History of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement :: Gays and Lesbians in America

THE HOMOPHILE YEARS (1940s-60s – WWII, Cold War, McCarthyism): 1940s  · Growth in the urban subculture of gay men and lesbians.  · Government and police harassment, persecution, and investigation of gays. 1950s-1960s  · The homophile movement remained small and relatively marginalized. End of 1960s  · Rise of activism + â€Å"Gay is good†  · Reformist goals: à ¼ decriminalization of homosexual acts, à ¼ equal treatment and equal rights under the law, à ¼ dissemination of accurate, à ¼ â€Å"unbiased† information about homosexuality.  · Achievements: à ¼ right to publish gay and lesbian magazines, à ¼ first employment discrimination cases won, à ¼ constraints on police harassment, à ¼ dialogue opened in the scientific and religious communities, à ¼ media visibility, à ¼ organizational impulse, à ¼ denunciation of how gays and lesbians are a mistreated, persecuted minority.  · Problems: Society’s hostility against homosexuals and the penalties attached to exposure. STONEWALL AND THE EMERGENCE OF RADICAL GAY LIBERATION (1969-e1970s): June 1969  · Stonewall Riot à ° Symbol of a new militance. Result: a radical mass movement. Early 1970s  · Gay Liberation Front (GLF): Radical gay and lesbian activism.  · Influences: civil rights movement, Black Power movement, white student movement, antiwar movement, and feminism.  · Goals: à ¼ Attack of the systemic oppression of gays and lesbians. à ¼ Analysis of gay oppression and sexism. à ¼ Making common cause with â€Å"all the oppressed† and commitment to a larger project of political change. à ¼ Public demonstrations and emphasis on visibility.  · Achievements: à ¼ New rhetoric of pride and affirmation. à ¼ Political, social, and cultural organizations that helped build a movement and a community. à ¼ Public affirmation of homosexual identity (coming out in public).  · Problems: Employment discrimination, arrests, political conservatism, economic entrenchment, and lack of attention to sexism and racism. A GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT (1970s):  · Reformative politics: Rather than try to destroy the old in order to build something new, they sought recognition and inclusion in American society. à ¼ Gay Activist Alliance (GAA). à ¼ From liberation to activism.  · Emphasis on coming out and gay rights. They expected and demanded acceptance for who they were.  · Militant and angry protests.  · Language of pride and self-affirmation; rejection of mainstream cultural views of homosexuality.  · Single-issue organizations, completely gay-focused, with clearly specified structures and processes.  · Goals: ending job discrimination, media invisibility, church and military discrimination.  · Achievements: à ¼ 1973 à ° the American Psychiatric Association eliminates homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. à ¼ less discrimination and harassment, à ¼ greater visibility, à ¼ new economic opportunities for gay-oriented businesses (bars, bathhouses, discos, restaurants, etc.