LGBT History
How Social Networking Makes Coming Out Easier
Published June 02, 2009 @ 08:26AM PT
Remember that girl in high school who sat next to you in homeroom, who you used to joke with during morning announcements? Or that guy in physics class who sat in front of you, who despite the Pantera stickers all over his notebook, was still kind of cool? Or your next-door neighbor when you were seven, who you were kind of best friends with at the time, but lost touch with as you grew older?
So maybe it's been years since you've seen these people (or people like them), and you're wondering...do these people know that I'm gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender?
Whether or not it matters whether people from your past know your sexual orientation is perhaps a separate question. But as this Time magazine article points out, there's one thing that social networking sites have done that many might not have imagined: it's made coming out to long-lost friends, acquaintances, classmates and others virtually as easy as clicking a button.
The article, "How to Come Out on Facebook," is a good, quick read that points out that coming out ain't what it used to be. I can remember sitting down almost all of my friends the summer after my senior year in high school, and telling each of them individually, over lots of coffee and dinners. And while that still happens for some, the vast majority are starting to let their "friends" know their sexual orientation simply thru Facebook, MySpace, or perhaps even change.org :) Hell, it's probably just a matter of time before someone comes up with the perfect 140-character coming out line for Twitter. (Maybe we should start a contest?)
As one person is quoted in the Time article about his coming out process via Facebook, "I didn't have to have the same conversation a thousand times. Plus, there's a radical empowerment that comes from declaring your identity in the public sphere."
The Internet really does make everything faster. But is this a good thing?
I'm mixed. I remember my coming out process being funny, messy, emotional, stressful, heart-breaking, joyous, and eventually, celebratory. Do those same set of emotions come just by updating your "I'm interested in" status on Facebook? It's hard to say. To me it's also a question of what changes hearts and minds faster: having your friends on Facebook see that you're LGBT, or having your friends hear over the phone or over a beer that you're LGBT?
As Ramon Johnson wrote over at About.com, "Your sexuality should be revealed when you are ready and under your own circumstances if possible, not when Google updates its algorithm." That definitely remains true no matter which way people are coming out. From where I stand, it just seems to be that the personal nature of coming out deserves a little more face time, and a little less Facebook.
(Photo from cliffardo2001's photostream at Flickr.)
Hillary Clinton Rocks the House on Recognizing Pride Month
Published June 01, 2009 @ 12:35PM PT
Kudos to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, for putting out a bang-up statement on Pride Month (also known as June!). This is all the more phenomenal when you think back on the past eight years, and realize that our Secretaries of State have rarely (if ever) mentioned LGBT issues. Guess they were too busy justifying a preemptive and unnecessary war, or something.
But I digress. Check out Hillary Clinton's statement below on Pride. Maybe we'll have one from Obama himself coming soon?
Forty years ago this month, the gay rights movement began with the Stonewall riots in New York City, as gays and lesbians demanded an end to the persecution they had long endured. Now, after decades of hard work, the fight has grown into a global movement to achieve a world in which all people live free from violence and fear, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
In honor of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month and on behalf of the State Department, I extend our appreciation to the global LGBT community for its courage and determination during the past 40 years, and I offer our support for the significant work that still lies ahead.
At the State Department and throughout the Administration, we are grateful for our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees in Washington and around the world. They and their families make many sacrifices to serve our nation. Their contributions are vital to our efforts to establish stability, prosperity and peace worldwide.
Human rights are at the heart of those efforts. Gays and lesbians in many parts of the world live under constant threat of arrest, violence, even torture. The persecution of gays and lesbians is a violation of human rights and an affront to human decency, and it must end. As Secretary of State, I will advance a comprehensive human rights agenda that includes the elimination of violence and discrimination against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Though the road to full equality for LGBT Americans is long, the example set by those fighting for equal rights in the United States gives hope to men and women around the world who yearn for a better future for themselves and their loved ones.
This June, let us recommit ourselves to achieving a world in which all people can live in safety and freedom, no matter who they are or whom they love.
The Summer of Stonewall
Published May 28, 2009 @ 06:40AM PT
As we get nearer and nearer to summer (despite the frosty weather up here in the Northeast!), we're getting closer to the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. We wrote last week with an action to encourage you to contact Congress to support H.R. 433, a resolution in the House of Representatives that would officially commemorate the Stonewall Riots and their historical significance to the civil rights of LGBT people around the country.
And now we're getting ready for the latest installment of PBS's "In the Life," which is set to air a documentary next month, "The Summer of Stonewall," looking at the progress we've made for LGBT rights in the four decades since a small group of LGBT people took over a bar in Greenwich Village and fought back against a police department that routinely harrassed and persecuted gay people.
Check out the YouTube preview for the movie below. You won't be disappointed. As one of the commentators in the film says, "We have been marching and struggling and fighting for 40 years. We will not wait 40 more." An appropriate message this week, it seems, given all the rallies and gatherings for marriage equality in the wake of the California Supreme Court's Proposition 8 ruling.
More than 100 Cities Fight Back Against H8
Published May 27, 2009 @ 06:36AM PT
Last night, more than 100 cities around the continent gathered in part to protest and in part to fight the hell back (as Harvey Milk might say...) against Proposition 8, the ballot measure that was upheld yesterday by the California State Supreme Court. Marriage equality may have been denied in California yesterday (although let's not forget that we do have 18,000 same-sex couples whose marraiges will remain valid by the state), but the renewed energy and movement to push for equal rights has only just begun.
Yesterday, between 5,000-10,000 LGBT rights supporters gathered in San Diego. People gathered in Anchorage and in Atlanta; from Joplin, Missouri to Ithaca, New York. And more. I was lucky enough to go to the Boston rally last night, were anywhere between 300-500 people showed up (it's hard to count when you're in the middle of a crowd). After the jump are a few pictures from the event. Speakers included Sue Hyde from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Massachusetts Rep. Carl Sciortino Jr., Paul Sousa from EqualRep.com (himself one of the organizers), and several others. As one of the speakers last night said, and as we wrote about yesterday, we may have lost the court case yesterday, but we'll win the battle for marriage equality in the end.
Congress Should Support the Stonewall Resolution
Published May 23, 2009 @ 06:54AM PT
As the country prepares for the 40th anniversary of the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York, several members of Congress have introduced a resolution in the U.S. House to comemmorate Stonewall as an essential piece of American history that catalyzed the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ( LGBT ) movement for equal rights. Three members of the U.S. House's LGBT Equality caucus introduced the measure - Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Barney Frank (D-MA) and Jared Polis (D-CO). Here's what Rep. Nadler had to say about the resolution:
The events at Stonewall 40 years ago had a profound effect on how LGBT Americans came to see their struggle for equality. Stonewall catalyzed gay Americans – and those who support their rights – into putting gay rights on the forefront, out in the open, unafraid and unapologetic. We have come very far in the battle for LGBT rights and acceptance since Stonewall, but we still have a ways to go. Together, we will keep fighting.
Stonewall's importance to U.S. history is significant. The advances that we're seeing today - marriage equality in five states, civil unions in two others, the likely potential of federal hate crimes legislation, as well as having an LGBT caucus within the U.S. House - have all been made possible because of the movement launched by Stonewall. Congress should commemorate the day.
And now you can encourage them to do so. We've created a petition here at change.org for you to send to your Representative in the U.S. House, urging them to support House Resolution (HR) 433. Congress should recognize events like Stonewall as historically significant.
The full text of the resolution is after the jump. Check it out, and if you agree, send a note to your Representative. Also, we should give credit to reader Douglas Gibson Jr. for starting a pledge last week to support the Stonewall Resolution. Once you take action by sending a note to your Congress person, click on over here to sign Gibson's pledge.
Happy Birthday, Harvey Milk
Published May 22, 2009 @ 06:06AM PT
Yesterday we marked the 30th anniversary of the White Night Rights, the demonstrations that took place after Harvey Milk's assassin, Dan White, was given a slap on the wrist for murdering Milk and SF Mayor George Moscone.
Coincidentally, the day after the riots - May 22 - is Harvey Milk's birthday. He would have been 79 today.
As Milk's legacy has been given more and more attention this past year, efforts have redoubled in California to officially establish May 22 as "Harvey Milk Day." The California State Senate recently passed legislation to commemorate Milk on this day, and if the bill sails through the House and gets the approval of Governor Schwarzenegger (who stupidly vetoed the bill last year), come May 22, 2010, we'll be officially celebrating today as "Harvey Milk Day."
The California LGBT caucus will be remembering Milk today, and a number of vigils around California will celebrate his life and legacy too. If you don't live in California, or you can't make it to a vigil and you find yourself with an extra 88 minutes free, why not catapult over to hulu.com, and watch for free "The Life and Times of Harvey Milk," the Oscar-winning documentary about Milk's political life. You won't regret watching it. It's also the film from which Dustin Lance Black and Gus Van Sant borrowed some footage from this past year's "Milk" movie.
And lastly, to close with some famous words from Harvey himself:
"It takes no compromising to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no survey to remove repressions."
I think that rhetoric and that political legacy is exactly what Milk would want commemorated on this day.
The Anniversary of the White Night Riots
Published May 21, 2009 @ 05:17AM PT
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the White Night Riots, a series of demonstrations that took place in San Francisco after the man who murdered Harvey Milk and SF Mayor George Moscone, Dan White, was given a very lenient voluntary manslaughter conviction. It was the lightest possible sentence that White could have received, after gunning down the mayor and Milk in cold blood in city hall, and brought to a head the ongoing tension that San Francisco's LGBT community felt toward the police and the criminal justice system in the city, which had for years actively discriminated against the LGBT population.
What followed after White's conviction was announced, the White Night Riots, brought out thousands upon thousands of LGBT people and allies into the streets. Demonstrators were outraged that White was given such a small sentence for murdering two people. As activist Cleve Jones said at the time:
Today, Dan White was essentially patted on the back. He was convicted of manslaughter—what you get for hit and run. We all know this violence has touched all of us. It was not manslaughter. I was there that day at City Hall. I saw what the violence did. It was not manslaughter, it was murder.
The demonstrations caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to the city of San Francisco, and numerous injuries were reported. But the riots also showed the raw political power and mobility of the LGBT population, and influenced SF politics for years to come.
Today is now the 30th anniversary of those riots. Tomorrow (May 22) would have marked Harvey Milk's 79th birthday. And within the next two weeks, California's Supreme Court will rule on the future of Prop 8. Which is more of a coincidence than anything, but certainly makes one think about what role Harvey Milk might have played in combating Prop 8 had he not been murdered.
