Gay Liberation: Has It Been Achieved?
A Look at Social and Legal Reform Through the Decades
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. Homophobia is also 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. 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.
Mammy Caricature circa 1939 |
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.
Stonewall Riots 1939 |
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. 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.
Gay Marriage Activists 2009 |
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 of same-sex marriage. 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
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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.
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Miller, Neil. Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present. New York: Alyson, 2006. Print.
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