Gay Rights Movements

Gay Rights Movements
Rebekah
3rd hour
3/6/06

From the beginning of time there have been homosexuals. Most stayed in hiding but some were revealed. Most of these were kings, queens and great play writes such as Shakespeare.
Throughout history, the rights of homosexuals have been disputed and often denied. Most were ashamed to even think homosexuality existed and thought of it as not natural but a psychiatric disorder. In the 1960’s-1970’s new rebellious views started to appear. These different views were slowly starting to be accepted. This opened up an opportunity for homosexuals a chance to come “out of the closet”. Many however stayed in hiding, fearing the chance of being discriminated. Even though, homosexuality is still a big issue today it is not as big of an issue. The 1960’s-70’s ignited and inspired modern gay rights movements that still go on today.
There were many gay rights protests. The most well known was known as the Stonewall Riots that occurred in New York City in June 1969. On June 27th Police made a raid on a gay bar in Greenwich Village. This was the first time in history that a large number of homosexuals resisted arrest. By the end of the raid only 13 civilians were arrested and many were wounded. Around 2000 gay citizens fought with police officers chanting “Gay Power!” This was considered as one of the turning points for gay movements around the world. The biggest demonstration however occurred on October 14th 1979 where approximately 100,000 gays marched through Washington DC in a color full theater.
These protests helped gain more freedom for homosexuals. In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the list of psychiatric disorders thus fore giving gays and lesbians one victory for there cause. Among these protests many gays had Pride Parades or Theaters and joined gay pride groups such as the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Gay Activists' Alliance (GAA). They formed “Out, loud and proud” but yet many still stayed hidden.
Soon before this, several cities started giving rights to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. The first of these was Ann Arbor Michigan in 1972. After this more cities became more excepting. In 1977 Quebec became the largest and amoung the first to give rights to gays in public and private places.
Artists and singers of the time also started supporting the ideals, giving public speeches and presenting the ideas through their art even though most was banned.
Anita Bryant a successful singer and also crowned Miss Oklahoma led a gay pride drive in 1977 to repeal a gay-rights law in Dade County, Florida. Through her hard work many were fearfull of her also assuming she was a lesbian. Many heterosexuals found her dedication to gays very uncomfortable and unfitting for a member or a baptist church.
As commenly known most religions did not except homosexuality. Formerly homosexuality was treated as a crime. Thanks to protests in the 1960s and 1970’s those laws were repealed because of civil rights and speration of church and state.
Roberston Davies, a Canadian author wrote “The love that dare not speak its name," By this he was explaining how it was not until now exceptiable for gays to be publicly known.
With these new breakthroughs homosexuals started to appear in political positions. Harvey Milk a gay activist was elected in 1977 as a member of the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco. As this surprised many, many protested against this. Eventually this led to his and the Mayor’s (George Moscone) assassinated. The murders sentence was voluntary manslaughter. Gay activists thought this was a light sentence and many were angered. The assination began the White Night Riots, on May 21, 1979, haulting the progress of gay rights movements temporarily. By the 1980’s, gay rights movements were slow to progress and did not become active again until recently. But because of all the hard work, dedication and determination of the individuals who took part, homosexuality had become less feared.
In the years of the 1960-70’s were a very important time for gay rights and marked turning points and exeptance to many throughout the world. The individuals who fought to gain there freedom considered themselves invisionaries and patriots as other groups before them had fought for there own freedom. The protests and acts played out in the 1900’s made a runway and example for future protests in our history helping homosexuals feel comfortable with themselves enough to come “out of the closet” today.