The 1960s were characterized by several movements calling for social
and political change, chiefly the civil rights movement (1954–65), the
antiwar movement, the women’s liberation movement (also known as
the feminist movement), and the gay liberation movement. Many gay
liberation activists were also active in the other social movements, from
which they gained a greater awareness of their own, more hidden, repression. Because most people saw sexual orientation as a personal issue, they
did not consider it from a political perspective. Feminism helped alter
that perception as it focused on the political meaning of women’s individual experiences.
A history of persecution
Historically, gay people had kept their sexuality hidden because in many
states homosexual activity was illegal. In New York and other big cities,
there were districts where gays could openly communicate and be themselves. Gays often met publicly in gay bars, many of which were owned by crime syndicates that profited from the criminal status of homosexuality. Police raided gay bars frequently and used these raids as a chance to
brutalize gays. Victims did not report the brutality, partly because they
knew no one would come to their aid, partly because of the social stigma
attached to homosexuality.
In the early morning of June 28, 1969, patrons at a bar called the
Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village surprised the police
during a raid. Tired of suffering from injustice, they fought back. The violence moved to riot status and took to the streets. The riots lasted three
days and were heavily covered by the media. The Stonewall incident is
considered the official beginning of the gay liberation movement, which
developed into the gay rights movement later in the century.
A turning point
Stonewall marked a turning point in the lives of gay Americans. Gay liberation organizations formed throughout the United States; although
gays had organized into associations prior to the 1970s, there was little
unity to make them effective tools for change. New York’s Gay
Liberation Front had chapters across the nation. Others were locally
based and founded by activists in smaller cities and towns. Through dedication and hard work, gay rights activists managed to have homosexuality laws repealed in many states. By 1998, only nineteen states still
maintained antigay legislation.
Legal reforms, as well as changes in the way gays were treated and
viewed socially, began to alter the notion that homosexuality was a disease. Whereas in the past gays had often found themselves incarcerated
in mental hospitals, subjected to “cures” like electroshock therapy, gay
activists now demanded that homosexuality be stricken from the
American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental disorders; they achieved
their goal in 1973.
Gay activists came from every class and race, and in some cases,
groups were formed along ethnic or race lines. As always happens when
a movement grows rapidly, other differences occurred within the gay liberation movement that caused some problems. The different roles and
identities of gay women and gay men posed the biggest challenge. Many
women activists came to the gay movement through feminism. Some
questioned their commonalities with men and preferred to ally themselves with other (heterosexual) women. Some resented being labeled gay, as they considered it a word that defined homosexual men. They
preferred the term “lesbian.” At conferences, during protests, and in
newspapers, the disparate members of the movement discussed their differences.
Fighting for acceptance
Mainstream society viewed the gay liberation activists as a threat to society’s accepted norms of gender and gender roles, the nuclear family,
monogamy (commitment to one person), and a sense of decorum about
sex in American culture. Some worried about the acceptance of free sex,
outside the confines of marriage, and how this would affect young people. Gay men in particular celebrated this sexual revolution, which found
expression in the disco phenomenon that swept the country. Gay disco
bars became social centers for gay men; because heterosexuals also enjoyed
the music and atmosphere, this helped gay culture to find some acceptance in mainstream America. However, heavy drug use and sex with multiple partners, commonplace during the era, precipitated a health crisis.
The AIDS crisis
In the 1980s, the emergence of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome) became a severe crisis in the gay community, with thousands
dying of the disease during the decade. The disease also provoked a backlash against the gay liberation movement. Many religious groups and
right-wing political organizations and politicians adopted an antigay
agenda, calling AIDS “the gays’ disease.” Until the medical community
gained an understanding of how the disease was spread, the fear that infection could be brought about by casual contact took hold. The disease,
and attitudes toward those suffering from it, became the focus of work
for gay rights activists.
Major issues since the 1990s
In 1998, the issue of homophobia (fear of homosexuals) was brought
once again to the forefront. University of Wyoming student Matthew
Shepard (1976–1998) was brutally murdered on October 7 by Russell
Henderson and Aaron McKinney. Posing as gay men, they offered
Shepard a ride in their car, then robbed, pistol-whipped, and tortured
him, leaving him tied to a fence to die. The perpetrators were convicted of murder and sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences. Many
viewed Shepard’s murder as a hate crime, prompting cries for federal hate
crime legislation to be extended to include sexual orientation. Efforts to
do so by President Bill Clinton (1946–; served 1993–2001) failed. The
Matthew Shepard Act was introduced in 2007, but as of early 2008 it had
not been signed into law. As of 2008, thirty-one states and Washington,
D.C., had hate crime statutes that covered sexual orientation.
In 1994, activists demanded the repeal of the ban on gays in the military. As a compromise solution, the military adopted a “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” policy, which allows gays to serve if they keep their sexual orientation a secret. In response to a major drive by the gay rights movement on the issue of marriage, some states legalized civil unions between
same-sex couples, giving them the same state rights as heterosexual married couples. Massachusetts made same-sex marriage legal in 2004. By
2007, nearly nine thousand private companies, nonprofits, and labor
unions offered domestic partner health benefits for same-sex couples.
This measure gave gay couples the same health benefits as heterosexual
couples. As of 2007, just five states—Mississippi, Nebraska, Florida,
Michigan, and Utah—had laws restricting gays from adopting children.
Many successes of the gay rights movement can be traced back to the
early determination of the gay liberation movement.