As a result, many of those countries retained their statutes on sodomy until late in the 20th century. The prominent Nazi jurist Rudolf Klare argued for the moral superiority of harsh anti-homosexual
TeutonicTeutonic or Teuton may refer to:*the Teutons* Germanic peoples , see Theodiscus**Teutonic Mythology** Germanic languages *Furor Teutonicus* A German military order, the Teutonic Knights.*SS Teutonic...
traditions (such as
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and American states) over decadent Latin countries (such as
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, and
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
) which no longer punished homosexual acts.
Before 1860
In
eighteenthEarly modern Europe is the term used by historians to refer to a period in the history of Western Europe and its first colonies which spanned the centuries between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the late 15th century to the late 18th century...
and nineteenth century Europe, same-sex sexual behaviour and
cross-dressingCross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with the other gender within a particular society. The usage of the term, the types of cross-dressing both in modern times and throughout history, an analysis of the behaviour, and historical examples are discussed in the article...
were widely considered to be socially unacceptable, and were serious crimes under
sodomySodomy is a term used today predominantly in law to describe the act of anal intercourse, oral intercourse, or bestiality.- Definitions :...
and
sumptuary lawSumptuary laws are laws that attempt to regulate habits of consumption. Black's Law Dictionary defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures in the matter of apparel, food, furniture, etc."...
s. There were, however, some exceptions. For example, in the 1600s cross dressing was common in plays, as, for example, evident in the content of many of
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's plays (and by the actors in the actual performances, since female roles in
Elizabethan TheaterEnglish Renaissance theatre, also called early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, that occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
were always performed by males, usually prepubescent boys). Many Native American cultures also widely respected individuals who, in today's terms, might have been bisexual or homosexual, stating that they embodied characteristics of both male and female counterparts. Any organized community or social life was underground and secret.
Thomas CannonThomas Cannon was a possible literary collaborator with John Cleland, author of Fanny Hill, as well as the writer of what may be the earliest published defence of homosexuality in English, Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify'd .A son of Robert Cannon, Dean of Lincoln, Cannon had...
wrote what may be the earliest published defence of homosexuality in English,
Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify'd (1749). Social reformer
Jeremy BenthamJeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He was the brother of Samuel Bentham. He was a political radical, and a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law...
wrote the first known argument for homosexual law reform in England around 1785, at a time when the legal penalty for
buggeryThe British English term buggery is very close in meaning to the term sodomy, and is often used interchangeably in law and popular speech. It was also a specific criminal offence under the English common law.-In law:...
was death by hanging. However, he feared reprisal, and his powerful essay was not published until 1978. The emerging currents of
secular humanistSecular humanism is a humanist philosophy that espouses reason, ethics, and justice, and specifically rejects the supernatural and the spiritual as the basis of moral reflection and decision-making...
thought which had inspired Bentham also informed the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
, and when the newly-formed
National Constituent AssemblyThe National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
began drafting the policies and laws of the new republic in 1792, groups of militant 'sodomite-citizens' in Paris petitioned the Assemblée nationale, the governing body of the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
, for freedom and recognition. In 1791 France became the first nation to decriminalise homosexuality, probably thanks in part to the homosexual
Jean Jacques Régis de CambacérèsJean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, 1st Duc de Parma, , was a French lawyer and statesman during the French Revolution and the First Empire, best remembered as the author of the Napoleonic code, which still forms the basis of French civil law.-Early career:Cambacérès was born in Montpellier, into a...
who was one of the authors of the
Napoleonic codeThe Napoleonic Code, or Code Napoléon is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified...
.
In 1833, an anonymous English-language writer wrote a poetic defence of Captain Nicholas Nicholls, who had been sentenced to death in London for
sodomySodomy is a term used today predominantly in law to describe the act of anal intercourse, oral intercourse, or bestiality.- Definitions :...
:
- Whence spring these inclinations, rank and strong?
- And harming no one, wherefore call them wrong?
Three years later in Switzerland, Heinrich Hoessli published the first volume of
Eros: Die Männerliebe der Griechen ("Eros: The Male-love of the Greeks"), another defence of same-sex love.
Contrary to stereotypes, the traditionally
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
and conservative
PolandThe Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed by the union of the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569. The new Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th-century Europe....
never criminalized homosexuality. The 18th century Poland was marked by the
EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment, or simply The Enlightenment, is a term used to describe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life, centered upon the eighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority....
-driven relaxed attitude towards all sexuality, with public figures reported to involve in homosexual or transvestite activities. Such "scandalous" events drew public attention, but did not result in prosecution. Only when subsequently to
partitions of PolandThe Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The partitions were carried out by Prussia, Russia and Habsburg Austria dividing up the Commonwealth lands...
Polish territories came under control of the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the
Kingdom of PrussiaThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
, did the law imposed by the occupying powers make homosexual acts illegal. Still, prominent figures were known to form homosexual relationships, such as
Narcyza ŻmichowskaNarcyza Żmichowska , also known under the pseudonym Gabryella, was a Polish novelist and poet...
(1819-1876), a writer and founder of the
Polish feminist movementThe history of feminism in Poland has traditionally been divided into seven "waves," beginning in the 19th century.-First wave :Feminist ideas reached Poland considerably later than Western European countries – only in the 19th century...
, who used her private experiences in her writing.
1860 - 1944
From the 1870s, social reformers in other countries had begun to defend homosexuality, but their identities were kept secret. A secret British society called the "
Order of ChaeroneaThe Order of Chaeronea was a secret society for the cultivation of a homosexual moral, ethical, cultural and spiritual ethos. It was founded by George Cecil Ives in 1897, as a result of his realisation that the "Cause" would not be accepted openly in society and must therefore have a means of...
" campaigned for the legalisation of homosexuality, and counted playwright
Oscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet and author of numerous short stories and one novel. Known for his biting wit, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest "celebrities" of his day...
among its members in the last decades of the 19th century. In the 1890s, English
socialistSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
poet
Edward CarpenterEdward Carpenter was an English socialist poet, anthologist, early gay activist and socialist philosopher....
and Scottish
anarchistAnarchism is a political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which consider the state, as compulsory government, to be unnecessary, harmful, and/or undesirable, and favors the absence of the state ....
John Henry MackayJohn Henry Mackay was an individualist anarchist, thinker and writer. Born in Scotland and raised in Germany, Mackay was the author of Die Anarchisten and Der Freiheitsucher . Mackay was published in the United States in his friend Benjamin Tucker's magazine, Liberty...
wrote in defense of same-sex love and
androgynyAndrogyny is a term derived from the Greek words ανήρ and γυνή that can refer to either of two related concepts about gender: the mixing of masculine and feminine characteristics, as in fashion statements; or the balance of "anima and animus" in psychoanalytic theory.-Androgyne:Androgyne derives...
; Carpenter and British homosexual rights advocate
John Addington SymondsJohn Addington Symonds was an English poet and literary critic. He was an early advocate of the validity of male love which included for him pederastic as well as egalitarian relationships, and which he would refer to as l'amour de l'impossible.-Early life:Symonds was born at Bristol...
contributed to the development of
Havelock EllisHenry Havelock Ellis was a British sexologist, physician, and social reformer.- Early life :Ellis, son of Edward Peppen Ellis and Susannah Mary Wheatley, was born in Croydon, then a small town south of London. His father was a sea captain, his mother the daughter of a sea captain, and many other...
's groundbreaking book
Sexual Inversion, which called for tolerance towards "inverts" and was suppressed when first published in England.
In Europe and America, a broader movement of "
free loveThe term free love has been used since at least the 19th century to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage, especially for women. Much of the free-love tradition is an offshoot of anarchism, and reflects a civil libertarian philosophy that seeks...
" was also emerging from the 1860s among
first-wave feministsFirst-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States. It focused on de jure inequalities, primarily on gaining women's suffrage . The term first-wave was coined retroactively in the 1970s...
and radicals of the libertarian left. They critiqued
Victorian sexual moralityVictorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people living at the time of Queen Victoria in particular, and to the moral climate of Great Britain throughout the 19th century in general that were in stark contrast to the morality of the previous Georgian period...
and the traditional institutions of family and marriage that were seen to enslave women. Some advocates of free love in the early 20th century, including Russian anarchist and feminist
Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire , Goldman emigrated to the...
, also spoke in defence of same-sex love and challenged repressive legislation.
In 1897, German doctor and writer
Magnus HirschfeldMagnus Hirschfeld was a gay German physician, sex researcher, and early gay rights advocate.-Early life:Hirschfeld was born in Kolberg in a Jewish family, the son of a highly regarded physician and 'Medizinalrat', Hermann Hirschfeld...
formed the
Scientific-Humanitarian CommitteeThe Scientific-Humanitarian Committee was founded in Berlin on the 14th or 15th of May, 1897, to campaign for social recognition of homosexual, bisexual and transgender men and women, and against their legal persecution...
to campaign publicly against the notorious law "
Paragraph 175Paragraph 175 was a provision of the German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It made homosexual acts between males a crime, and in early revisions the provision also criminalized bestiality.The statute was amended several times...
", which made sex between men illegal.
Adolf BrandAdolf Brand was a German writer, anarchist and pioneering campaigner for the acceptance of male bisexuality and homosexuality.-Biography:...
later broke away from the group, disagreeing with Hirschfeld's medical view of the "intermediate sex", seeing male-male sex as merely an aspect of manly virility and male social bonding. Brand was the first to use "
outingIn the late twentieth century, outing became a common term for taking someone involuntarily "out of the closet"—that is, publicising that someone is gay, transgender, or intersex...
" as a political strategy, claiming that German
Chancellor Bernhard von BülowPrince Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin von Bülow, born Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin von Bülow was a German statesman who served as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909.-Family:...
engaged in homosexual activity.
The 1901 book
Sind es Frauen? Roman über das dritte Geschlecht (Are These Women? Novel about the Third Sex) by Aimée Duc was as much a political
treatiseA treatise is a formal and systematic exposition in writing of the principles of a subject, generally longer and more detailed than an essay...
as a novel, criticising pathological theories of homosexuality and gender inversion in women. Anna Rüling, delivering a public speech in 1904 at the request of Hirschfeld, became the first female Uranian activist. Rüling, who also saw "men, women, and homosexuals" as three distinct genders, called for an alliance between the women's and sexual reform movements, but this speech is her only known contribution to the cause. Women only began to join the previously male-dominated sexual reform movement around 1910 when the German government tried to expand Paragraph 175 to outlaw sex between women. Heterosexual feminist leader
Helene StöckerHelene Stöcker was a German feminist, pacifist and sexual reformer. Stöcker was raised in a Calvinist household and attended a school for girls which emphasized rationality and morality...
became a prominent figure in the movement.
Friedrich RadszuweitFriedrich Radszuweit was a German manager, publisher, and author.Radszuweit was born in Königsberg. He moved to Berlin in 1901 and opened a shop for women's clothes. In 1923, Radszuweit, who was gay, founded the organisation Bund für Menschenrecht E.V. , which worked for the rights of gay people...
published LGBT literature and magazines in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
(for example "Die Freundin").
Hirschfeld, whose life was dedicated to social progress for homosexual and transgender people, formed the
Institut für SexualwissenschaftThe Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was an early private sexology research institute in Germany from 1919 to 1933. The name is variously translated as Institute of Sex Research, Institute for Sexology or Institute for the Science of Sexuality...
(Institute for Sexology) in 1919. The institute conducted an enormous amount of research, saw thousands of transgender and homosexual clients at consultations, and championed a broad range of sexual reforms including sex education, contraception and women's rights. However, the gains made in Germany would soon be drastically reversed with the rise of
NazismNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
, and the institute and its library were destroyed in 1933. The Swiss journal Der Kreis was the only part of the movement to continue through the Nazi era.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 decriminalised homosexuality and recognised same-sex marriage. This was a remarkable step in Russia of the time - which was very backward economically and socially, and where many conservative attitudes towards sexuality prevailed. This step was part of a larger project of freeing sexual relationships and expanding women's rights - including legalising abortion, granting divorce on demand, equal rights for women, and attempts to socialise house-work. With the era of Stalin, however, Russia reverted all these progressive measures - re-criminalising homosexuality and imprisoning gay men and banning abortion.
In the United States, several secret or semi-secret groups were formed explicitly to advance the rights of homosexuals as early as the turn of the twentieth century, but little is known about them. A better documented group is
Henry GerberHenry Gerber was an early homosexual rights activist in the United States. Inspired by the work of Germany's Magnus Hirschfeld and his Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, Gerber founded the Society for Human Rights in 1924, the nation's first known homosexual organization, and Friendship and...
's
The Society for Human RightsThe Society for Human Rights was an American homosexual rights organization established in Chicago in 1924. Society founder Henry Gerber was inspired to create the society by Germany's Doctor Magnus Hirschfeld and his work with the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee...
formed in Chicago in 1924, which was quickly suppressed.
The independent Polish stateThe Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; from the creation of an independent Polish state in the aftermath of World War I, to the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic,...
abolished the occupying powers' legislation and decriminalised homosexuality in 1932. The police still used gross indecency laws instead to harass homosexuals, but the gay community in Poland thrived, with many important public figures, such as the composer
Karol SzymanowskiKarol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:...
, the poet Bolesław Leśmian and the novelists Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz and
Maria DąbrowskaMaria Dąbrowska was a Polish writer.Dąbrowska was a member of the impoverished landed gentry. Interested both in literature and politics, she set herself up to help people born into poor circumstances. She studied sociology, philosophy, and natural sciences in Lausanne and Brussels and moved to...
being of homosexual orientation. The
German Nazi invasionThe Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II...
of 1939 put a close to it.
1945 - 1968
Immediately following
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, a number of homosexual rights groups came into being or were revived across the
Western worldThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
, in Britain, France, Germany, Holland, the Scandinavian countries and the United States. These groups usually preferred the term homophile to "homosexual", emphasizing love over sex. The homophile movement began in the late 1940s with groups in the Netherlands and Denmark, and continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s with groups in Sweden, Norway, the United States, France, Britain and elsewhere.
ONE, Inc.ONE, Inc. was an early gay rights organization in the United States.The idea for a publication dedicated to homosexuals emerged from a Mattachine Society discussion meeting held on October 15, 1952...
, the first public homosexual organization in the U.S, was bankrolled by the wealthy transsexual man
Reed EricksonReed Erickson was a transsexual man best known for his philanthropy.In 1964 he launched the Erickson Educational Foundation , a nonprofit philanthropic organization funded and controlled entirely by Erickson himself...
. A U.S. transgender-rights journal,
Transvestia: The Journal of the American Society for Equality in Dress, also published two issues in 1952.
The homophile movement lobbied within established political systems for social acceptability; radicals of the 1970s would later disparage the homophile groups for being
assimilationistCultural assimilation is a political response to the demographic fact of multi-ethnicity which encourages absorption of the minority into the dominant culture...
. Any demonstrations were orderly and polite. By 1969, there were dozens of homophile organizations and publications in the U.S, and a national organization had been formed, but they were largely ignored by the media. 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
TenderloinThe Tenderloin is a small, densely populated neighborhood in downtown San Francisco. In addition to its rich history and diverse community, there is significant poverty, homelessness, and crime. It is known for its immigrant communities, single room occupancy hotels, restaurants, artistic...
rioted against police harassment at a popular all-night restaurant,
Gene Compton's Cafeteria.The Compton's Cafeteria Riot occurred in August 1966 in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. This incident was one of the first recorded transgender riots in United States history, preceding the more famous 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City by three years.[A...]
After the introduction of Soviet-style communism to Poland, the 1948 law stated that the
age of consentWhile the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
for all sexual acts, homosexual or heterosexual, was 15. However, the powerful influence of the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
made open homosexuality a matter of scandal. While a gay poet Grzegorz Musiał could publish officially,
Jerzy AndrzejewskiJerzy Andrzejewski was a prolific Polish author. Having joined the communist party in 1950, he left the party after 1956 events. In 1976 he was one of the founding members of the intellectual opposition group KOR...
's last novel dealing with the subject of homosexuality was censored. The gay subculture grew, with official and underground press alike discussing the subject of homosexuality. However, the traditionally conservative attitudes towards sexuality were used by the secret police to harass and put pressure on individuals.
1969 - 1974
The
new social movementsThe term new social movements is a theory of social movements that attempts to explain the plethora of new movements that have come up in various western societies roughly since the mid-1960s which are claimed to depart significantly from the conventional social movement paradigm.There are two...
of the sixties, such as the
Black PowerBlack Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, primarily African Americans in the United States...
and
anti-Vietnam warOpposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War is significant because it was the first time a war was shown and accessed through the media to the public in the United States.-1945:...
movements in the U.S, the May 1968 insurrection in France, and
Women's LiberationThe Suffrage movement is a series of campaigns on issues such as reproductive rights , domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. The goals of the movement vary from country to country, e.g...
throughout the Western world, inspired some LGBT activists to become more radical, and the
Gay Liberation MovementGay Liberation is the name used to describe the radical lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s in North America, Western Europe, and Australia and New Zealand...
emerged towards the end of the decade. This new radicalism is often attributed to the
Stonewall riotsThe Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...
of 1969, when a group of transgender, lesbian and gay male patrons at a bar in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
resisted a police raid. Although Gay Liberation was already underway, Stonewall certainly provided a rallying point for the fledgling movement.
Immediately after Stonewall, such groups as the
Gay Liberation FrontGay Liberation Front was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots, in which police clashed with gay demonstrators.-The Gay Liberation Front :...
(GLF) and the
Gay Activists' AllianceThe Gay Activists Alliance was founded in New York City in December 1969 after the Stonewall riots, by dissident members of the Gay Liberation Front including Brenda Howard, Altan Zimbabwe and Christopher Charles who wanted to form a non-violent "single issue, politically neutral, militant...
(GAA) were formed. Their use of the word "
gayThe term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
" represented a new unapologetic defiance — as an antonym for "straight" ('respectable sexual behaviour'), it encompassed a range of non-normative sexualities and gender expressions, such as transgender street prostitutes, and sought ultimately to free the bisexual potential in everyone, rendering obsolete the categories of homosexual and heterosexual. According to Gay Lib writer Toby Marotta, "their Gay political outlooks were not homophile but liberationist". "Out, loud and proud", they engaged in colourful
street theatreStreet theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres, car parks, recreational reserves and street corners. They are especially seen in outdoor spaces where there are...
. The GLF’s "A Gay Manifesto" set out the aims for the fledgling gay liberation movement, and influential intellectual
Paul GoodmanPaul Goodman was an American sociologist, poet, writer, anarchist, and public intellectual. Goodman is now mainly remembered as the author of Growing Up Absurd and an activist on the pacifist Left in the 1960s and an inspiration to that era's student movement...
published “The Politics of Being Queer” (1969).
Chapters of the GLF were established across the U.S. and in other parts of the Western world. The
Front Homosexuel d'Action RévolutionnaireThe front homosexuel d'action révolutionnaire was a loose Parisian movement founded in 1971, resulting from a rapprochement between lesbian feminists and gay activists. If the movement could be considered to have leaders, they were Guy Hocquenghem and Françoise d'Eaubonne, while other members...
was formed in 1971 by lesbians who split from the Mouvement Homophile de France.
One of the values of the movement was
gay prideLGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
. Organized by an early
GLFGay Liberation Front was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots, in which police clashed with gay demonstrators.-The Gay Liberation Front :...
leader
Brenda HowardBrenda Howard was an American bisexual rights activist and sex-positive feminist. Howard was an important figure in the modern LGBT rights movement.- Biography :...
, the Stonewall riots were commemorated by annual marches that became known as
Gay pride paradePride parades for the LGBT community are events celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender culture. The events also at times serve as demonstrations for legal rights such as same-sex marriage...
s. From 1970 activists protested the classification of homosexuality as a mental illness by the
American Psychiatric AssociationThe American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
in their
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental DisordersThe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides diagnostic criteria for mental disorders...
, and in 1974 it was replaced with a category of "sexual orientation disturbance" then "ego-dystonic homosexuality", which was also deleted, although "gender identity disorder" remains.
1975 - 1986
From the anarchistic Gay Liberation Movement of the early 1970s arose a more
reformistReformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
and single-issue "Gay Rights Movement", which portrayed gays and lesbians as a
minority groupA minority is a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant voting majority of the total population of a given society. A sociological minority is not necessarily a numerical minority — it may include any group that is subnormal with respect to a dominant group in terms of...
and used the language of civil rights — in many respects continuing the work of the homophile period. In Berlin, for example, the radical Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin was eclipsed by the Allgemeine Homosexuelle Arbeitsgemeinschaft.
Gay and lesbian rights advocates argued that one’s sexual orientation does not reflect on one’s gender; that is, “you can be a man and desire a man... without any implications for your gender identity as a man,” and the same is true if you are a woman. Gays and lesbians were presented as identical to heterosexuals in all ways but private sexual practices, and butch "bar dykes" and flamboyant "street queens" were seen as negative stereotypes of lesbians and gays. Veteran activists such as
Sylvia RiveraSylvia Rae Rivera was an American transgender activist. Rivera was a founding member of both the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance and helped found STAR , a group dedicated to helping homeless young street transwomen, with her friend Marsha P...
and Beth Elliot were sidelined or expelled because they were transsexual.
In 1977, a former Miss America contestant and orange juice spokesperson,
Anita BryantAnita Jane Bryant is an American singer and gay rights opponent. She scored four Top 40 hits in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Paper Roses", which reached #5...
, began a campaign "Save Our Children", in Dade County, Florida (greater Miami), which proved to be a major set-back in the Gay Liberation movement. Essentially, she established an organization which put forth an amendment to the laws of the county which resulted in the firing of many public school teachers on the suspicion that they were homosexual.
Lesbian feminismLesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective, most popular in the 1970s and early 1980s , that questions the position of lesbians and women in society...
, which was most influential from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, encouraged women to direct their energies toward other women rather than men, and advocated lesbianism as the logical result of feminism. As with Gay Liberation, this understanding of the lesbian potential in all women was at odds with the minority-rights framework of the Gay Rights movement. Many women of the Gay Liberation movement felt frustrated at the domination of the movement by men and formed separate organisations; some who felt gender differences between men and women could not be resolved developed "lesbian separatism", influenced by writings such as
Jill JohnstonJill Johnston is a feminist author who wrote the seminal Lesbian Nation in 1973.For many years beginning in 1959 and during the 1960s Jill Johnston was the dance critic for the Village Voice, the popular weekly downtown newspaper for New York City...
's 1973 book
Lesbian Nation. Disagreements between different political philosophies were, at times, extremely heated, and became known as the lesbian sex wars, clashing in particular over views on sadomasochism,
prostitutionProstitution is the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire. In most cultures, prostitution is viewed by many as a deviant profession, either illegal or socially discouraged...
and
transsexualityTranssexualism is a condition in which an individual identifies with a physical sex different from the one they were born with. A medical diagnosis can be made if a person experiences discomfort as a result of a desire to be a member of the opposite sex, or if a person experiences impaired...
. The term "gay" came to be more strongly associated with homosexual males.
In Canada, the coming into effect of
Section 15Section Fifteen of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms contains guaranteed equality rights. As part of the Constitution, the section prohibits certain forms of discrimination perpetrated by the governments of Canada with the exception of ameliorative programs and rights or privileges...
of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and FreedomsThe Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
in 1985 saw a shift in the gay rights movement in Canada, as Canadian gays and lesbians moved from liberation to litigious strategies. Premised on Charter protections and on the notion of the immutability of homosexuality, judicial rulings rapidly advanced rights, including those that compelled the Canadian government to legalize same-sex marriage. It has been argued that while this strategy was extremely effective in advancing the safety, dignity and equality of Canadian homosexuals, its emphasis of sameness came at the expense of difference and may have undermined opportunities for more meaningful change.
Mark Segal, an early member of Gay Liberation, has continued to pave the road of gay equality. Many [who?] refer to Mark Segal as the dean of American gay journalism. As a pioneer of the local gay press movement, he was one of the founders and former president of both The National Gay Press Association and the National Gay Newspaper Guild. He also is the founder and publisher of the award-winning Philadelphia Gay News. As a young gay activist, Segal understood the power of media. In 1973 Segal disrupted the CBS evening news with
Walter CronkiteWalter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
, an event covered in newspapers across the country and viewed by 60% of American households, many seeing or hearing about homosexuality for the first time. Before the networks agreed to put a stop to censorship and bias in the news division, Segal went on to disrupt
The Tonight ShowThe Tonight Show is an American late-night talk and variety show airing on NBC since 1954. Tonight is the third longest-running entertainment program in U.S...
with
Johnny CarsonJohn William “Johnny” Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
, and
Barbara WaltersBarbara Jill Walters is an American journalist, writer, and media personality who has hosted morning television shows , the evening news magazine , and co-anchor of ABC Evening News and correspondent on World News .Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news anchor for over 10 years on...
on The Today Show. The trade newspaper
VarietyVariety is a weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the Daily...
claimed that Segal had cost the industry $750,000 in production, tape delays and lost advertising revenue. [citation needed]
Aside from publishing, Segal has also reported on gay life from far reaching places as Lebanon, Cuba, and East Berlin during the fall of the Berlin Wall. He and Bob Ross, former publisher of San Francisco's Bar Area Reporter represented the gay press and lectured in Moscow and St. Petersburg at Russia's first openly gay conference, referred to as Russia's Stonewall. He recently coordinated a network of local gay publications nationally to celebrate October as gay history month, with a combined print run reaching over a half million people. His determination to gain acceptance and respect for the gay press can be summed up by his 15 year battle to gain membership in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, one of the nation's oldest and most respected organizations for daily and weekly newspapers. The 15 year battled ended after the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette joined forces and called for PGN's membership. Today Segal sits on the Board of Directors of PNA. In 2005, he produced Philadelphia's official July 4 concert for a crowd estimated at 500,000 people. The star-studded show featured Sir Elton John, Pattie Labelle, Brian Adams, and Rufus Wainwright. On a recent anniversary of PGN an editorial in the philadelphia Inquirer stated "Segal and PGN continue to step up admirably to the challenge set for newspapers by H.L. Menchen. "To afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted." [citation needed]
1987 - present
Some historians consider that a new era of the gay rights movement began in the 1980s with the emergence of
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
, which decimated the leadership and shifted the focus for many. This era saw a resurgence of militancy with
direct actionDirect action is politically motivated activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political goals outside of normal social/political channels. Direct action can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the...
groups like
AIDS Coalition to Unleash PowerACT UP, or the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, "is a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis."...
(ACT UP) (formed in 1987), and its offshoots
Queer NationQueer Nation was an organization founded in March 1990 in New York City, USA by AIDS activists from ACT UP. The four founders were outraged at the escalation of anti-gay and lesbian violence on the streets and prejudice in the arts and media...
(1990) and the
Lesbian AvengersThe Lesbian Avengers began in New York City in 1992 as "a direct action group focused on issues vital to lesbian survival and visibility." Dozens of other chapters quickly emerged worldwide, a few expanding their mission to include questions of gender, race, and class.Though some groups continue...
(1992). Some younger activists, seeing "gay and lesbian" as increasingly normative and politically conservative, began using
queerQueer has traditionally meant odd or unusual, though modern use often pertains to LGBT people....
as a defiant statement of all
sexual minoritiesA sexual minority is a group whose sexual identity, orientation or practices differ from the majority of the surrounding society. The term was coined most likely in the late 1960s under the influence of Lars Ullerstam's ground breaking book "The Erotic Minorities: A Swedish View" which came...
and gender variant people — just as the earlier liberationists had done with
gay. Less confrontational terms that attempt to reunite the interests of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transpeople also became prominent, including various
acronymsAcronyms and initialisms are abbreviations that are formed using the initial components in a phrase or name. These components may be individual letters or parts of words . There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms , nor on written usage...
like
LGBTLGBT is an initialism referring collectively to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. In use since the 1990s, the term “LGBT” is an adaptation of the initialism “LGB” which itself started replacing the phrase “gay community” which many within LGBT communities felt did not represent...
, LGBTQ, and LGBTI.
In the 1990s, organizations began to spring up in non-western countries, such as Progay Philippines, which was founded in 1993 and organized the first Gay Pride march in Asia on June 26, 1994. In many countries, LGBT organizations remain illegal (as of 2006) and transgender and homosexual activists face extreme opposition from the state.
The 1990s also saw a rapid expansion of
transgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to diverge from the normative gender roles....
movements. In the English-speaking world, an important text was
Leslie FeinbergLeslie Feinberg is a transgender activist, speaker, and author. Feinberg is a high ranking member of the Workers World Party and a managing editor of Workers World newspaper....
's, "Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come — The Story of Ben Wells", published in 1992. 1993 is considered to mark the beginning of a new movement of
intersexualsIntersexuality in humans refers to intermediate or atypical combinations of physical features that usually distinguish male from female. This is usually understood to be congenital, involving chromosome, morphologic, genital and/or gonadal anomalies, such as diversion from stereotypical XX=female...
, with the founding of the
Intersex Society of North AmericaThe Intersex Society of North America was a non-profit advocacy group founded in 1993 by Cheryl Chase to represent the interest of intersex people. Their objective was to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries...
by
Cheryl ChaseBo O. Laurent, better known by her pseudonym Cheryl Chase , is an American intersex activist and the founder of the Intersex Society of North America...
.
Gender variant peoples across the globe also formed minority rights movements —
HijraIn the culture of South Asia, a hijra , is usually considered a member of "the third gender" — neither man nor woman. Most are physically male or intersex, but some are physically female...
activists campaigned for recognition as a
third sexThe terms third gender and third sex describe individuals who are considered to be neither women nor men, as well as the social category present in those societies who recognize three or more genders....
in India and
TravestiA travesti is a person who was born male, has a feminine gender identity and is primarily sexually attracted to non-feminine men ....
groups began to organize against police brutality across
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, while activists in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
formed militant groups such as Transexual Menace.
In many cases, LGBTI rights movements came to focus on questions of
intersectionalityIntersectionality is a theory which seeks to examine the ways in which various socially and culturally constructed categories interact on multiple levels to manifest themselves as inequality in society...
, the interplay of oppressions arising from being both queer and
underclassSocial classes are the hierarchical arrangements of people in society as economic or cultural groups. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political economists and social historians...
,
coloredColored is a term once widely regarded as a description of black people and Native Americans...
, disabled, etc.
The
NetherlandsSame-sex marriages have been performed and recognised in the Netherlands since 1 April 2001. The Netherlands was the first country to do so.-Registered partnerships:...
was the first country to allow
same-sex marriageSame-sex marriage is a term used to describe a legally or socially recognized marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Other terms used to describe this type of recognition include gay marriage or gender-neutral marriage.Same-sex marriage is a civil rights,...
, in 2001. As of today, same-sex marriages are also legal in
SwedenSame-sex marriages in Sweden are officially recognized in the country since May 1, 2009, following the adoption of a new, gender-neutral law on marriage by the Swedish parliament on April 1, 2009, making Sweden the seventh country in the world to open marriage to same sex couples nationwide...
,
BelgiumOn January 30, 2003, Belgium became the second country in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriage, with some restrictions. As in the Netherlands , this was achieved when the Christian Democrats were not in power.Originally, Belgium allowed the marriages of foreign same-sex couples only if...
,
CanadaOn July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act. Court decisions, starting in 2003, each already legalized same-sex marriage in eight out of ten provinces and...
,
NorwaySame-sex marriage became legal in Norway on January 1, 2009 when a gender neutral marriage bill was enacted after being passed by the Norwegian legislature in June 2008...
,
South AfricaSame-sex marriage became legal in South Africa on 30 November 2006 when the Civil Unions Bill was enacted after having been passed by the South African Parliament earlier that month. A ruling by the Constitutional Court on 1 December 2005 had imposed a deadline of 1 December 2006 to make same-sex...
and
SpainSame-sex marriage in Spain was legalized in 2005. In 2004, the nation's newly elected Socialist government, led by President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, began a campaign for its legalization, including the right of adoption by same-sex couples...
, along with six states in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
:
MassachusettsSame-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Massachusetts began on May 17, 2004, as a result of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts constitution to allow only heterosexual couples to marry...
,
IowaSame-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Iowa became legal on April 27, 2009.Iowa's first dealings with same-sex marriage came in 1998, after recent court cases starting in Hawaii found that denying the right to marry to same-sex couples was incompatible with the Equal Protection Clause of the state...
,
ConnecticutConnecticut joined Massachusetts as one of two states in the U.S. to perform marriages of same-sex couples on November 12, 2008. Connecticut was the third state to do so, however California stopped performing same-sex marriages after November 5, 2008....
, Vermont,
MaineA bill to allow same-sex marriage in Maine was signed into law on May 6, 2009. Maine is the fifth U.S. state to recognize same-sex marriages, and the second to do so through a legislative process rather than through a judicial ruling...
, and New Hampshire. During this same period, some municipalities have been enacting laws against homosexuality. E.g.,
Rhea County, TennesseeRhea County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 28,400. Its county seat is Dayton.-Geography:According to the U.S...
unsuccessfully tried to "ban homosexuals" in 2006.
Opposition
LGBT movements are opposed by a variety of individuals and organizations. They may have a personal, moral, political or religious objection to gay rights, homosexual relations or gay people. Opponents have said same-sex relationships are not marriages, that legalization of same-sex marriage will open the door for the legalization of polygamy, that it is unnatural and that it encourages unhealthy behavior. Some social conservatives believe that all sexual relationships with people other than an opposite-sex spouse undermines the traditional family and that children should be reared in homes with both a father and a mother. The 1990s saw the establishment of the
ex-gayEx-gay is a term and concept used to describe persons who were once as gay, lesbian or bisexual, but who no longer assert that identity. The ex-gay movement consists of people, support groups and organisations that support people in reducing their ego-dystonic sexual orientation, refrain from...
movement.
There is also concern that gay rights may conflict with individuals' freedom of speech, religious freedoms in the workplace, and the ability to run churches, charitable organizations and other religious organizations that hold opposing social and cultural views to LGBT rights. There is also concern that religious organizations might be forced to accept and perform
same-sex marriageSame-sex marriage is a term used to describe a legally or socially recognized marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Other terms used to describe this type of recognition include gay marriage or gender-neutral marriage.Same-sex marriage is a civil rights,...
s or risk tax-exempt status.
There are also people who are heterosexist, anti-homosexual, homophobic or are otherwise averse to gay men and lesbians. Studies have consistently shown that people with negative attitudes towards lesbians and gays are more likely to be male, older, religious,
politically conservativeConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
, have lower education levels, live in more rural areas, and have little close personal contact with
openly gayComing out of the closet, or simply coming out, is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people disclosing their sexual orientation and gender identity...
individuals, as well as supporting traditional gender roles.
See also
- Age of consent
While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
- Biphobia
Biphobia is a term used to describe aversion felt toward bisexuality and bisexuals as a social group or as individuals. People of any sexual orientation can experience such feelings of aversion...
- Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights and freedoms that protect individuals from unwarranted government action and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression....
- Queer Anarchism
- Lesbian Separatism
- Declaration of Montreal
The Declaration of Montreal on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Human Rights is a document adopted in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on July 29, 2006, by the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights which formed part of the first World Outgames. The Declaration outlines a number of rights...
- Heterosexism
Heterosexism is a term that applies to negative attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of opposite-sex sexuality and relationships. It can include the presumption that everyone is heterosexual or that opposite-sex attractions and relationships are the norm and therefore superior...
- Homosexual agenda
Homosexual agenda is a phrase used by some social conservatives to refer to advocacy of cultural acceptance and normalization of non-heterosexual orientations and relationships. The term is regarded as pejorative by some LGBT organisations. The term is applied to efforts to change government...
- International Day Against Homophobia
The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia is celebrated every May 17 around the world.It is coordinated by the Paris based "IDAHO Committee" founded and presided by French academics, Louis-Georges Tin....
- LGBT movements in the United States
LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender social and political movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century...
- LGBT rights by country or territory
- List of gay-rights organizations
- List of LGBT rights activists
- Pro-gay slogans and symbols
LGBT slogans are catchphrases or slogans which express support for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities and LGBT rights.- Slogans :...
- Special rights
Special rights is a term originally used by libertarians to refer to laws granting rights to one or more groups which are not extended to other groups...
- immigration equality
Immigration equality is a term which refers to the equal treatment of any or all citizens' ability or right to immigrate their family members. It also applies to fair and equal execution of the laws and the rights of non-citizens regardless of nationality or where they are coming from...
External links
- http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/fales/klein.htmlGuide to the Alan Klein collection of archvial material related to the Gay-rights movement, housed in the Fales Library
NYU's Fales Library and Special Collections houses nearly 200,000 volumes, and of archive and manuscript materials. It contains the Fales Collection of rare books and manuscripts in English and American literature, the Downtown Collection, the Food and Cookery Collection, and the general Special...
at NYU]
- Gallagher, John & Chris Bull, , Perfect Enemies, 1996, Crown, 300 pp.
- Milligan, Don, The Politics of Homosexuality (1973)
- Norton, Rick, “The Suppression of Lesbian and Gay History”, February 12, 2005, updated April 5, 2005.
- Percy, William A., Review of “Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights”, November 22, 2005. Accessed on 18 June, 2006.
- Gerald Schoenewolf, "Gay Rights and Political Correctness: A Brief History"
- Spitzer, RL, "The diagnostic status of homosexuality in DSM-III: a reformulation of the issues." Am J Psychiatry. 1981 Feb;138(2):210-5. IGLHRC
- International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
- International Lesbian and Gay Association World Legal Survey (2000)
- Gay Rights Community Center (USA)
- Good As You "Gay & Lesbian Activism With A Sense of Humor"
- The Prague Post - New era for gay rights movement in the Czech Republic
- "Is That All There Is?: More to Gay Rights Than Marriage", The Indypendent, July 4, 2003
- "Police Brutality Strikes Fifth Anniversary of Sylvia Rivera Law Project" Indymedia, September 27, 2007
- History of Gay Bars in New York City
- Palestine and gay rights
- The Gay Civil Rights Movement Media Feed
- The Gay Peoples Union Collection
- The Christian Democrats of America: position regarding Gay Rights http://www.christiandemocratsofamerica.org/freewill_rights.html
Further reading
- John Lauritsen and David Thorstad
David Thorstad, is an American political activist and historian of the gay rights movement since the 1970s, and was a founding member of the North American Man-Boy Love Association...
. The Early Homosexual Rights Movement (1864-1935). Revised edition. 1974; Ojai, CA: Times Change Press, 1995. ISBN 0-87810-041-5
- Margaret Cruikshank. The Gay and Lesbian Liberation Movement. New York: Routledge, Chapman and Hall, 1992. ISBN 0-415-90648-2
- Martin Duberman
Martin Bauml Duberman is an American historian,philosopher, statesman, surrogate, playwright, and gay-rights activist. He is the Very Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at Lehman College and the Graduate School of the City University of New York and was the founder and first director of...
. Stonewall. New York: Plume, 1994. ISBN 0-452-27206-8
- David Eisenbach
David Eisenbach is a historian and an expert on media and politics. He hosts the History Channel web series "Vote 101" and is a featured historian on the Emmy Award winning History Channel series "Great Moments on the Campaign Trial." Eisenbach is also the host and co-writer of "The Beltway...
. "Gay Power: An American Revolution." New York: Carroll & Graf, 2006. ISBN 0-78671-633-9
- Barry D. Adam. The Rise of a Gay and Lesbian Movement. Revised edition. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995. ISBN 0-8057-3864-9
- Warren Johansson
Warren Johansson was a philologist, author and a leading American gay scholar during his lifetime. He was founding member of the Scholarship Committee of the Gay Academic Union.-Biography:...
and William Armstrong Percy, Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence. New York and London: Haworth Press, 1994.
- Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich was an American film director, writer and producer, notable for such films as Kiss Me Deadly, The Big Knife, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, The Flight of the Phoenix, Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte and The Dirty Dozen.-Biography:Robert Burgess Aldrich was born in Cranston, Rhode...
, (ed.) Gay Life and Culture: A World History. London: Thames & Hudson, 2006.
- David Carter
David Carter may refer to:*David E. Carter, author who has written over 100 books on graphic design, logo design, and corporate branding*David O...
[MA]. Stonewall: the riots that sparked the Gay revolution; New York, NY; St Martin’s Press; 2004. ISBN 0-312-20025-0
- Neil Miller
Neil Miller is an American journalist and nonfiction writer, best known for his books on LGBT history and culture.- Life :Miller was born in Kingston, New York, in 1945 and graduated from Kingston High School and Brown University...
; Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian history from 1869 to the present; New York, NY; Alyson Books; 2006. ISBN 0-7394-6463-0
- Thomas C. Caramagno. "Irreconcilable Differences? Intellectual Stalemate in the Gay Rights Debate." Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002. ISBN 0-275-97721-8
- Scott Gunther. "The Elastic Closet: A History of Homosexuality in France, 1942-present" Book about the history of homosexual movements in France (sample chapter available online). New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2009. ISBN 023022105X