A Brief History of the LGBTQ+ Community Part IV

A Brief History of the LGBTQ+ Community Part IV

 The Sexy Time

     Yes, ladies, gentlemen and everything in between. The moment you’ve been waiting for. The Sexual revolution! The sexual revolution as we know it today was the pivotal era between the 1960’s and 90’s. IT brought us such wonderful things like birth control and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It also brought discrimination and AID’s but yay the sexual revolution. But before we go any further, as always we need historical context. Seeing as today is so different, but not really, the most powerful tool in any analyses of the historical paradigm shift is of course, contrast. Let’s look at the 50’s and the medicalization of sexuality. Per usual I can’t do the period any justice, but there is a visual record of the absurd understanding of homosexuality. Take a look.

Pretty fucked up right?

     And no one can forget, but inexplicably has this documentary where educated individuals such as yourself (and if you weren’t before reading parts I-III, you certainly are now) speak on the behalf of the gay community in a medical sense.

Wow

     I’ll give you a second to let that sink in... but hey with an argument like the soil wasn’t right, then I guess we could dive deeper into history, where we go back into women’s rights, where who was it…? That’s right Aristotle, the renowned philosopher and the only Bigot who can say they’re smarter than Donald Trump, spoke on the process of birth. Any birth resultant in a woman would be considered unsuccessful reproduction. He’d say the fault was in the árgilos , or the substances in the womb from which all life is created. The primordial clay if you will. Funny enough the parallel is unmistakable considering the English translation of árgilos is in fact clay. There are all sorts of arguments at this time, that no differently from the ableism that plagues modern society saw homosexuality as a flaw or malfunction. A flaw or malfunction that was needlessly blamed on the mother. Children were promoted to same sex schools to promote gender conformity. Logical enough solution right? When it was discovered that children would proceed to sexually experiment with one another, whose fault was it? Clearly the problem started at home then. But alas there’s no male role model, so where does the child pick up its social ques? You guessed it. Girl and boy alike learned how to be people from their mothers. Their mothers who were implicated by the patriarchy that forced, and to a degree today, forces them to stay in their homes and have almost exclusive say on how their children are to be raised. But homosexuality isn’t a behavior you say. It’s in the soil. So the country for a brief period, and to an extent still is left with the unresolved paradox of homosexuality. Furthermore, to correct this problem was to be resolved by integrated schools. Notice the word integration. There are four stages to the interaction between populations. Exclusion, segregation, integration and inclusion. Women today are merely integrated into society, as they are not seen as equals but rather as sexual objects. This ideology was perpetuated by the belief that male children would experiment with female children sexually, thus avoiding the whole homosexual “misunderstanding”. But the fallacy remains, and what modern America was left with, was rape culture. Thank you Patriarchy. Thank you Homophobia. Sorry about the little detour let’s try to keep this blog focused.

Let’s get to Le temps sexy. The sexual revolution has a lot to show for in modern society. Here’s the facts. The Sexual Revolution was a social movement that occurred from the 1960s to the 1980s. It ultimately challenged traditional codes of sexuality throughout the Western World. Premarital sex was often considered an act of civil disobedience for girls and women before the sexual revolution. Double standards previously hindered many women from exploring their sexual desires. The development of contraceptive pill reduced the risk of pregnancy and fostered a rejection of typical gender norms, thus eliminating sex sans procreation. And hey that’s great because remember when sex outside of procreation was considered perversion? There’s nothing like a good ol’ double standard to shed light on the logical fallacies that plague public opinion. Men and men, Women and women, all having a good time, because none of that will result in any life ruining consequences. Except…

Aids

But before you get to that listen to Sweet Transvestite

Catchy right? Oh my, the 70’s, disco, all of it was a wonderful time for the gay community. And it came at a price. A price the community paid heavily, as an indifferent government failed to protect them. The price was AID’s. here’s another video for. The tragedy is too great for the written word

It’s not cheerful stuff, but the evils necessary to provoke outrage result in change. Act up was created in the March of 1987 by Larry Claimer a gay rights activist. His work would go on to inspire musicals like RENT, and his brain child the Normal Heart is by far one of the greatest works centered around the LGBTQ+ community.

Here’s a battle cry, that could only be sung by, you guessed it. The stars of RENT. I give to you La Vi Boheme.

I hope that did something for. But to fan the flame under your seat, there’s more to tell. Activism is necessary to defend the rights of the disenfranchised. One such incident was the Stonewall Riots. A series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. They are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States. But it didn’t happen overnight. Lives were ruined individuals legitimately feared for their lives. It could have been the end of everything. But it wasn’t. It was because of activism that we are where we are today. And activism is only effective when every member of the community is held accountable. And what was achieved? At the time, one of the most notable achievements of the community came in 1978 when Harvey Milk became the first openly gay politician to hold public office on the board of supervisors in San Francisco. there's the lesser known Elaine Noble who was elected to the Massachusetts senate in 1974 as the first openly Lesbian politician elected to office. And today there are more than 50 openly gay candidates holding office in some capacity today.

  I'm gonna give you another documentary detailing the journey from stonewall to the federal legalization of Gay Marriage. Don’t just enjoy. I implore you to keep Acting Up, And to keep the promise of hope in the face of demoralizing adversity. Don’t dream it. Be it.