Book Summary
Gay America: Struggle for Equality by Linas Alsenas depicts the history of homosexuals and lesbians across the nation. The book begins with homosexuality first being presented to society and shows the transformation and acceptance all the way to the present. The book emphasizes many themes throughout history and highlights many advocates for gay rights and equality. Gay America was the first gay history textbook for young teens.
Timeline:
1950s- (homophile/conforming/more conservative period)
Mattachine
Daughters of Bilitis
1950s and 60s– (counterculture, more liberal perspective)
Beats
League for Civil Education
East Coast Homophile Organizations (but different than old homophile organizations, this pushed a radical agenda that included public picketing)
North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (1966)
1960s – (trying to get rid of the concept that it was an illness.)
Stonewall riot (June 27, 1969)
-some said fighting back was good, but some disliked it for promoting stereotype of "violent, tacky radicals."
1970s – (New Left began to get behind gay rights movement, but violence grew)
Gay Liberation Front (1969)
Gat Activists Alliance (1969)
Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) (1972)
-Also in 1973, however, there was a case of arson in a gay bar in New Orleans that killed 32 people.
-National Gay Task Force (NGTF, then NGLTF to include Lesbians in the title) (1973): “instrumental in getting the U.S. Civil Service Commission to stop excluding homosexuals from federal employment in 1975, and it helped make gay rights an official priority of the Democratic Party during the 1976 and 1980 national conventions” (101)
1980s- (AIDS is wrongly considered a homosexual disease)
AIDS: rapid spreading of cases in 1980, but called GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency) until 1982. In 1984, the National Institutes of Health declared the “probable cause” of AIDS to be a virus – later called HIV. There was no test for HIV until March, 1985. Bathhouses and sex clubs, often places of large amounts of unprotected sex, were shut down in 1984.
Fight for federal help: “Although the CDC had described the disease as an ‘epidemic’ as early as 1981, President Ronald Reagan refused to provide adequate funding for dealing with the disease. In fact, he didn’t even say the word ‘AIDS’ in public until 1986, and his first major speech to mention AIDS was in 1987 –when almost 21,000 people had already died from it” (114)
Celebrity fund-raising and support “was an important contribution to the evolving views of the American public regarding AIDS” (118)
ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) was created in 1987. This was a group of gay radicals who were angry about how the AIDS epidemic had been handled and was still being handled. They wanted the pharmaceutical companies to release the experimental drug treatments earlier and for much less money.
1985: Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
1990s- (Many groups formed within the queer community in the 90s, including groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, and profession)
Queer Nation (1990)
Lesbian Avengers (1992)
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the military set by Clinton (1993)
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) signed into law by Bill Clinton (1996)
The first Gay-Straight Alliances were formed in high schools in the 90s.
2000s- (Struggle for legal rights and social acceptance continues)
Marriage equality battle
Boy Scouts of America scandal
Timeline:
1950s- (homophile/conforming/more conservative period)
Mattachine
Daughters of Bilitis
1950s and 60s– (counterculture, more liberal perspective)
Beats
League for Civil Education
East Coast Homophile Organizations (but different than old homophile organizations, this pushed a radical agenda that included public picketing)
North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (1966)
1960s – (trying to get rid of the concept that it was an illness.)
Stonewall riot (June 27, 1969)
-some said fighting back was good, but some disliked it for promoting stereotype of "violent, tacky radicals."
1970s – (New Left began to get behind gay rights movement, but violence grew)
Gay Liberation Front (1969)
Gat Activists Alliance (1969)
Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) (1972)
-Also in 1973, however, there was a case of arson in a gay bar in New Orleans that killed 32 people.
-National Gay Task Force (NGTF, then NGLTF to include Lesbians in the title) (1973): “instrumental in getting the U.S. Civil Service Commission to stop excluding homosexuals from federal employment in 1975, and it helped make gay rights an official priority of the Democratic Party during the 1976 and 1980 national conventions” (101)
1980s- (AIDS is wrongly considered a homosexual disease)
AIDS: rapid spreading of cases in 1980, but called GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency) until 1982. In 1984, the National Institutes of Health declared the “probable cause” of AIDS to be a virus – later called HIV. There was no test for HIV until March, 1985. Bathhouses and sex clubs, often places of large amounts of unprotected sex, were shut down in 1984.
Fight for federal help: “Although the CDC had described the disease as an ‘epidemic’ as early as 1981, President Ronald Reagan refused to provide adequate funding for dealing with the disease. In fact, he didn’t even say the word ‘AIDS’ in public until 1986, and his first major speech to mention AIDS was in 1987 –when almost 21,000 people had already died from it” (114)
Celebrity fund-raising and support “was an important contribution to the evolving views of the American public regarding AIDS” (118)
ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) was created in 1987. This was a group of gay radicals who were angry about how the AIDS epidemic had been handled and was still being handled. They wanted the pharmaceutical companies to release the experimental drug treatments earlier and for much less money.
1985: Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
1990s- (Many groups formed within the queer community in the 90s, including groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, and profession)
Queer Nation (1990)
Lesbian Avengers (1992)
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the military set by Clinton (1993)
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) signed into law by Bill Clinton (1996)
The first Gay-Straight Alliances were formed in high schools in the 90s.
2000s- (Struggle for legal rights and social acceptance continues)
Marriage equality battle
Boy Scouts of America scandal