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It’s been a long debated subject of whether LGBT+ rights were civil rights or not. From being able to be gay and serve in the military, and to simply get the right to get married, it’s still a long road ahead, but the LGBT+ community has fought long and hard for simply rights that straight people already have. Torture, electroshock therapy, basic human rights being ripped away, and the feeling of being safe walking out of the house every day are all things LGBT+ community members have to worry about and have lost.
Starting in April of 1952 homosexuality was listed as a “sociopathic personality disturbance” by the American Psychiatric Association (PBS). Four years later, on August 30th, 1956, Evelyn Hooker conducted many psychological tests
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As he talks he says “Excuse me, poem, are you gay? Have you grown up contrarily to what I wanted you to say? I most certainly didn 't write you that way. Was it something I said, something I did that turned you? Maybe I should have peppered your verses with sport, girls and beer. Maybe as your author I deserted you...Or did another writer turn you queer?” (Jarrett). As he is asking his poem this multitude of questions, he is describing perfectly how LGBT people are constantly harassed with these same questions. Similarly, these people are asked what was done wrong, what caused this, and what could someone have done to prevent it, …show more content…
A guy he knew once tried to kiss him and after that he was bullied for being “gay” even though he wasn’t. In the interview he says that he eventually became proud of being gay, although he wasn’t he took great pride in being called gay. He says he enjoyed the conflict and that it helped him almost find his identity. He along with many other activists were changed by LGBT people and learned that they were just like anyone else and there was nothing to fear other than the hate that is forced upon them. Furthermore, they saw that these rights were worth standing up against the hate and
Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their lives. Geanne Harwood, interviewed on an National Public Radio Broadcast commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, said that “being gay before Stonewall was a very difficult proposition … we felt that in order to survive we had to try to look and act as rugged and as manly as possibly to get by in a society that was really very much against us.” The age of communist threats, and of Joseph McCarthy’s insistence that homosexuals were treacherous, gave credence to the feeling of most society members that homosexuality was a perversion, and that one inflicted was one to not be trusted.
In the past decades, the struggle for gay rights in the Unites States has taken many forms. Previously, homosexuality was viewed as immoral. Many people also viewed it as pathologic because the American Psychiatric Association classified it as a psychiatric disorder. As a result, many people remained in ‘the closet’ because they were afraid of losing their jobs or being discriminated against in the society. According to David Allyn, though most gays could pass in the heterosexual world, they tended to live in fear and lies because they could not look towards their families for support. At the same time, openly gay establishments were often shut down to keep openly gay people under close scrutiny (Allyn 146). But since the 1960s, people have dedicated themselves in fighting for
In 2001, a statement by the Chinese Psychiatric Association helped endorse the fact, in a non-Western context, that homosexual behavior does not signal the need for psychopathological intervention11
Do you know why the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical? I didn’t know that lesbians, gays, and bisexuals were being forced by psychiatrists to undergo hospitalizations, aversions therapy, and electroshock therapy. This information got me researching future on the harsh reality of the past. What I know it, the treatments that were used back then was unethical can caused more damage than a cure, such as the transorbital lobotomy therapy. This article, Shock the Gay Away: Secrets of Early Gay Aversion Therapy Revealed (PHOTOS), speaks of the world now Doctor in the 40s that would perform a transorbital lobotomy. This doctor name is Dr. Walter Freeman; Dr. Walter Freeman would use a toothpick
Over the course of U.S. history there have been many social movements. The most prominent one may be the Civil Rights Movement. African-Americans stared this movement because they felt they should be recognized as citizens; they should have all they basic rights of living and be treated as equals and not fall subject to injustice. Millions of people joined the movement and they stood up for what they thought was right. From this movement stemmed groups like then, The National Association for the Advantest of Colored People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating committee (SNCC). Racism was something this movement wanted to erase, not only that but equality for everyone. The battle to end injustice was a long and hard and did not end without struggle. The same could be said about the Gay Rights Movement. This movement was started because there wasn’t equality between homosexuals and heterosexuals, and they were being mistreated in various ways. Many of homosexuals involved in the movement became known as the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community. They fought to have equal opportunity in America and were met with obstacles they had to get over. Within both movements there were people who were too set in their ways to ever want to change; they did whatever they could to put a stop to the change. The goal of each group was equality, which, after a great amount of suffering, was granted to them. The people involved in the Civil Rights Movement and the Gay Rights Movement both faced similar problems such as discrimination, religious persecution, violence, and legal injustice, some of these problems were handled the same way; other, another way.
The world as we know of it today has evolved over several decades of conflict. The conflicts have taken place due to many factions fighting for their rights. It began with African Americans wanting to be treated as equals. The Civil Rights became the theme of the 1950’s and continued for many years. More recently, there have been conflicts based on sexuality and gender preferences. The LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) Movement of today has changed and evolved over the last several decades just as the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s which gave African Americans the fight for racial equality. The similarities and differences of both movements are striking, and deserve thorough investigation.
The acceptance of “abnormal” sexualities has been a prolonged, controversial battle. The segregation is excruciating and the prejudice remarks are so spiteful that some people never truly recover. Homosexuals have been left suffering for ages. Life, for most homosexuals during the first half of the twentieth century, was mostly one of hiding: having to constantly hide their true feelings and tastes. Instead of restaurants and movies, they had to sit quiet in the dark and meet each other in concealed places such as bars. Homosexuals were those with “mental and psychic abnormalities” and were the victim of medical prejudice, police harassment, and church condemnation (Jagose 24). The minuscule mention or assumption of one’s homosexuality could easily lead to the loss of family, livelihood, and sometimes even their lives. It was only after the Stonewall riots and the organization of gay/lesbian groups that times for homosexuals started to look brighter.
Back in my younger days, I feared to lose my social and economic privilege as being seen as a homosexual female, so I policed myself to present this ‘straight girl’ persona, to avoid being publicly and institutionally sanctioned. Reflecting on Adam’s readings, “Adult heterosexuality was not taken to be an inevitability; it was an achievement of safe passage through adolescence.” (p***) Regardless, of how I felt back when I was young, I still do “act” heterosexual (acting heterosexual is the performance of the traditional straight sexual identity). Be that as it may, now I don't distress when peers around me don’t follow the social rules of normative femininity and heteronormativity in public.”Years ago I would have shunned them, or best, ignored them” (76); and yet with several developed friendships that I have made along my life journey, and a lot of courses that bring awareness to homosexuality; I’m proud to say that “gradually my awareness...was no longer the source of my shame, but the beginning of my empowerment”. (p.75-76) I have reached the point in my life, that now I force myself to acknowledge and not fear the social retaliation of the practices and normalization of heterosexuality by the women I know. Meanwhile, I may still be self-conscious around those women who don’t fit this normative, yet I won’t be imposing my opinions on them, those opinions are up to me
Thousands of homosexuals immigrated to the San Francisco area in this time period, as stated in Gay Manifesto by Carl Wittman. Feeling threatened and targeted by heterosexual society, they formed an enclaved on the basis of sexual identity. United, gays advocated for the integration of tolerance of society as they felt in many aspects the group was misunderstood. Labeled as “sexual perverts,” the group worked to change this negative perception. Gays attempted to seek support from women and minorities facing similar discrimination. However, support was not always granted. Assaults on members of gay community were in considered to be lynching, by the community. The comparison did not connect with African Americans. The vision of freedom the Gay community envisioned was one of social unity with disregard to sexual identity. The avocation of gay perceptions eventually changed the ideals of equality and societal
Famous children’s author Dr. Seuss once said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind". Gay rights, at the moment, are one of the most publicized and well known controversial subjects of this decade. The sides clearly drawn one fighting for rights as simple as being married the other stating that it defames their religion and goes against the definition of marriage, being between a man and a woman. The individuals who are fighting for their civil rights are fallowing the same path that African Americans and women have taken, but the change has started and in over 13 states gays have been given their basic rights and more state are joining in the fight both for and against the topic.
Throughout history, efforts towards gay rights journeyed on an uphill battle and were not majorly successful until recent years. Starting with the Cold War period in the 50’s, there was a growth in homosexual couples in the urban subculture where they were investigated and harassed by the police. During the 60’s, however, the march towards gay equality took a left turn and there was an increase in gay rights activism. Some goals of the activists were to decriminalize homosexual acts, receive equal treatment under the law, and for people to be educated by unbiased facts about homosexuality. Their efforts prevailed and the activists achieved the following: the right to publish gay magazines, victory of discrimination of employment cases, constraints on police harassment, opening of dialogue in scientific and religious communities, media visibility, organizational impulse, and denunciation of how gays are a mistreated minority. Although they achieved so many things,
Though many consider homosexuality a mental illness, different studies have proven that it is a bi...
There are certainly various points in history that can be construed as trailblazing for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. One event in particular, however, sparked awareness and a call to action that previously could never have been conceptualized in the United States. This unforgettable incident, the Stonewall riots of 1969, altered the public’s view of the gay community and arguably jumpstarted the next revolution in an entirely new civil rights movement.
However, a couple years ago, the issue seemed to only be discussed by people in the social sciences. Psychologists, such as Sigmund Freud, studied homosexuals broadly and were coming up with specification for their "abnormal" behavior. All of the reasons that the people who were studied, created links to homosexuality was because of experiences that homosexual have happened to them while growing up. Typically speaking, psychology believed that a person 's surrounding could explain homosexuality. However, in the past eight or ten years, the subject of homosexuality has and is steadily making it into the world of biology. Studies have been done recently are coming up with a genetic explication for sexual predilection. The fact that many of the scientists taking part into researches of this sort are gays, Chandler Burr an American journalist, scientist of genetics, and biology as well, verbally expressed “which expounds a lot about the issue, that homosexual people are intrigued and curious about their “abnormal” nature themselves”. It may also serve as proof, that homosexuality is not the personal choice, and also saying about the moral competence of sexual minority people. The words "sexual orientation," which in the 1980s superseded "sexual predilection," declares the deeply rooted nature of sexual desire and love. It implicatively
dThe treatment of the LGBT community in American society is a true social injustice. LGBT, or the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, community has gone through many hardships whether it’s been being harassed, denied