LGBT and the Religious Right: Opposing Movements, Similar Methods

In 2016 President Obama named the Stonewall Inn as the first National monument to LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Questioning, Asexual, Intersex) rights. In history classes, we learned that movements can lead to progression to break down and change constitutional law, and the mindset of society. We hear about the civil rights movement, women’s rights and even the labor movement; but seldom do we hear about the gay rights movement. Many people say that the LGBTQIA community has been fighting since 1912 or WWII, but all can agree that the Stonewall riots started gay liberation and changed the LGBTQ community forever.

Another huge social and cultural change during this time was the gay liberation movement. During the 1960’s, many groups decided to fight for their rights and equality. One of these groups was the gay and lesbian members of society. Many of these individuals were discriminated against and had no rights, but they decided enough was enough. In the 1960’s, gays decided to begin the fight for their own rights. One example of this was made after New York officers decided to raid the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York’s very own Greenwich Village on June 27, 1969. This type of raid was not unusual, being that many police officers made it a habit of raiding gay and lesbian bars. This became known as the “Stonewall Riot”, which many view as the starting point of the gay liberation movement. The gay liberation movement was the fight by gays and lesbians for equal rights, one of these rights being the right to not be discriminated against, and most importantly, to be able to openly “come out” to their family and friends. The gay liberation movement helped to impact our current times greatly. Today, a gay person has rights just like anyone else. A gay

Over the next two decades, half the states decriminalized homosexual behavior, and police harassment grew less frequent and obvious to the public. Also in 1975, it became legal for gays to hold federal jobs. However all this headway also made room for more opposition. In 1977, Anita Bryant was so successful at obtaining a repeal of a recent gay ordinance in her home state of Florida that by 1980, a league of anti gay clubs had come together to make a force, led in part by Jesse Helms. The AIDS scare that began in the eighties did not help the gay image either, but more citizens joined their ranks in order to combat the oppression and fund a search for the cure, so in the end it actually made the movement stronger. According to the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia (2000), by 1999, the anti-sodomy laws of 32 states had been repealed, and in 1996 Vermont granted its gay citizens the right to same sex marriages. Gay rights has come a long way as a social movement, and though it still has a long way to go, it makes a good topic to analyze the process of the social movement.

This investigation assesses the New York City Stonewall Riots of 1969, concerning their influence on the rise of the modern gay rights movement, specifically regarding political emergence, social unity, and demographic shifts. The investigation will attempt to answer the following question: To what extent were the Stonewall Riots of 1969 a catalyst for the LGBT social movement in America?

In this time society was going through much social change. Protests and movements were very present. In the 1960s women’s rights movements, black power movements, and civil rights protest were going on. This influenced the gay community and sparked energy for them to stand up for their own rights. In 1969 Stonewall riots were occurring in result to the police raiding a gay bar by the name of Stonewall Inn. The legal system in the 1950’s and 1960’s was anti-gay. These groups were being formed to show and prove that society could function. Very few businesses welcomed publicly gay people in the 1950s and 1960s.After the series of riots and the push for social reform gays still faced many obstacles to being openly accepted and integrated into society.

The Stonewall Riots highlighted a key issue in the late 1960s American society. Homosexuality was often seen as an illness and a sin to most people. For example, in April 1952 homosexuality was deemed a sociopathic mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (CNN). This idea was heightened in American society because it was being taught that being gay was one of the worst things an American can be; showing videos such as “Boys Beware”. This all changed after the conflict at the Stonewall Inn; located in New York on Christopher Street. The Stonewall Inn was the place where gays and lesbians would flock to, to feel accepted for once in their lives as many of them ran away or were disowned by their own families. Even though Stonewall was a place of freedom, it was also a place for fear as the police would constantly raid the bar to make sure that alcohol was not being served to gays, as the New York State Liquor Authority deemed it illegal to serve homosexuals. Lasting only three days, the riots were able to help start the transformation of American society to become what it is today. The lack of a formal compromise between the nation and the LGBT community was an advantage for the effects of Stonewall to spread as the conflict was able to bring a wave of acceptance and pushed many of history's gay role models to feel inspired to stand up.

America’s people were seemingly divided into many different ways- the most obvious of them would be the liberals, or “New Left”(the phrase coined by C. Wright Mills (1916–62) in Letter to the New Left) versus the older conservatives, or “Silent Majority”(coined by President Richard Nixon in his November 3, 1969 speech), the former arguing for peace, love, and rebellion against conformity and institutions, while the latter arguing for logic, tradition, and security. By June of 1969, many people of the New Left were accustomed to rebellion against the Silent Majority, with each minority accepting their own time slot- their own moment in time to make history and to voice their opinions which were subdued for so long. The members of the LGBT community were no anomaly to this concept.

The Importance of the Stonewall Riots and Their Lasting Effects on the Gay Rights Movement

The idea of being gay had been under wraps since the beginning of time. In fifteen thirty, Henry VII created the Buggery Act, defining homosexuality as a crime punishable by death. Later, in eighteen eighty-five, Parliament passed an amendment brought forth by Henry Du Pre Labouchere making it legal to prosecute gay men. This law did not apply to lesbian women, because the idea of two women being in any type of romantic relationship was unthinkable at the time. The Gay Rights Movement ignited after the Stonewall riots in June 1969. The movement started right towards the end of the civil rights movement, so the nation was growing weary of constant protests, peaceful or not. Martin Luther King Jr. died just over one year before Stonewall, leaving America little time to recover from the end of one major movement to another. The propaganda quickly spread across the country and gained national attention that has stayed relevant since then. Stonewall was the first major event that shook the United States and made the the importance of lesbian, gay, bisexal, and transgender (LGBT) rights known. In the 1980s and 90s, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) epidemic once again brought major national attention to the LGBT community- but this time in a negative way.

Revolutions have a history of starting violently. Red Sunday, a massacre in early 20th century Russia where over 100 peaceful protestors were unjustly murdered, was the violent start of the Russian Revolution (Britannica). More recently were the Ferguson Riots after a young, unarmed teenager named Michael Brown was shot by a police officer. Some believe that these events and the emergence of the #BlackLivesMatter campaign could be the beginning of yet another American civil rights movement. The first LGBT movement began in 1969 after the raid of one of the few gay bars in the United States, Stonewall Inn. Often, the story of this seedy nightclub is distorted or hardly taught at all. A huge example of this is the recent movie on the riots, Stonewall. Sadly the events in the movie were far from accurate. By analyzing the events that took place at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969, a clear vision of what exactly happened can be made, and explanations can be formed for why the riots have been so misrepresented for decades and why every movement must begin with violence.

Within many religions, especially in Christianity, it is said that same-sex relations are a sin. Since most of the Americans around this time were Christian, many of them believed that the relations between a girl and a girl or a guy and guy were so foreign due to the belief that God created men and women so that only these genders could be together. Organizations were made to stop the gay community from flourishing. They also made many feel like there was something wrong

Similar to the ideas of Black Power, the lesbian, gay, and the second wave feminist movements of the 1960’s were not ashamed instead they felt proud and empowered. The LGBT groups were urged to engage with protests for radical changes while embracing and reducing criticism of who their sexual preferences. The feminist ideologies of approaching these issues were to come out to family members, friends, and colleagues, with no regret and living life openly as gay or lesbian. The Gay Liberation movement had formed and radicalized in the late 60’s in response to the Stonewall riots of the 1960s, in which a group of trans, lesbian, drag, and gay patrons resisted arrest during a raid in New York City. After the Raid, many groups were formed such as the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activist Alliance. These were just some other examples of how identity policies were relevant in shaping the culture of the 1960s.

In the late 1800’s to the mid 1900’s gay rights became a political debate. For many years people always were different and had different views in life. However people were always afraid to be truthful about their rights as a person. In 1807 a man named oscar created a poem called “Two loves”. The poem became viral and popular but this changed everything. The poem symbolized true love between two poople of the same sex. This poem was dedicated to his lover. After a couple of months oscar’s lover decided to aknowledge their opinion on same sex relationships.over time this escalated and started to become a big movement. The scientific humanity comittee started advocating a movement known as “gay rights” so the people have a voice.

In 1961, Illinois allowed homosexuals to do private acts between two consenting adults (Kranz and Cusick 122). This states that the fight that was occurring in Illinois at this time was working. It worked so well that they were able to actually do private acts and no one can do anything about it. Private acts are for example, kissing, hugging, holding hands, and having sexual interactions between the two. In 1964 the Society for Individuals Rights, a social and political club for gays and lesbians was opened (Kranz and Cusick 122). During the 1960’s not alot was available for the LGBTQ community, so for them to have a place to discuss politics and to just interact, it’s phenomenal. During 1965, seven gay men and three lesbians stood outside the White House in the first gay rights protest in U.S. History (Kranz and Cusick 122). This is vital when understanding that gay right protests have started and still are occurring. At the time of 1968, the first Gay Church in the united states was founded by Reverend Troy Perry (Kranz and Cusick 124). Meanwhile in 1970, 10,000 people commemorate the Stonewall uprising by marching in the “Christopher Street Liberation Day” which occurred in New York City (Kranz and Cusick 124). In 1972, East Lansing, Michigan adopts the very first law that states the Discrimination toward gay men and lesbians in city hiring would not be okay (Kranz

Gay-rights activism started in the 1970s, focusing more on personal liberation and visibility than on gaining the right to have equal marriage rights. There was little movement to equalize the right to marry, though there were some gay activists that fought for the right to marry in those days. Most others rejected marriage as something heterosexual couples did and not something they needed to be happy. The movement did achieved a big victory in 1973, when the American Psychiatric Association announced homosexuality was not a mental illness and the American Psychological Association also did in 1975.