LGBTQ movements

The gay rights movement seeks acceptance for non-heterosexuality (homosexuality, bisexuality), non-heterosexual persons, and also transgendered people, even though they are not always gay. (Compare Homosexuality and Transgender.) The movement seeks various changes in public perception as well as in law to provide the same rights to homosexuals as are provided to heterosexuals; some of these changes are controversial.

Gay rights activists dismiss as irrelevant, misguided or malicious views that portray homosexuality as a sin or a perversion. They do not believe that sexual orientation is a choice, referring to homosexuality and heterosexuality equally as unchangeable sexual orientation. Thus they generally are adamant in opposing reparative therapy as well as religious ministries that claim to help volunteers "transition" from homosexuality to heterosexuality. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Psychological Association have both stated that reparative therapy is mentally impossible and very damaging to an individual who chooses to undergo it.

History and accomplishments

The gay rights movement arose in response to what many activists called discrimination and prejudice against homosexuals.

One of the first gay rights activism movements was centered around Magnus Hirschfeld in pre-World War II Berlin, Germany. The gay rights movement in Germany was almost completely obliterated by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement (See Homosexuals in Nazi Germany and Night of the Long Knives.)

United States

In the United States, there were some initial steps toward a gay rights movement with the formation of the Mattachine Society and the publications of Phil Andros in the years immediately following World War II. Also during this time frame Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was published by Alfred Kinsey, a work which was one of the first to look scientifically at the subject of sexuality. Kinsey's incredible assertion, backed by a great deal of research, that approximately 10% of the male population (and about half that number among females) had, or would have, at least one overt homosexual experience during the course of their lifetime, was a dramatic departure from the prevailing beliefs of the time. Before its publication, homosexuality was not a topic of discussion, generally, but afterwards it began to appear even in mainstream publications such as Time Magazine, Life Magazine, and others.

Despite the entry of the subject into mainstream consciousness very little actual change in the laws or mores of society was seen until the mid-1960s, the time the "Sexual Revolution" began. This was a time of major social upheaval in many social areas, including views of sexuality.

These works, along with other changes in society such as huge migrations to the cities following the War, began to build gay communities in urban centers, and gay people began to have a sense of themselves as a minority group rather than just a few isolated "inverts". While gay bars existed even in the early 20th century, they were very few.

With the rise of the gay community, gay bars became more and more common, and the sense of gay identity strengthened during the 1950s and 1960s. Gay people became less and less willing to accept their status as social outcasts and criminals. However, they had little or no political and social power until the late 1960s, even though some states began invalidating their sodomy laws earlier, with Illinois being the first state to do this in 1962.

However, the Stonewall riots of 1969 are considered to be the starting point for the modern gay rights movement, when all of these relatively underground changes reached a breaking point, and gay people began to organize on a large scale and demand legal and social recognition and equality.

The aftermath of the Stonewall riots saw the creation of such groups as the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Gay Activists' Alliance (GAA) in New York City. The GLF's 'A Gay Manifesto' set out the aims for the fledgling gay liberation movement. Chapters of the GLF would then spread to other countries. These groups would be the seeds for the various modern gay rights groups that campaign for equality in countries around the globe. In the 1970s many gay people moved to San Francisco, where they rapidly acquired considerable political influence, including getting one of their number, Harvey Milk, elected to the city's Board of Supervisors, a legislative chamber often known as a City Council in other municipalities (Milk was assassinated in 1978 along with the city's mayor at the time, George Moscone).

The first gay rights march in the United States took place on October 14, 1979 in Washington, DC, involving perhaps as many 100,000 people.

In the 21st century, defending homosexuals against homophobia and gay-bashing and other forms of discrimination is a major element of American gay rights, often portrayed as intrinsic to human rights. Indeed, one of the most influential gay rights groups in the U.S. is called the Human Rights Campaign. Other American gay rights organizations include the National Gay and Lesbian Task force (NGLTF), Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and various local gay community centers.

The movement has been successful in some areas. By the end of the 20th Century Sodomy laws were repealed or overturned in most American states, and those that still remained were ruled unconstitutional in the June 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. Many companies and local governments have clauses in their nondiscrimination policies that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In some jurisdictions in the U.S., gay bashing is considered a hate crime and given a harsher penalty.

The U.S. state of Vermont, the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia, and some European countries provide the civil union as an alternative to marriage. The Netherlands and Belgium allow same-sex marriage, as do the Canadian provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec, and the U.S. state of Massachusetts. See Same-sex marriage. Gay people are now permitted to adopt in some locations, although there are fewer locations where they may adopt children jointly with their partners.

In the cultural arena, similar changes have taken place. Positive and realistic gay characters appear with increasing regularity in television programs and movies.

The main opponents of the advances of the gay rights movement in the US have, in general, been the Christian right and other social conservatives, often under the aegis of the Republican Party. The Roman Catholic Church, or at least its hierarchy, has also been prominent among the movement's adversaries. Regionally, opposition to gays has been strongest in the Southern and Rocky Mountain states.

The United States has no federal law protecting against discrimination in employment by private sector employers based on sexual orientation. However, 14 states, the District of Columbia, and over 140 cities and counties have enacted such bans. As of July 2003, the states banning sexual orientation discrimination in private sector employment are California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.[1]. Many of these laws also ban discrimination in other contexts, such as housing or public accommodation. A proposed bill to ban anti-gay employment discrimination nationwide, known as the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), has been introduced in the United States Congress, but its prospects of passage are not believed to be good in the current Republican-controlled Congress.

On March 4, 1998 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in the case Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also applied when both parties are the same sex. The lower courts, however, have reached differing conclusions about whether this ruling applies to harassment motivated by antigay animus.

Canada

Canada has advanced dramatically in the fight of same-sex rights, exceeding many European nations in laws and benefits directed towards same-sex couples and members of the trans-identified communities.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada in 1969 thanks in part to then-Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada, Pierre Trudeau (who later became the 16th Prime Minister of Canada). He famously commented, "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation."

In 1977, the province of Quebec becomes the first province in Canada to include "sexual orientation" in its Human Rights Act. As of 2004, all provinces and territories have included "sexual orientation" to their Human Rights Act, and the Northwest Territories include "gender identity" in theirs.

In 1978, the Canadian Immigration Act was amended to remove homosexuals as inadmissable immigrants.

In 1981 a major bath house raid occurred in Toronto, so outraging the gay community that thousands poured in to the streets of Toronto to protest the raid. Infrequent bathhouse raids continue to occur to this day. Laws from the 1800s known as "bawdy house laws" are still listed in the Criminal Code of Canada; police use these laws to lay charges, and use lliquor violation laws as grounds to enter the premises.

In 1982 Canada received an amended Constitution, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The wording "sexual orientation" was not explicitly included in the list of groups listed in Section 15 of the Charter (Equality Rights), against which, "in particular," discrimination is forbidden. However, in 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Egan v. Canada that "sexual orientation" should be 'read in' to Section 15.

In the 1980s, several attempts were made to add "sexual orientation" into the Federal Human Rights Act, an amendment that did not take place until 1996.

In 1988, New Democrat MP Svend Robinson became the first member of Parliament to come out, declaring that he is gay to the media outside the House of Commons. There are currently 6 members of Parliament and two senators who identify as gay or lesbian. In the main, the New Democratic Party and Bloc Québécois support legislation in favour of LGBT rights; the Liberal Party of Canada is divided on the issue, and the Conservative Party is almost entirely opposed.

In 1992, then-Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada, Kim Campbell (who later became Canada's first female prime minister) announced that Canada was lifting its ban on homosexuals in the military, allowing them to serve openly and live on-base with their partners. Canada was one of the first countries to allow this.

In 1995 a court in Ontario ruled that gay and lesbian couples wishing to adopt jointly should be allowed to do so, making Ontario the first province to allow this. Currently, nearly all provinces allow gay and lesbian couples (and single gays and lesbians) to adopt children.

In 1999, gays and lesbians scored a major victory when the Supreme Court of Canada rules that gay and lesbian couples should have the same rights at heterosexual common-law couples. This forced the federal Liberal government to pass a bill in 2000 amending 68 federal statutes, including pension benefits, bankruptcy protection, income taxes, old age security, and immigration, among others. Legal marriage, however, remained defined as being between a man and a woman.

Between 2002 and 2004, several courts ruled that restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples is discriminatory, and struck down the federal definition. The first ruling required the federal government to draft legislation recognizing same-sex marriage, but later rulings brought the new definition into effect immediately in the jurisdictions concerned. Canada thereby became the third country in the world to allow same-sex marriage, after the Netherlands and Belgium.

As of July 2004, same-sex marriages are legally recognized in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and the Yukon, encompassing over 72% of Canada's population.

The federal government announced in the summer of 2003 that it would not appeal the decisions and would draft legislation to allow same-sex marriages across the country. The bill was put before the Supreme Court of Canada to ensure that is would withstand a Charter challenge by those who oppose same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments on the draft legislation in October of 2004 and parliament will vote on it in winter/spring of 2005.

In May of 2004, the House of Commons and the Senate passed Bill C-250, which adds "sexual orientation" to the Hate Propaganda section of the Criminal Code, thus making it illegal for people to propagate hate based on sexual orientation

Republic of Ireland

Homosexuality was formally decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland in 1993 as a result of a campaign by Senator David Norris and the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform which led to a ruling, in 1988, that Irish laws prohibiting homosexual activities were in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights. At present there are no plans to legislate for gay marriage or civil partnerships.

The Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform was founded in the 1970s to fight for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, its founding members including Senator Norris and future President of Ireland Mary McAleese. Prior to 1993 homosexuality was not illegal in the Republic per se but certain laws dating from the nineteenth century rendered homosexual acts illegal. The relevant legislation was the 1861 Offences against the Person Act, and the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act, both enacted while the whole of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, the state had a long-standing policy of only prosecuting people in cases where minors were involved or sexual acts were committed in public or without consent.

In 1983 David Norris took a case to the Supreme Court seeking to challenge the constitutionality of these laws but was unsuccessful. In its judgement (delivered by a 3-2 majority) the court referred to the "Christian and democratic nature of the Irish State" and argued that criminalisation served public health and the institution of marriage.

In 1988 Norris took a case to the European Court of Human Rights to argue that Irish law was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. The court, in the case of Norris v. Ireland, ruled that the criminalisation of homosexuality in the Republic violated Article 8 of the Convention, which guarantees the right to privacy in personal affairs. The Irish parliament (Oireachtas) decriminalised homosexuality five years later.

External links

Norris v. Ireland (European Court of Human Rights case law)

History and accomplishments

United States

Canada

Republic of Ireland

See also

External links