This book, part of the Primary Documents in American History and Contemporary Issues series, brings together important speeches, laws, court decisions, news stories, interviews, and other sources for a comprehensive understanding of GLBT history in the United States.
What makes this volume unique is that Walter L. Williams, author of the groundbreaking book THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH, highlights Native American religions' acceptance of same-sex relationships before delving into English colonial condemnations of “sodomy” based on the Christian Bible.
The second part of this book “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” suggests that the beginnings of a quest for equal rights for sexual nonconformists began with the ideals of personal liberty and individual freedom expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Nineteenth century pioneers like Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and some women's rights leaders, began to apply those ideals to the issue of the freedom to love the person of one's choice.
It was not until 1924, however, that a formal organization was established to accomplish these goals. Inspired by the homosexual rights movement in Germany, American veteran Henry Gerber founded the Society for Human Rights in Chicago. In 1925 police arrested Gerber and other members, and confiscated all the records of his fledgling society. After Gerber was fired from his job as a result of this arrest, the organization dissolved.
World War II was a turning point, as lesbians and gay men in the armed forces and the defense industry broke out of their isolation and started forming social groups, especially in the port cities of Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. Shortly after the war, in Los Angeles, Lisa Ben started America's first lesbian newsletter.
Part 3 of the book traces the history of an ongoing movement for gay and lesbian rights, beginning in Los Angeles in 1950 with the founding of the Mattachine Society. Joined by ONE Institute and the Daughters of Bilitis, two other California organizations in the 1950s, a pioneering Homophile Movement accomplished some significant victories. For example, ONE's court suit led to the first gay rights victory in a U.S. Supreme Court decision which in 1958 allowed gay and lesbian publications to be published and sent through the mails, based upon freedom of the press. Further progress was made in the 1960s, as the African American civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, and the women's movement had a huge impact on American society and politics.
This book rejects the notion that the gay rights movement “began” with the Stonewall Riots in 1969, but shows that the massive coming out of GLBT people in the 1970s could not have been accomplished if it had not been for the pioneering activists in the two decades before 1969.Steady progress was made in the 1970s, as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Organization for Women, the American Psychological Association, and the Democratic Party began to be supportive of gay and lesbian rights. Important organizations like the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, among others, exerted increasing influence.
Part 4 of the book details the backlash to the gay and lesbian movement that began in 1977 when fundamentalist Christians rose up to oppose the right of openly gay and lesbian public employees to be protected from job discrimination. In the 1980 election Ronald Reagan constructed a conservative alliance that included fundamentalist Protestants and Catholics, and once he became president the federal government worked to turn back gay advances. This backlash became especially strong after the appearance of AIDS in 1981. Conservatives resisted calls for federal support to combat this new disease on the reasoning that AIDS was God's curse on homosexuals. Unacknowledged by the Christian Right was the reality that lesbians had extremely low levels of sexual transmission of HIV.
Part 5 of the book analyzes the increasing acceptance of sexual diversity and gender variance in the United States since 1987. Prompted by a reaction against the 1986 infamous BOWERS V. HARDWICK Supreme Court decision affirming the legality of sodomy laws, as well as the Reagan administration's inactivity on AIDS, GLBT activists formed groups like ACT UP and organized marches on Washington.
When Democrat Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, with the strong support of GLBT voters, a new openness seemed to dawn in government. A majority of States repealed their sodomy laws, and more cities passed laws against discrimination. Clinton appointed openly lesbian and gay officials to high government positions, and his Justice Department supported gay and lesbian rights. On the other hand, Clinton was forced by conservatives to retreat on his promise to stop discriminating against lesbians and gay men in the armed forces, as well as to sign the “Defense of Marriage Act” in 1986 that gave special rights in marriage only to male-female couples.
Despite the strong efforts of conservatives, however, the 1990s were marked by significant changes in social acceptance of GLBT people, especially in the mass media, in major corporations, and in the field of education. As more and more queer people came out to their relatives, friends and co-workers, the issue of homosexuality seemed much less alien and frightening. The issue of legalizing same-sex marriage was raised first in Hawaii in 1993, which was not successful but which did result in the granting of many of the rights of marriage to same-sex couples in that State. Vermont and California later followed suit.
At the beginning of the Twenty-first Century, the authors argue, GLBT rights are poised to make continued gains, despite the efforts of conservatives to turn back the tide. As more and more other nations advance toward acceptance and equality, U.S. claims to be a beacon of democracy and “the land of the free” ring hollow if the freedom to love is not recognized as a basic human freedom. Though this book was published before the landmark court decisions of 2003 occurred, it remains a comprehensive account of the gay and lesbian rights movement in the United States.
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