2.1 Pre-Stonewall LGBT history and activism

LGBT activism before Stonewall laid crucial groundwork for future progress. The homophile movement of the 1950s formed early organizations like Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis, advocating for gay rights through assimilation and respectability.

These pioneers faced immense challenges, including the Lavender Scare, sodomy laws, and widespread discrimination. Their efforts, along with groundbreaking research by figures like Alfred Kinsey, began shifting public perceptions of LGBT people and set the stage for more radical activism to come.

Early LGBT Organizations and Activism

Homophile Movement and Early Organizations

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• Homophile movement emerged in the 1950s as an early LGBT rights movement that focused on assimilation and respectability politics
• Mattachine Society founded in 1950 by Harry Hay as one of the first gay rights organizations in the United States
  • Initially a small, secretive group that grew into a national organization with chapters in several cities
  • Focused on promoting the idea that homosexuals were a distinct and legitimate minority group deserving of rights
• Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) founded in 1955 by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon as the first lesbian rights organization in the United States
  • Began as a social club for lesbians but quickly evolved into a political organization advocating for lesbian rights
  • Published The Ladder, the first nationally distributed lesbian publication in the US (1956-1972)
• ONE, Inc. founded in 1952 as one of the first openly gay organizations in the United States
  • Published ONE Magazine, the first pro-gay publication in the US (1953-1967)
  • Fought legal battles against censorship and for the right to distribute gay-themed materials through the mail

Strategies and Challenges of Early Activism

• Early LGBT organizations often adopted assimilationist strategies, emphasizing that homosexuals were respectable, law-abiding citizens seeking social acceptance
  • Distanced themselves from gender nonconformity, flamboyance, and sexual promiscuity to counter negative stereotypes
  • Debated the merits of working within existing social and legal systems versus more radical approaches
• Faced significant challenges due to social stigma, legal persecution, and limited resources
  • Membership in homophile organizations was often small due to fear of exposure and repercussions
  • Struggled to gain mainstream media attention and public support for their cause
  • Disagreements over strategies and goals sometimes led to internal conflicts and schisms

Legal and Social Challenges

Lavender Scare and Anti-Gay Persecution

• Lavender Scare refers to the persecution of homosexuals in the US government during the Cold War era, particularly in the 1950s
  • Fueled by the belief that homosexuals were morally weak and vulnerable to blackmail, making them a security risk
  • Thousands of gay men and lesbians were investigated, fired from their jobs, and sometimes prosecuted
• Anti-gay persecution extended beyond government employment to the broader society
  • Homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association until 1973
  • Gay men and lesbians faced discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations
  • Police harassment and raids on gay bars and gathering places were common

Sodomy Laws and Legal Battles

• Sodomy laws criminalized consensual same-sex sexual activity in the United States
  • By 1960, every state had an anti-sodomy law on the books
  • Laws were often selectively enforced to target and harass gay men and lesbians
• Early LGBT organizations fought legal battles against sodomy laws and censorship
  • ONE, Inc. v. Olesen (1958) was a landmark Supreme Court case that allowed the distribution of gay-themed materials through the mail
  • Challenges to sodomy laws in the 1960s and 1970s laid the groundwork for later legal victories
  • Sodomy laws remained on the books in many states until the 2003 Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas

Pioneering Figures and Research

Alfred Kinsey and the Kinsey Scale

• Alfred Kinsey was an American sexologist who founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University in 1947
  • Conducted groundbreaking studies on human sexual behavior, including same-sex attraction and activity
  • Kinsey Reports (Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, 1948; Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, 1953) challenged conventional beliefs about sexuality
• Kinsey Scale, introduced in Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, is a spectrum of sexual orientation ranging from exclusively heterosexual (0) to exclusively homosexual (6)
  • Proposed that sexual orientation exists on a continuum rather than a binary
  • Helped to normalize same-sex attraction and challenge the idea that homosexuality was a rare deviation

Christine Jorgensen and Transgender Visibility

• Christine Jorgensen was an American transgender woman who gained international fame in the early 1950s
  • Underwent sex reassignment surgery in Denmark in 1952 and became a media sensation upon returning to the United States
  • Her story brought attention to the existence of transgender people and the possibilities of medical transition
• Jorgensen's public visibility had a significant impact on the early LGBT rights movement
  • Challenged rigid gender norms and the idea that gender identity always aligns with assigned sex at birth
  • Inspired other transgender individuals to come out and seek support, although many still faced significant barriers and discrimination
  • Helped to broaden the scope of the LGBT rights movement beyond sexual orientation to include gender identity and expression