The rhetoric of “minority rights” and the example of activists in other movements during the 1960s encouraged gay rights activists to demand that society cease harassing and discriminating against them. In 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village and arrested the occupants—most of them gays—for “solicitation” of illegal sexual acts. The crowd outside threw rocks and bottles and the police were forced to retreat. The Stonewall riot lasted for several days and marked a turning point in the history of gays and lesbians. No longer would gays in Greenwich Village remain “in the closet”—hidden from view. Public advocacy of their cause strengthened it immeasurably.
As gay and lesbian relationships became the subject of public discussion rather than private innuendo, gay activists embarked on numerous campaigns to eliminate discrimination against gays. Gay psychiatrists challenged the American Psychiatric Association’s longstanding judgment that homosexuality was a treatable mental illness. In 1973 the association’s board of directors agreed to remove homosexuality from the standard manual of psychiatric disorders. Disgruntled traditionalists challenged the decision and forced the directors to put the matter up for a vote of the entire membership. In 1974 the members upheld the directors. The next year the American Psychological Association concurred. Homosexuality was not a mental illness.
Gay and lesbian activists also filed suits to eliminate discrimination against gays in education, housing, education, and employment. In response to such Pressures, the U. S. Civil Service Commission rescinded its ban on hiring homosexuals. Now gays chose to run openly for public office. In 1977, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to run for office in California, was elected supervisor in San Francisco. The next year he led the fight against a California law that would fire gay teachers. Former California governor Ronald Reagan opposed the bill as a violation of human rights, as did President Jimmy Carter; the proposition was defeated by a million votes. Three weeks later Milk was assassinated; he became a martyr to the gay rights movement. (Sean Penn played the starring role in Milk [2008], a sympathetic account of the activist’s life.)
•••-[Read the Document The Gay Liberation Front, Come Out (1970) at Www. myhistorylab. com
World History
