The gay and lesbian rights movement is the organized effort to combat all forms of prejudice and discrimination that is directed against homosexual men and women. It may be best understood as part of a broader cultural transformation that stresses self-realization and individuality rather than conformity to socially imposed patterns of behavior. Specifically within this cultural transformation, the women’s movement that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s generated a reevaluation of traditional male and female roles that, in turn, facilitated gay and lesbian activism.
The primary impetus for the gay and lesbian rights movement emerged from the Civil Rights movement in the postwar period. This movement for the rights of African Americans led to other movements that called for full civil rights for members of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities. Among the rights for which these groups agitated was the right to cultural diversity and self-determination. Gay and lesbian activism coincided with a rise in international concern about overpopulation and with the SEXUAL revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, which together openly challenged the traditional procreative model of human sexuality. The gay and lesbian rights movement, however, has not limited its activism to sexual freedom. While the freedom to be a homosexual has often served as a cornerstone of their political and legal challenges, it has symbolized for its supporters the overarching goal of achieving human rights and dignity.
Organizations for advocating and protecting the rights of homosexuals flourished in Germany and England from the 1860s through the 1920s. Not until the 1950s did similar organizations appear in the United States. The use of the term gay and lesbian activism appeared in the early 1970s, primarily as a result of the Stonewall riots in New York City in June 1969. These riots marked the first time that patrons of a homosexual bar actively resisted police harassment. This incident sparked massive activity within the gay community. By 1972 the number of gay and lesbian groups in the United States had grown from fewer than 20 to approximately 1,200.
These organizations sought primarily the passage of civil rights laws similar to those that forbade discrimination based on race, religion, ethnic origin, and sex. Essentially, gay and lesbian activists began to define themselves as members of a group that was oppressed because of sexual orientation. Gay and lesbian activists also worked for the repeal of all laws that criminalized any form of sexual behavior between consenting adults, a goal that, if achieved, would decriminalize the behavior that defined them as a separate group in American society.
In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of disorders. This action significantly aided gay and lesbian activists in their lobbying for civil rights. Homosexuals had made substantial institutional gains by the late 1970s, by forming gay and lesbian caucuses within the major religious denominations and professional groups. Also, homosexual men and women had successfully created scores of gay and lesbian political and legal organizations, some of which were national in scope. In the 1980s the gay and lesbian rights movement focused much of its attention on the AIDS crisis by advocating more government funding of AIDS research and by actively opposing discrimination against people suffering from AIDS. The AIDS epidemic provided a new focus for gay and lesbian activism and helped unify the gay and lesbian community, thus facilitating some initial successes.
The 1980s and 1990s witnessed the intensification of the legal battle over homosexual rights. Gay rights groups included Act Up, Lambda legal defense, and the Human Rights Campaign Fund, which face opposition over such issues as same-sex marriage and gays and lesbians in the military. By 1986 more than 50 county and local governments and the state of Wisconsin had enacted civil rights protections for homosexuals. In that same year, however, the U. S. Supreme Court essentially declared constitutional any state laws that criminalized homosexuality, by ruling that acts of homosexuality are not protected by the Constitution. Several events in the 1990s, however, demonstrated that the gay and lesbian rights movement was making progress toward its goal of achieving equality under the law. In 1993 an antigay law passed by Colorado voters was declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court on the ground that “fundamental rights may not be submitted to a vote,” thus establishing the right to be homosexual and declaring that right to be protected from any coercive will of the majority. Also in 1993 President William J. Clinton eased the ban on gays and lesbians in the military. This compromise policy came to be known as the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and allowed homosexuals to enlist in the military as long as they did not reveal their sexual orientation. Further advances were made in the political arena as several openly gay and lesbian politicians were elected to offices ranging from city councils to the U. S. House of Representatives. Moreover, individual homosexuals gained the right to adopt children, to be ordained in some ministries, and to have legally recognized marriages in some states.
Concerns over a state court ruling in Hawaii led Congress to enact the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) by a vote of 342-67 in the House and 85-14 in the Senate. President Clinton signed the act into law on September 21, 1996. The act legally defined marriage as a “union between one man and one woman.” Under the law each state could decide for itself whether or not to permit same-sex mar-
Poster for a gay pride parade, 1977 (Library of Congress)
Riages but would not be compelled to recognize such marriages performed in another state. Following the enactment of DOMA, many states began explicitly banning same-sex marriages.
Then in 1999 the Vermont state Supreme Court ruled the state must grant gay and lesbian couples the same rights and protections granted to heterosexual couples. In 2000 the state legislature complied with the court ruling by enacting “civil unions” for same-sex couples, which offered many of the legal benefits of marriage. California, also in 1999, enacted legislation allowing same-sex couples to register as “domestic partners.” Opponents responded with an initiative, Proposition 22, which would enact a state “Defense of Marriage Act.” California voters overwhelmingly ratified Proposition 22 on March 7, 2000, with only the counties around San Francisco voting against. Connecticut (October 2005), New Jersey (December 2006), and New Hampshire (January 2008) followed Vermont’s example and enacted legislation permitting civil unions for same-sex couples.
In 2003 Massachusetts’s highest court ruled gay and lesbian couples had the constitutional right to marry. The state legislature attempted to pass a constitutional amendment creating civil unions for gay and lesbian couples while restricting marriage to heterosexual couples, but the amendment failed in a required second consecutive vote in the legislature in 2005. The state began issuing marriage licenses for same-sex couples in May 2004, the first of several states to legalize same-sex marriage to date. In 2007 the Massachusetts legislature rejected an effort to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November 2008, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, by a vote of 151 against to 45 in favor. The measure needed 50 votes for it to be presented to voters in a referendum. Proponents of gay and lesbian rights pushed to overturn a 1913 state law barring out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would not be legal in their home state. Both the Massachusetts house and senate voted to repeal the 1913 law in July 2008.
Responding to the events in Massachusetts, President George W. Bush called for a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman on February 24, 2004, but the U. S. Senate rejected the amendment that July. Voters in 11 states in 2004 approved state constitutional amendments restricting marriage to a man and a woman, and in some cases also banning civil unions for same-sex couples. Currently, more than half of the states have such amendments.
By July 2006 a total of 43 states had banned same-sex marriage by an act of the state legislature, through the initiative process or by state constitutional amendment. California, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon (January 2008), and Washington (July 2008), all of which ban same-sex marriage, either recognize or will allow domestic partnerships, which offer fewer rights to gay and lesbian couples than civil unions. Four states—Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Vermont—either permit or will permit civil unions. Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont joined Massachusetts in allowing same-sex marriage. The Supreme Courts of Iowa and California ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry, but California voters approved a constitutional ban, Proposition 8, in 2008. Proposition 8 was challenged in court, and although the court allowed the amendment to stand, same-sex marriages already performed remained valid.
See also conservative movement; Moral Majority; religion.
Further reading: Barry D. Adam, The Rise of a Gay and Lesbian Movement (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987);
John D’Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America, 2d ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997); Jonathan Katz, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U. S.A. (New York: Crowell, 1976).
—William L. Glankler and Stephen E. Randoll
World History
