The American LGBTQ Rights Movement An Introduction Chapter 1 THE BEGINNINGS

THE BEGINNINGS 1900 1968 ARY GOVERNMENT you if are , and why are here even to have someone onthe worry about WHILE DARREN AND I were visiting West Chester Pennsylvania , a group of hustlers stopped us and wouldn let us pass . After taunting us , one of the kids punched me in the stomach and kicked me in the face , while Darren yelled for the police . Finally they left , and Darren and I ran to the train station , when we were picked up by the police and taken to

la , headquarters . It seems the hustlers realized the seriousness of what they had done , and in an attempt to protect themselves they told the police that it was Darren and I who solicited them ! And I , who was beaten and kicked , was accused of assault , for it was said that I placed my hand on the rear of one of them . I won even mention police brutality because I know it would be censored . Darren and I are waiting in this prison waiting , but we don know what for . We have been in this prison nearly a month now , with at least more to go until we have a this simply because we can not afford bail or an attorney . Naturally , we ve lost ourjobs , and while we re waiting , we re probably losing

la , our house and because a bunch of college hustlers won tell the truth ! As we may only write two letters a month , this is my second . My first plea for help went unheeded , as will , I am sure , any further letters I may write . My family never wants to see me is no one Darren and I can turn to for help . I am writing you if only to tell someone where we are , and why we are here even if only to have someone on the outside worry about us . But what we are really hoping for is help to fight this most profound injustice Now that you know that we are in prison for a crime that we did not commit , I can only beg that you will do anything possible to help us . Please sir , Richard NOTE . This letter was written to ( 21112 in ( azine editors located a lawyer for Darren and Richard , and the two were released from jail . Source ' by Craig .

DEFINITION OF TERMS Although the terms gay , lesbian , transgender , and ( lesbian , gay , bisexual , transgender , and queer ) are used in this chapter , these are not terms people used in the early to century . Homosexual was the term most often used for lesbian and gay in this era . Queer was considered a derogatory term , unlike the positive meaning it has today . No term existed in the English language for transgender prior to the . In the and , transsexual became the most widely used term .

Harlem offered black lesbians and bisexuals a relatively safe place to engage in partnerships . Artists were usually quiet about their gender preference , but others like Gertrude Ma ( top ) and Gladys Bentley ( below ) were more open to claiming a lesbian or bisexual identity . REPRESENTATION dates back to the earliest human civilizations . ever , gay and lesbian communities only started to gain visibility in America with the ment of industrialized urban centers in the late , most notably in New York . In 1903 , New York police , under pressure from religious morality groups , conducted the first known raid targeting gay men . The Armed Services launched its known investigation of behavior in 1919 , with a probe into the activities of its cadets in Newport , Rhode Island . Although the military had a long tory of persecuting homosexual activity dating back to the Revolutionary War , the Armed vices only officially made consensual sodomy a criminal offense in 1920 . Alcohol prohibition from 1920 to 1933 saw a period of greater freedom for people . Illegal speakeasies allowed people relatively safe places to congregate away from police intervention . Performers such as Gene , Ma Rainy , and Bessie Smith ly espoused gay and lesbian identities , while female impersonators such as Julian be came popular international performers . Books with gay , lesbian , and transgender themes such as Virginia Orlando and garnered wide . Annual balls drew thousands of participants in New York , while smaller balls gained popularity across the nation .

THE OF GAY and lesbian people gan with the invention of the term homosexual by mental health PSYCHIATRY professionals in the late . As the profession of psychiatry grew in prominence , mental health doctors grew increasingly they could identify and ultimately transform gay , lesbian , transgender , and intersex people into heteronormative adults . In 1952 , the American Psychiatric Association ( APA ) as a mental disorder in their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ( Although this listing has since been removed from the , mental health experts of this era employed a number of unsuccessful therapies in an attempt to cure homosexuality in their patients . Psychotherapy , popularized by Freud at the turn of the century , utilized psychoanalysis , hypnosis , group therapy , and other techniques to attempt to cure gay , lesbian , and transgender people . Behavior therapy , an attempt to cure impulses by associating them with negative stimuli , gained popularity in the . mental health facilities , such as State Hospital , allowed mental health professions to employ more extreme methods ing electric shock , lobotomies , sterilization , and drugs such as succinylcholine ( a drug that simulates the feeling of dying ) to try to cure patients of their homosexuality The rising stature of the psychiatric profession , as evidenced by the establishment of a National Institute of Mental Health in 1946 , had implications for people far beyond mental health HARRY BENJAMIN 2002 HARRY BENJAMIN WAS BORN IN BERLIN . Germany , in 1885 . He moved to New York in the and started a practice focusing on endocrinology and gender identity . From then until the , he was the person for transgender people seeking medical treatment in the United States . Benjamin assisted Christine , Reed , and Renee Richards , among others , to medically alter their physiology and to provide social and legal support . Benjamin , and a network of doctors and psychologists , established the Harry Benjamin Foundation in the to assist transgender people in obtaining . In 1966 , he published the groundbreaking Transsexual . Benjamin retired in the and was honored as a pioneer for his work . The influential Harry Benjamin International Gender ria Association ( was named in his honor .

services . During World War II and thereafter , the military used psychiatric evaluations as the basis for discharging gay and lesbian service members . The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 denied entry in the country to those with psychopathic inferiority , a term that was explicitly intended to deny access to , and later deport , gay and lesbian ple . The 19505 Lavender Scare ( to be explored in the Government section later ) was , in part , on psychiatric views of the mental instability of gay and lesbian people . Print dia in the 19505 published articles on the homosexual threat to gender norms and on how to prevent homosexuality Behavior modification kits used in attempts . I i ' I in children . Even the Revised Standard Version Cure or purchase , including a stationary electroshock ofthe Bible added the mental health term shocker and a persona in shocker . I I THE TRANSITION FROM WORLD War I to World War II led to a change in Armed Forces policies from discharging those who had committed the act of sodomy , to discharging those with homosexual proclivities of whether any sexual act had been ted . Nonetheless , because of the dire need for soldiers during World War , the Armed Services did not strictly enforce its policies , and great numbers of gay and lesbian people served with distinction in World War II . After the war , the number of for homosexuality increased . The Armed Force expelled many gay and lesbian service members under a blue discharge . Blue discharges were not dis honorable , but did disqualify the veteran from receiving benefits and subjected them to discrimination when seeking future employment .

10 , The Veterans Administration discontinued blue discharges in 1947 , but replaced it with an discharge category that continued to be used against gay and lesbian service members . In 1949 , the Department of Defense issued a statement that required the expulsion of all known homosexuals from service . While the Korean War and the need for military personnel led to a temporary drop in discharges , the end of the war saw the high number for homosexuality resume . Lesbian service members of the Women Army Corps work on a plane at the Army Air Force Base Unit at Patterson Field in Ohio in 1944 These women could not publicly reveal their sexual orientation during their service .

) i , THE FRENZY following World War II led to the Lavender Scare in which gay and lesbian ple were targeted by the federal government . crusaders argued that gay and lesbian people innate ty and mental instability left them vulnerable to blackmail by Communist agents . No evidence this accusation , but gay and lesbian people had no political influence nor advocates to counter the hyperbolic claims against them . In 1953 , President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450 , ning lesbian and gay people from working for the federal government or any of its private contractors . Consequently , the FBI launched a campaign to root out gay and lesbian people from federal ployment . Thousands of gay and lesbian people were ultimately fired as security risks from federal ployment in the and 19605 . The investigation also had a broader impact , as unknown numbers of people simply quit their federal jobs rather than face a possible FBI inquiry . Many state and municipal governments , as well as private employers , followed the federal lead to root out gay and lesbian employees . In some professional , this campaign effectively created of gay and lesbian people who could no longer find employment in their respective fields . BAYARD AN OPENLY GAY QUAKER PACIFIST , Bayard was one ofthe most important and influential civil rights activists of the century . He schooled Martin Luther King about Mahatma Gandhi philosophy of nonviolence . With King , he formed the Southern Christian Leadership Council . In 1963 , he conceived and then organized ( in just eight weeks ) the March on Washington , site of King I have a dream speech . However , on the eve of the march , he was denounced on the Senate floor as a Communist , draft dodger , and pervert . Eventually was forced out ofthe civil rights ment by internal politicking in which his homosexuality left him able . He continued to advocate a protest agenda informed by a belief that economic inequality is the graveyard of was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 .

12 CRIMINAL JUSTICE , AT THE END OF PROHIBITION in 1933 , state ii authorities formed to regulate the dispersal of alcohol . These authorities used their power to revoke the licenses of bars that served gay and lesbian clientele . Police enforced the regulation by raiding and shutting down bars that served gay . conduct , and disorderly conduct statues permitted police to harass and arrest gay and lesbian patrons with impunity . Because bars were the primary public places Where gay and lesbian people congregated , hilt and fan entrapment lit HICKS gay . arrested a , lesbian , and trans ender eo le for such trans as of the opposite sex , behaving as someone of the opposite sex , or even holding hands with a member of the same sex . Those arrested were vulnerable to violence from police and , from inmates . If their arrest became known , they faced the loss of their jobs , eviction from their homes , and social tion . Arrestees often had little choice but to quietly pay their fines , rather than contest their arrest in EARL . HART Pearl Hart left school at fourteen to earn a living . However , she soon returned and earned a law degree from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago in 1914 . Hart was the first woman practice criminal law in that city , where she became a pion for social justice . As a public defender , she successfully defended women unfairly accused of prostitution and gay men arrested on morals charges . In the hysteria of the , she defended naturalized citizens accused of subversive activities whom the federal government acted to deport . Hart helped to found and served on boards of many social justice groups , including the National Lawyers Guild and west . She taught law at her alma mater and worked pro bono for es close to her heart . She sympathized with the needs of the most vulnerable in society and actively fought for the rights of children . She lived with her partner for thirty years and died leaving a meager financial estate and a huge legacy .

, court and have their sexual orientation publicly exposed in local newspapers . people were particularly to extortion and violence . Victimized people rarely charges out of fear of exposure or that they would be the ones at rested . Perpetrators of Violence against gay , les bian , and transgender people could even claim what become known as a gay panic or trans panic defenses which justified any violence , including murder , in the name of protecting oneself against a advance . became the first state to ban the use of such a defense in 2006 , and as of 2019 , has been joined by six other states . Fears of homosexuality led to gay purges in local communities and universities . In , Idaho , fear ofan underground homosexual ring led to the questioning of roughly ple , of which were sentenced to prison , including one for life . In Florida , a state funded task force successfully removed scores of gay and lesbian educators from public schools . Universities across the country saw an escalation of the expulsion of gay and lesbian students and professors . In 1924 Chicago , Henry launched the first known homosexual rights organization in America , The Society for Human Rights ( Police arrested and shut down the organization a few months after its founding . The police and never returned papers associated with the publication , Friendship and Freedom , as well as typewriter , 13

14 MEDIA IN 1927 , THE STATE OF NEW YORK banned theater productions that promoted homosexual content . In the 19305 , the Hays Code forbid homosexual content in movies . Book and magazine publishers commonly re fused to print positive portrayals , lesbian , and transgender people for fear of legal prose . In the 19505 , print media gave voice to the psychiatric view that homosexuality was a mental illness and a threat to male and female gender Articles advised how to rear children to ensure they did not become homo sexual . Tabloids printed conspiracy theories of a gay and lesbian underground targeting chil dren and family values . In the 19505 , cheap and sensationalized gay and lesbian fiction became abundantly available . Called pulp for the cheap paper it was printed on , these works utilized tragic cautionary endings so as to avoid their by authorities for promoting ho . Still , the stories were popular in the lesbian and gay community because they were among the few sources of mass media and gay . a , um rum IN ! This ONE Magazine cover story tells a first hand account of a United States veterans hospital employee who was interrogated and fired from his lob for being gay . The task force responsible for the investigation coerced him to turn over his gay and lesbian coworkers in the name of purifying the hospital

, The San Francisco beat writers addressed homosexuality and bisexuality in their literature and poetry and harbored openly gay and members , including William and Allen . Allen How and , er Poems and William both OE brought , in part , because content . COMMUNITY DURING WORLD WAR II , the large congregation of men and women in sex environments in the military , and in United States factories , meant gay and lesbian people could find each other in numbers never before possible . After the war , many gay and lesbian service members decided not to return home , but instead remained in large port cities with other gay and lesbian people . Despite tion , gay and lesbian communities in most major United States cities and a few tion areas such as Cherry Grove on Fire Island in New York . Ill TIE Sexual Behavior in the Human Male published became one ofthe and most influential academic publications of the century . Among its findings were that 37 of the male population had experienced a homosexual encounter , while 10 were predominantly or exclusively homosexual for an extended period oftheir adult life . The book called into questions the notion that homosexuality was a rare or abnormal behavior .

, A few groups emerged to meet community needs . One the first known incorporated groups in American history , the Veterans Benevolent Association , launched in 1945 as a social and support group for gay veterans . The interracial social club Knights of the Clock launched at the end of the decade . The Satyrs Motorcycle Club founded in 1954 in Los Angeles became one of the oldest continually operating gay organizations in North America and helped spawn the formation of gay motorcycle groups across the United States . Other social gatherings were more informal . parties provided protected spaces for communities . Reputed public parks and beaches , sports leagues , and even science fiction clubs provided other venues for people to meet and interact . Guy Girl Guide in 1949 was one of the earliest to publish gathering places . Annual gay travel publications like the guides and gay tours , such as those led by ONE Incorporated , emerged in the 19605 . JAMES BALDWIN , bullying , and poverty to become one of the great writers and civil rights advocates of the century . He explored racism and the munity in his texts , including in the critically acclaimed novel Go Tell It on the Mountain and essay collection Notes ofa Native Son . in his book Giovanni Room , he dealt explicitly with a gay relationship , treating the gay characters as men first , rather than homosexual stereotypes . Baldwin himself was never in the closet and weathered enormous criticism for his sexual orientation . Baldwin spoke out against racism , homophobia , sexism , classism , and poverty all this lite , a moral witness to prejudice and in all its forms .

ai ' i , cars , sports , parks , and beaches each held for of the bar . 17