Gay Liberation movement

Examples of Gay Liberation movement in the following topics:

• The Gay Rights Movement

  • The Gay Rights movement grew out of the Gay Liberation Movement of the 1970's, pursuing equality through the framework of civil rights.
  • From the anarchistic Gay Liberation Movement of the early 1970s arose a more reformist and single-issue Gay Rights Movement of the 80s and 90s.
  • This new movement portrayed gays and lesbians as a minority group and used the language of civil rights.
  • This proved to be a major set-back in the Gay Rights movement.
  • In Canada, the coming into effect of Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1985 saw a shift in the Canadian gay rights movement, as Canadian gays and lesbians moved from liberation to litigious strategies.

• Gay and Lesbian Rights

  • Various communities have worked together, but also have worked independently of each other, in various configurations including gay liberation, lesbian feminism, the queer movement, and transgender activism.
  • Lesbian feminism emerged around the same time that gay liberation groups were forming.
  • Many women of the gay liberation movement felt frustrated at the domination of the movement by men and formed separate organizations.
  • The most famous event in the gay rights movement took place not in San Francisco but in New York City.
  • Shortly thereafter, the Gay Liberation Front and Gay Activists’ Alliance were formed and began to protest discrimination, homophobia, and violence against gay and transgender people, promoting LGBT liberation and pride.

• The Beats

  • The publishers won, and publishing in the United States was liberalized.
  • Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase Beat Generation in 1948 to characterize a perceived underground, anti-conformist youth movement in New York.
  • Spiritual liberation, sexual revolution or liberation (i.e., gay liberation, which somewhat catalyzed women's liberation and black liberation);
  • Many of the original Beats remained active participants, notably Allen Ginsberg, who became a fixture of the anti-war movement.
  • Beyond style, there were changes in substance: the Beats tended to be essentially apolitical, but the hippies became actively engaged with the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement.

• Conclusion: Change in the 1960s

  • The African American civil rights movement made significant progress in the 1960s.
  • Although the African American civil rights movement was the most prominent of the crusades for racial justice, other ethnic minorities also worked to seize their piece of the American dream during the promising years of the 1960s.
  • The Mexican American civil rights movement, led largely by Cesar Chavez, also made significant progress at this time.
  • The emergence of the Chicano Movement signaled Mexican Americans’ determination to seize their political power, celebrate their cultural heritage, and demand their citizenship rights.
  • Influenced and inspired by the civil rights movement, organizations and student groups formed across the country to protest the Vietnam War, advocate for women's rights, and stand up against discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

• Clinton and Domestic Policy

  • The audience included several figures from the Civil Rights movement, including Congresspersons John Lewis, Maxine Waters, Jim Clyburn, Juanita Millender-McDonald, Patsy Mink, and Robert Filner.
  • Although Clinton had campaigned as an economically conservative New Democrat, he was thought to be socially liberal and, just days after his victory in the 1992 election, he promised to end the 50-year ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military.
  • Instead of lifting the longstanding ban, the armed forces would adopt a policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell”: those on active duty would not be asked their sexual orientation and, if they were gay, they were not to discuss their sexuality openly or they would be dismissed from military service.
  • This compromise satisfied neither conservatives seeking the exclusion of gays nor the gay community, which argued that homosexuals, like heterosexuals, should be able to live without fear of retribution because of their sexuality.

• The Clinton Administration

  • Socially, the administration began with efforts by Clinton to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, which culminated in a compromise known as "Don't ask, don't tell," theoretically allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military if they did not disclose their sexual orientation (the policy was later repealed in 2010).
  • However, Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, considered by many to be a blow to the LGBT rights movement.
  • Clinton oversaw the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords between the government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington, D.C., which aimed at establishing peace between the warring nations by granting limited self-government of Palestinians in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
  • The Clinton presidency also saw the passage and signing of the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, which was a bipartisan measure expressing support for regime change in Iraq.

• The Expansion of the Civil Rights Movement

  • The Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) refers to U.S. social movements aimed at exposing institutional racism and achieving liberation for African Americans.
  • The Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) refers to the social movements led by African Americans in the United States aimed at exposing rampant (and often legalized) racial discrimination and achieving equal rights and liberation for African Americans.
  • The movement was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance.
  • The growing African-American civil rights movement also spawned civil rights movements for other marginalized groups during the 1960s.
  • These other movements included a new wave of feminism and a sexual revolution, as well as calls for Native American, Latino, and gay and lesbian rights.

• Social Change

  • Fueled by ideas of sexual liberation, however, dating underwent major changes on college campuses.
  • The relative liberalism toward homosexuality was publicly demonstrated by the actor William Haines, regularly named in newspapers and magazines as the top male box-office draw, who lived in an openly gay relationship with his partner, Jimmie Shields.
  • Other popular gay actors and actresses of the decade included Alla Nazimova and Ramón Novarro.
  • With the return of a conservative mood in the 1930s, the public once again grew intolerant of homosexuality, and gay actors were forced to choose between retiring or agreeing to hide their sexuality, even in the relatively liberal safe haven of Hollywood.
  • Screen, stage and radio megastar Mae West was a vocal proponent of sexual openness and gay rights.

• Conclusion: Political Crises in the 70s and 80s

  • The 1970s and 80s were marked by the continuation of the Cold War and its proxy wars around the world, as well as a rise in both conservatism and liberal social movements at home.
  • Conservative politicians led by President Reagan's administration cut taxes for the wealthy and shrank programs for the poor, while conservative Christians blamed the legalization of abortion and the increased visibility of gays and lesbians for weakening the "American family."
  • In response, gay men and women formed organizations such as ACT UP to draw attention to their cause.

• The Election of 1980

  • During the presidential campaign, reporters posed questions to Reagan about his stance on the Briggs Initiative (also known as Proposition 6), a ballot initiative in Reagan's home state of California that proposed the banning of gays, lesbians, and supporters of LGBT rights from working in California's public schools.
  • Anderson, a liberal Republican, received 6.7%).
  • Many were evangelical Christians, like those who joined Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, and opposed the legalization of abortion, the feminist movement, and sex education in public schools.