Gay Rights Movement Analysis

Analysis of the Gay Rights Movement
The 1960s and 1970s were tumultuous times for freedom and rights movements, a memorable key movement being the Black Liberation Movement, also known as the Civil Rights Movement. This movement gained rights for black Americans by having protests, such as riots, sit-ins, and marches, that lead to the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Act of 1965. The Black Liberation Movement also had inspired many other movements, such as the Women’s Liberation Movement, the Student Movement, the Environmental Movement, and the Gay Liberation Movement. During the late 1960s and the 1970s, the Gay Liberation Movement was in full-swing, giving attention to the gay and lesbian communities, who before had

In 1948, Alfred Kinsey, a Indiana University zoologist, published the Kinsey Report, which reported that 37% of men had some form of homosexual activity by early adulthood, as had 13% of women. Kinsey even claimed that 10% of American men were exclusively homosexual. This report shocked the nation by discussing topics of homosexuality of marital infidelity. In 1950, activist Harry Hay founded the Mattachine Society, one of the first sustained gay rights group in America. This LA based organization originated the term “homophile” because it was seen as less clinical and more focused on sexual activity rather than “homosexual”. The Mattachine Society’s mission was to fight for LGBT equal rights and to change the attitude towards same sex love. Homophiles avoided bars and clubs, hoping for a more middle class decent image rather than the stereotypical homosexual who drinks and clubs every night. Starting off small, the Mattachine Society expanded after founding member Dale Jennings was arrested for solicitation, but later was set free due to a deadlocked jury. In 1955, a lesbian rights group, Daughters of Bilitis, was founded in San Francisco by Del Martin, a lesbian rights activist; this rights group hosted private social functions, due to fear of police raids, threats of violence and discrimination in bars and clubs, and later published the

All of these affairs had been key events that lead up to the explosion that was the Stonewall Riots of June 28, 1969. In Greenwich Village, police raided the Stonewall Inn in the early hours of the morning. They arrested 13 people, including employees and people violating the state’s gender-appropiate statute on clothing. Fed up with the discrimination and constantly being harassed by the police, patrons of the Stonewall Inn and neighborhood residents, including Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, the founders of Sweet Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, became quickly agitated after being aggressively manhandled by the police and within a few minute, it became a full on riot, lasting five days. In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the list of mental disorders. In 1974, Kathy Kozachenko was the first open LGBT individual elected into a public office. In 1978, Harvey Milk is inaugurated as San Francisco city supervisor, and is the first openly gay man to be elected to a political office in California, but November of 1978, he was assinated by Dan White, who was only charged for manslaughter and served