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Gay Liberation: Has It Been Achieved?

In his chronicle of gay and lesbian history, Out of the Past, author Neil Miller dubs the period from the 1960’s to the 1990’s the “Era of Gay Liberation.” Yet today, in 2010, it is questionable if gay liberation has been achieved. Same-sex marriage has been in a constant legalization limbo, and social homophobia is still very much alive – just this past month there has been a string of adolescent gay suicides. It would be a gross overstatement to say gays have achieved equal standing and rights in the United States.  Doubtless, Miller knew this, but used the term “era of gay liberation” nonetheless. For there was a distinct form of LGBT freedom achieved in Miller’s era of liberation; maybe not in creating a gay-friendly utopia, but for the gay community itself. By examining other notable reform movements, specifically for women’s suffrage and African-American civil rights, it becomes. The liberation Miller identifies was not in laws but in establishing a social identity; this is exemplified first by studying the African American civil rights movement as historical background of social reform, next by examining how social the unique position of sexuality as a minority group, third, by recognizing the primary social changes within the gay community from the 60’s to the 90’s, and finally by determining that the legal aspect of liberation has not been met.

The African-American civil rights movements achieved legal rights through the ability to change social paradigms. Pre-1950, African-Americans were established as second-class citizens. The monumental Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not just happen. It was the culmination of a minority group’s united effort to attain their rights. Today, those pre-1950 images of supposed African-American life, such as the mammy, untrustworthy black man, and savage tendencies, are now seen as unacceptable racist portrayals. The public image of what it meant to be black in America completely changed. As Haney Lopez put it, “race must be viewed as a social construction…racial systems of meaning can change at a relatively rapid rate” (198-199). The African American civil rights movement speaks to the current LGBT movement in two specific ways. First, it shows that it is the power of an established movement can create significant legal change. Second, it raises the question that if something as paramount in society as race is a social construction liable to change, what else is merely a social construction? If the image of race can be transformed in twenty years, why not gender? The African American civil rights movement provides important

The gay movement itself is singular from any other civil rights movement because it demands society to consider how one’s sexuality influences everyday life. For other civil rights movements, like black emancipation and women’s suffrage, the right being fought for was to be treated equally as a citizen. No one has asserted that homosexuals are not people. Gays are still full citizens, can vote, can work, and possess other individual rights. But many have asserted that homosexuals are sick people. The rights gays fight for are not individual citizen concerns but of dynamics between people – from prejudice in the workplace to the right to have sex with whom they want, to of course marriage. Opposition against homosexuality has revolved around connotations of what people think being gay means, even in politics. In 1978, Proposition 6 was on the ballot to ban open homosexuals from teaching. To gain support, pamphlets had titles like “TEACHER ACCUSED OF SEX ACTS WITH BOY STUDENT” (Miller 374), meaning the reason gays shouldn’t teach was because they were child molesters, which was an extension of viewing homosexuality as a perverted sickness. Media personality Anita Bryant even ran an anti-gay campaign in the 70’s called “Save Our Children” that collected 65,000 signatures in six weeks (Miller 372). These issues highlight how much social stigmas of what being gay means influences actual policy. Changing these perceptions involves changing social attitudes before laws, and thus gay liberation was first and foremost a social process due to the nature of the movement.

The most notable change of LGBT issues from the 60’s to the 90’s was the gay community itself; the very meaning of what being gay meant changed completely. Prior to 1969, gay culture consisted of homosexuality as a mental sickness, and if you were gay you had better fix yourself or live a life of shame. Starting in 1969 and carrying on through the 70’s, gays changed from an oppressed, unspeakable group to a group who flaunted their sexuality. The change was not gradual; rather, gay culture exploded onto the scene when patrons of a gay bar, Stonewall, fought the police trying to arrest them on June 28, 1969. Mr. Bauman, an AIDS activist, notes that “what shocked both gays and the straight establishment was that gays had, for once, openly fought back” (Chan). The 70’s used this momentum to rebel against the societal oppression gays had lived with for so long. Hypersexuality was everything, because it was the physical epitome of being unashamed of homosexuality. In a way, the 70’s were like the teenage years of the gay movement – the “screw up” child rebels against his parents by doing everything he wants to do for the first time. The 80’s were dominated by the onset of AIDS, but this actually strengthened the gay movement because it was come together or die. Former nightlife partiers of the 70’s founded organizations like GMHC and ACT-UP; many turned to community activities like sports and support groups instead of relying on sex as a lifestyle. A community was fostered in a time of crisis. If the 70’s were the teenage years of the gay movement, the 80’s are when that teenager was forced to mature into an adult. By the 90’s, LGBT groups knew exactly who they were and the rights they wanted, and were taking part in mainstream politics like President Clinton’s election. Without even mentioning gay leaders, or events, or anti-gay opposition, it is clear that between the 60’s and the 90’s, being gay had morphed from being a sick human being to being part of a diverse community with values and goals. This is the self-liberation of Miller’s movement.

Of course, plenty of LGBT legal issues did arise between the 60’s and the 90’s, and the fact that gay rights remain a topic of mainstream political debate today shows that the legal aspect of the movement is not over. Laws giving the LGBT community equal rights are not suddenly going to materialize – the gay community must fight for them. In 1960, the idea that same-sex marriage should be legal was preposterous. By the mid-90s, however, the topic was a critical political issue that had already been going through the courts since cases like Baker v. Nelson in 1972. Today, same-sex marriages are legal in approximately six states and the topic is constantly being debated (National Conference of State Legislatures). While Miller calls the 60’s-90’s the “Era of Gay Liberation,” he calls the time period after that “The Gay Moment.” This shows Miller’s recognition that the legal liberation will follow the social liberation. In other words, the gay community had to be able to assert who they were before making an argument for their legal rights. The legal system is therefore revealed to be another social construction – as the law must serve the people, when the people’s opinion changes, the law should follow. Noted expert on law William Eskridge has states that “legal rules and standards pervasively reflect, regulate, and are undermined by the diversity of gender roles, sexual practices, and gender or sexual identities in a society” (1334). This is seen with respect to the LGBT movement because as the movement grew, so did its legal attention. In the 70’s, gay politicians first began to gain more success, like lesbian Elaine Noble serving the Massachusetts House of Representatives in ’75 and Harvey Milk’s election to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in ’77. Today, the Obama administration employs over 150 gays, the largest number in history. The legal aspects of the gay movement follows the growth that the LGBT community has made, as opposed to the laws creating the liberation.

The gay movement is still ongoing. According to Miller, we have moved into “The Gay Moment.” Miller’s liberation movement from the 60’s to the 90’s established who the gay community is and what they stand for; today, the goal is to eventually achieve the legal liberation. The fight for gay rights is unusual because it is a fight for acceptance of sexuality, which has never before been seriously addressed. The gay identity figuratively grew up between the 60’s and the 90s; from that of an oppressed child in the 60’s, to the rebellious hypersexual teenager of the 70’s, to looking down death and finding value in community in the ‘80’s, and finally being an adult in the 90’s ready to impact mainstream issues. The legal liberation is currently ongoing. Miller’s Era of Liberation was one of growing up - the gay community found itself an identity. The popular Queer Nation slogan sums it up nicely; “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.”

Works Cited

Alfano, Sean. "President Obama Has Appointed a Record Number of Gays to His Administration, Data Shows." New York News, Traffic, Sports, Weather, Photos, Entertainment, and Gossip - NY Daily News. 26 Oct. 2010. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. <http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/10/26/2010-10-26_president_obama_has_appointed_a_record_number_of_gays_to_his_administration_data.html>.

Chan,  Sewell. "Revisiting 1969 and the Start of Gay Liberation - NYTimes.com." Metro - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. <http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/nypl-stonewall-post/>.

"Civil Rights Movement Timeline (14th Amendment, 1964 Act, Human Rights Law) — Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online Reference, Research & Homework Help. — Infoplease.com. 2007. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. <http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html>.

               Eskridge, William N. "SEXUAL AND GENDER VARIATION IN AMERICAN PUBLIC LAW: FROM MALIGNANT TO BENIGN TO PRODUCTIVE." UCLA LAW REVIEW 57.5 (2010): 1-41. Web.

Haney Lopez, Ian F. "The Social Construction of Race." Harvard C.R-C.L.L. 29 (1994): 194. Web.

Miller, Neil. Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present. New York: Alyson, 2006. Print.

"Same Sex Marriage." NCSL Home. Sept. 2010. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. <http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=16430>.