Queer Lives in America: The Good The Bad and The Ugly.

Caleyah Gaither

JOMC 393

Professor Guffey

December 8th, 2020

today’s society, it is no secret that LGBTQ members face an astonishing amount of criticism,

discrimination, and constant fear for their lives. As citizens we must begin to understand what

they face every single day and journey back over the long history of queer people in America

and beyond. Even though we are living in the 21st-century, new laws and injustices come forth

everyday. It is imperative that as people we become allies to the LGBTQ and make ourselves

aware of the problems and issues that they face in order to prevent repeating history. To create a

better tomorrow we have to focus on today and be better change agents for all the people that

exist in the world. As we did dive deeper we begin to recount the untold stories, media + culture,

and legislative body the LGBTQ community represents.

One thing many may not know is that the queer community did not appear overnight.

Homosexuality humans have existed in all forms of life overtime. In the mid 1960s the gay rights

movement became nationally publicized and garmered global attention when riots such as the

Stonewall riots and other injustices became world news. This was only the beginning of a very

long winding road in history. After the black civil rights movement, gay men and lesbian women

around the world begin their fight after seeing so much success for black people. This movement

consisted of the open sharing of sexualities, launching support groups on college campuses and

cities, as well as organizing parades, balls, and meetings.

The gay pride movement was not silent nor civil. The movement was always loud and up

in your face taking up great space. In 1970, the LGBT community coined the term “gay

liberation” as it was in the same year that they hosted the very first gay liberation parade in New

York bringing out almost 10,000 participants. This parade now goes on in history as the gay

pride parade exists all over the country. Gay activists all around the world were known for
spreading the phrase “gay is good” and that you should openly come out and address your

sexuality to the public. This is why in the 1970s many gay people began coming out and

expressing their style in forms of culture, fashion, and even media. The movement spread

quickly to the world's largest cities including San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Miami,

Philadelphia, Seattle, New York, and many other large cities.

While the movement was rapidly advancing all around the world, trouble began to come

knocking. Openly conservative citizens began to publicly fight back against the gay community.

One of the first anti-gay advocates was a woman by the name of Anita Bryant. Bryant, a

Christian evangelical singer, was known for organizing and campaigning against homosexuals in

Florida. She was able to make her voice known by saying that gay and homosexual Americans

were actually a threat to society and that they were harmful to the citizens of America. Her

campaign gained national attention as she solicited the voice of many high profile citizens.

Bryant was in cahoots with multiple conservative politicians, religious leaders, and activists

which helped her campaign to be successful for many years. In 1978, Bryant met one of her

biggest challenges within the gay community. The state of California brought an anti-gay ballot

initiative to the court system and after a long and difficult fight between conservatives and gay

Americans the conservative side lost while the voters defeated the ordinance.

While the California ordinance was defeated, this brought new violence into the city and

among the world. Conserving Americans began the lynching and killing of multiple gay men in

America. The city broke out into them rest and Harvey milk and gay friendly mayor George

Moscone we’re brutally shot dead in their offices in San Francisco by a former city supervisor.

This marked not only the first of the killings but certainly not the last. More than five months
later, the community and citizens turned to absolute violence in the community and began a riot

that injured almost 120 people and caused nearly $1 million in damages.

as time went on for almost 50 years the world has changed drastically. In today’s age

society is more aware and completely infatuated with the idea of LGBTQ rights in a more openly

gay society it has become way easier to gain access to information regarding homosexuals it is in

this generation that they passed gay marriage laws in nearly 50 states as well as transsexual

protection laws that allow Transgender men and women to enter the bathroom of their choice as

well as adopt children change their gender on their identification and file no gender on their

taxes.

In a world that is so consumed by digital media and culture it has been completely

different to advocate for gay Americans in this realm of social media. Gay activists have sprung

up all over the world with hit Netflix shows such as Pose highlighting the 1970s gay movement

and ball culture as well as many other homosexual/trans supporting television shows.

We also see LGBTQ recognition on award shows, movies, theaters, and all streams of

multimedia. While it has not become any easier to be gay in America it has definitely become

more except it than it was in the 1970s as well as gained more national attention due to the

effects of social media and digital content. As we work to build and promote a better world in the

United States is imperative that we take the necessary precautions to truly address and become

allies to the gay community.

While today’s presidential administration has not openly supported the gay community,

we can see a change in office with the new presidential administration and can only hope that

more justices will come forward and that more legislator will be put in place to protect the lives

of all queer Americans.