While the nature of specific issues facing gay communities in America today differ from the ones addressed by the gay liberation movement during the last four decades of the previous century, the gay rights movement has made significant progress since the 1980s, and continues to strive for sexual equality in American society in the 21st century. The events that took place during the second half of the 20th century had a huge impact on homosexual communities across the country. Neil Miller, author of Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History, describes the time period between the 1960s and the 1980s as the era of “gay liberation” because of an explosion of progressive action in the fight for gay rights took place during those twenty years. While Miller was correct in saying that the era of gay liberation began in the 1960s, before which homosexuality was almost universally disapproved of, the era of gay liberation did not end with the start of the “gay moment” in the 1980s, as he suggests. The gay rights movement has continued to make significant progress since the 1980s though many issues, such as those surrounding same sex marriage, persist because of contemporary America’s inflexibility with regard to altering established institutions and their preexisting norms.
Prior to the 1960s, the homosexual community in the US lacked an organized agenda for liberation. Their main concern was to keep a low profile within a homophobic society. During the 19th century, Oscar Wilde, one of London’s most popular playwrights, was imprisoned based on charges of gross indecency with men. One of his lovers, Lord Alfred Douglas, described homosexuality as “the love that dare not speak its name”, depicting it as form of expression that must remain hidden and secret from the others out of pure fear. Attitudes of fearful silence around homosexuality remained in vogue until the 20th century. Most homosexuals found it necessary to keep their sexual orientation secret from their employers lest risk their jobs. In 1953, President Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450 stating, “sexual perversion was sufficient and necessary grounds for exclusion from federal employment”, and by 1960, the State Department had fired approximately 1,000 suspected homosexuals (Miller 238). Students also faced similar pressures regarding their sexual orientation. An individual called B.D.H. was expelled from the University of Illinois for making a pass at another student and was subsequently harassed by FBI agents seeking the names of fellow homosexual peers (Miller 239). This process mirrored the black-listing process undertaken by the government during the anti-communist era of McCarthyism during the Cold War. For homosexuals living in America during this time period, it was in their best interest to keep their sexuality hidden from the public so as to avoid a disadvantaged lifestyle. |
The Stonewall riots in New York marked the beginning of what Miller describes as the era of “gay liberation” because they catalyzed a paradigm shift in the way many regarded homosexuality and homosexuals. The events of Stonewall fostered a new kind of homosexual, “…the new homosexual of the Seventies, an unfettered, guiltless male child of the new morality in a Zapata mustache and an outlaw hat, who couldn’t care less for Establishment approval” (Miller 337). The Stonewall riots mark a watershed in the history of gay rights because it was the first time the gay community fought back as a unified movement. One of the most important distinctions between pre-Stonewall and post-Stonewall attitudes was the importance of visibility. Declaring one’s homosexuality was no longer a death-sentence; instead, it could be seen as a means of empowerment. The buzz phrase of the decade was “come out”, individuals were encouraged to “celebrate [their] sexuality” (Miller 340). Through the success of organizations like the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance, the homosexual community gained visibility and popularity. Organizations like these became well recognized through the press and by hosting events and conferences where they would have notable guest speakers attend. This eventually led to the establishment of the National Gay Task Force, which essentially propelled homosexuality into American politics. By the 1970s, society’s view on homosexuality was clearly evolving - at least in the liberal state of California, when the openly gay American politician Harvey Milk was elected to public office, ushering in a historic moment in American politics.
Same-sex marriage remains an issue in today’s society because of America’s reluctance to accept a contemporary view on a traditional institution. The history of marriage in America marks a trail slowly arcing from the very conservative to the more liberal. Although the contemporary American observes marriage much differently today than they would have prior to the 1950s and the “era of gay liberation”, the current ban on same sex marriage speaks to the lengths of progress still yet to be made by our society.
Although we have continued to advance since the 1990s, the rate of progress has evidently slowed, as some of the same challenges that arose for the first time in the 20th century remain the bone of contention in politics and society today. We often find that intractable issues surrounding gay rights lie at the center of religion and politics and resurface in every political argument. By extension, the future of legally challenged issues that are more distant from fervently religious debates, such as prejudice in the workplace versus the right to same-sex marriage, looks more promising.
It is evident that today’s society has been positively influenced by the LGBT movement more so now than ever before in the history of the United States. While some tragic incidents and hate crimes targeted at the LGBT community have continued, the country continues to rally around trying to prevent these instances from happening again. Just this year Tyler Clementi, a homosexual freshman at Rutgers University, jumped off the George Washington Bridge after being exposed to millions on the Internet by his roommate. News of Tyler Clementi’s tragic death spread rapidly, shocking the nation and galvanizing a huge response that proved the movement is still very much alive and making progress. We live in an era of instant news and interconnectedness that lends itself to making progress and moving forward. Organized efforts continue to further the movement and honor victims, like Tyler Clementi, to senseless tragedies. Americans are becoming less and less tolerant of these kinds of horrifically insensitive and prejudicial behaviors. The era of gay liberation is not yet over, as Miller may suggest, but will continue making progress, as it is now, until society wholly embraces and accepts all sexual orientations.