Stop telling me to relax and give Donald Trump a chance, especially if you are not in any of those groups of Americans who stand to lose under the policies he has articulated and the people he is choosing to surround himself with as cabinet members, Department heads, and advisors. If you aren’t GLBT, female, any color other than White, an immigrant, a child of an undocumented immigrant who was brought here as an infant, or a person with a disability you have nothing to fear, so stop telling me I don’t either.
Many of the “Give him a chance crowd” voted for him because they did not like seeing what they thought were their privileges being reduced in any way, and by “reduced” I mean shared with those who had been historically denied what was theirs by right of citizenship and that everyone else had.
No one is attempting to take anything away, but they have been attempting to get that which should have always been theirs too, and to get those who had all their rights to see that this was not so for everyone.
Those who were afraid they will lose their rights, or simply do not want to share them with other American citizens and voted as they did, are the last ones to tell people to relax and lighten up as what they now have is going to be taken away unless Donald Trump in word and Deed lied to his supporters.
When it comes to GLBT rights, I keep hearing references to gains made in the last eight years being under threat, but which apparently can be regained with a little work.
But the reality is that those gains did not happen because of the last eight years, but, using Stonewall as a starting point, they were finally acknowledged after 40 years of work, and that those who did the work for those 40 years are about to see things potentially going back so the same work will have to be done again.
There are some older people who had finally begun to experience that for which they fought, and were happy in the belief that they would be the last generation of GLBT people who had had to live in the conditions against which they fought.
Saying the gains happened in 8 years is to dismiss the years that it took to get those gains.
To give a better perspective, these are some major actions, battles, and successes that took place during my lifetime, and I am more than eight years old:
1951
The Mattachine Society, the first national Gay rights organization, is formed by Harry Hay, considered by many to be the founder of the Gay Rights Movement.
1955
The first Lesbian-rights organization in the United States, the Daughters of Bilitis, was established in San Francisco in 1955.
1956
The Daughters of Bilitis became a pioneering national organization.
1962
Illinois becomes the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults in private.
1966
The world’s first the Transgender organization, the National Transsexual Counseling Unit, was established in San Francisco.
1969
The Stonewall Rebellion made the GLBT Rights Movement one universal equal rights and acceptance.
1973
The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its official list of mental disorders, and Harvey Milk ran for city supervisor in San Francisco on a socially liberal platform and opposed government involvement in personal sexual matters. Milk came in 10th out of 32 candidates, earning 16,900 votes, winning the Castro District and other liberal neighborhoods. He received a lot of media attention for his passionate speeches, brave political stance, and media skills
1976
San Francisco Mayor George Moscone appointed Harvey Milk to the Board of Permit Appeals, making Milk the first openly gay city commissioner in the United States. He then ran for but lost a State Assembly race by fewer than 4,000 votes. Because he believed that the Alice B. Toklas Gay Democratic Club would never support him politically, Milk co-founded the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club.
1977
Activists in Miami, Florida passed a civil rights ordinance making sexual orientation discrimination illegal in Dade County. But this brought Anita Bryant into things with her Save Our Children organization, a Christian fundamentalist group, and in the largest special election of any in Dade County history, 70% voted to overturn the ordinance.
1978
On January 8, having run against 16 other candidates, Harvey Milk was sworn in as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and he sponsored a civil rights bill that outlawed sexual orientation discrimination, with only one supervisor voting against it, and Mayor Moscone signed it into law.
John Briggs proposed Proposition 6, the Briggs Initiative, the purpose of which was to fire any teacher or school employee who publicly supported gay rights, whether or not they were Gay themselves. Partly because of the Briggs initiative attendance greatly increases at Gay Pride marches in San Francisco and Los Angeles. President Jimmy Carter, former Governor Ronald Reagan, and Governor Jerry Brown spoke out against the proposition.
On November 7, voters rejected the proposition by more than a million votes.
On November 27, Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another San Francisco city supervisor, who had recently resigned and wanted his job back. The San Francisco Gay Democratic Club changed its name to the Harvey Milk Memorial Gay Democratic Club.
1979
About 75,000 people participated in the National March on Washington for Gay Rights in Washington, D.C., in October. It was the largest political gathering in support of Gay rights to date.
1980
At the 1980 Democratic National Convention held at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Democrats took a stance supporting Gay rights, adding the following to their plank: “All groups must be protected from discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, language, age, sex or sexual orientation.”
1981
On June 5, 1981, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report newsletter with a report on an unusual cluster of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in five homosexual men in Los Angeles. Because of a June 1982 report of a group of cases among gay men in New York City, the syndrome was initially termed “GRID”, or Gay-Related Immune Deficiency until health authorities realized that nearly half of the people identified with the syndrome were not homosexual men, and the name was changed to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). But the original name had given false fuel to those with anti-Gay animus.
Because it was originally thought that only a ignorable population was getting AIDS, through the lack of both policy and financial support the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was severely handicapped during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. The Reagan Administration did not understand the essential role of Government in disease prevention, and had no interest in addressing it anyway in spite of the CDC’s clearly documented dangers of HIV and AIDS early in the epidemic because, benefiting from pandering to the religious right, it went along with the religious right’s claim that it was God’s punishment being delivered unto the Gays. By refusing to deliver prevention programs, the Reagan Administration allowed HIV to become more widely spread rather than being kept under control.
This resulted in local GLBT Communities having to design their own programs to deal with AIDS which included networks of doctors and the creation of hospices, as well as counselors for patients and those left behind in the event of death, a model that was adopted by mainstream society when it was finally accepted that everyone could get AIDS.
It also called for resistance to politicians proposing total isolation of people with AIDS, the worst example being William Dannemeyer, former U.S. Representative from California’s 39th district from 1979 to1993, who advocated for enforcing mandatory quarantines for people with AIDS which included Manzanar style internment camps from which people with AIDS could never leave and to which no member of the family or friends of the quarantined could ever go and visit since he believed people with AIDS emitted a spore that caused infection and anyone who visited would not be then allowed to leave as they would have been exposed and could carry the exposure home with them.
By 1989 there were 27,408 reported deaths, many yet to die, and many more infected with HIV, many of those, assuming it only hit Gay men, had no reason in their minds to get tested, and so were not only unaware they were infected, but in ignorance spread the virus to millions more.
By 1995, AIDS was the leading cause of death for adults 25 to 44 years old with about 50,000 Americans dying of AIDS-related causes. African-Americans made up 49 percent of AIDS-related deaths. But death rates began to decline after multi-drug therapy became widely available, a practice which in the early years of the epidemic resulted in a doctor who was effectively treating his patients in this way having his medical license revoked by the state of New York.
There are 1.2 million people infected with HIV, and it is strongly believed 1 in 8 Americans are infected, but just don’t know it.
1982
Wisconsin became the first state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
1984
The city of Berkeley, California, becane the first city to offer its employees domestic-partnership benefits.
1993
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was instituted for the U.S. military, permitting gays to serve in the military but banning homosexual activity. Although President Clinton intended this to be compromise with those who wanted to keep the prohibition against gays in the military, it led to the discharge of thousands of men and women from the armed forces.
On April 25, an estimated 800,000 to one million people participate in the March on Washington for Gay, Lesbian, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. The march was a response to “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. The march also protested rising hate crimes and ongoing discrimination against the LGBT community.
1996
In Romer v. Evans, the Supreme Court struck down Colorado’s Amendment 2, which denied Gays and Lesbians protection against discrimination, calling the discrimination protection “special rights.” According to Justice Anthony Kennedy, “We find nothing special in the protections Amendment 2 withholds. These protections . . . constitute ordinary civil life in a free society.”
2000
Vermont became the first state in the country to legally recognize civil unions between Gay or Lesbian couples. The law stated that these “couples would be entitled to the same benefits, privileges, and responsibilities as spouses.” But marriage was still defined as heterosexual.
2003
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that sodomy laws in the U.S. were unconstitutional. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “Liberty presumes an autonomy of self that includes freedom of thought, belief, expression, and certain intimate conduct.”
In November, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that barring gays and lesbians from marrying violated the state constitution. The Massachusetts Chief Justice concluded that to “deny the protections, benefits, and obligations conferred by civil marriage” to gay couples was unconstitutional because it denied “the dignity and equality of all individuals” and made them “second-class citizens.”
2004
On May 17, same-sex marriages became legal in Massachusetts.
2005
Civil unions became legal in Connecticut in October.
2006
Civil unions became legal in New Jersey in December.
2007
In November, the House of Representatives approved a bill ensuring equal rights in the workplace for Gay men, Lesbians, and Bisexuals.
2008
In February, a New York State appeals court unanimously voted that valid same-sex marriages performed in other states must be recognized by employers in New York.
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In February, the state of Oregon allowed same-sex couples to register as domestic partners allowing them some spousal rights of married couples.
On May 15, the California Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. But influenced by conservative “Christian” groups, most noticeably the Mormon Church, on November 4, California voters approved a ban on same-sex marriage called Proposition 8 which threw into question the validity of the more than 18,000 marriages already performed. Although the California Supreme Court upheld the ban in May 2009, it ruled that those couples married under the old law were still legally married.
November 4, voters in California, Arizona, and Florida approved the passage of measures that banned same-sex marriage. Arkansas passed a measure intended to bar Gay men and Lesbians from adopting children.
On October 10, the Supreme Court of Connecticut ruled that under the state’s Constitution same-sex couples have the right to marry, and that the state’s civil union law did not provide same-sex couples with the same rights as heterosexual couples.
On November 12, same-sex marriages began to be officially performed in Connecticut.
Now the “last 8 years” begins
2009
On April 3, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously rejected the state law banning same-sex marriage, and twenty-one days later, county recorders were required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
On April 7, the Vermont Legislature voted to override Governor Jim Douglas’s veto of a bill allowing Gays and Lesbians to marry, legalizing same-sex marriage. It was the first state to legalize gay marriage through the legislature, not the courts..
On May 6, the governor of Maine legalized same-sex marriage in that state, but citizens voted to overturn that law and Maine became the 31st state to ban it.
On June 3, New Hampshire governor John Lynch signed legislation allowing same-sex marriage. The law stipulated that religious organizations and their employees would not be required to participate in the ceremonies. New Hampshire was the sixth state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage.
On June 17, President Obama signed a referendum allowing the same-sex partners of federal employees to receive benefits. They would not be allowed full health coverage, however. This was Obama’s first major initiative in his campaign that promised to improve Gay rights.
In December, after 12 years of advocacy that included dealing with at least half a dozen superintendents, changes in School Board members, a bevy of reprimands, a court case prompted by actions that resulted from some opposition, multiple appearances before the Board by many people, at least one connected death, possibly two, some rather strange behavior on the part of administrators, including “Family” members, and some of the most far fetch arguments in opposition, the school board of the Oklahoma City Public Schools finally voted to add the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to its policies on bullying, harassment, and nondiscrimination.
2010
March 3, Congress approved a law signed in December 2009 that legalized same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia.
August 4, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that California’s Proposition 8 violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause writing “Proposition 8 singles out gays and lesbians and legitimates their unequal treatment. Proposition 8 perpetuates the stereotype that gays and lesbians are incapable of forming long-term loving relationships and that Gays and Lesbians are not good parents.”
December 18, the U.S. Senate voted 65 to 31 in favor of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, with eight Republicans siding with the Democrats to strike down the ban. The ban was not lifted officially until President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agreed that the military was ready to enact the change and that it wouldn’t affect military readiness.
On Dec. 18, President Obama officially repealed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy.
2011
June 24, New York passed a law to allow same-sex marriage making it the largest state that allowed Gay and Lesbian couples to marry.
2012
February 7, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled 2–1 that Proposition 8, the 2008 referendum that banned same-sex marriage in state, was unconstitutional because it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In the ruling, the court said that the law “operates with no apparent purpose but to impose on gays and lesbians, through the public law, a majority’s private disapproval of them and their relationships.”
February 13, Washington became the seventh state to legalize Gay marriage.
March 1, Maryland passed legislation to legalize gay marriage.
May 9, President Barack Obama endorsed same-sex marriage. “It is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” he said. He made the statement days after Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan both came out in support of gay marriage.
Nov. 6, Tammy Baldwin. a seven-term Democratic congresswoman from Wisconsin, prevailed over former governor Tommy Thompson in the race for U.S. Senate and became the first openly Gay politician elected to the Senate. Maine and Maryland voted in favor of allowing same-sex marriage, and voters in Minnesota rejected a measure to ban same-sex marriage.
2013
Feb. 27 several Republicans backed a legal brief asking the Supreme Court to rule that same-sex marriage was a constitutional right. More than 100 Republicans were listed on the brief, including former New Hampshire Congressman Charles Bass and Beth Myers, a key adviser to Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign.
March 26, the Supreme Court began two days of historical debate over gay marriage as it considered overturning Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act.
April 29, Jason Collins of the NBA’s Washington Wizards announced in an essay in Sports Illustrated that he is gay becoming the first active athlete in the NBA, NFL, NHL, or MLB to make the announcement.
May 2, after same-sex marriage legislation passed in both houses of Rhode Island’s legislature, Governor Lincoln Chafee signec it into law.
May 7, Governor Jack Markell signed the Civil Marriage Equality and Religious Freedom act, legalizing same-sex marriage for the state of Delaware.
May 13, in Minnesota, the State Senate voted 37 to 30 in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage. The vote came a week after it passec in the House.
June 26, the Supreme Court ruled that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional by 5 to 4 vote. The court also ruled that the law interfered with the states’ right to define marriage.
Aug. 1, Minnesota and Rhode Island began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Oct. 21, in a unanimous vote, the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected Gov. Chris Christie’s request to delay the implementation date of same-sex weddings. Same-sex couples in New Jersey began to marry. When just hours later, Christie dropped his appeal to legalize same-sex marriages, New Jersey became the 14th state to recognize same-sex marriages.
Nov. 5 Illinois became the 15th state to recognize same-sex marriages when the House of Representatives approved the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act
Nov. 12, Hawaii became the 16th state to recognize same-sex marriages when the Senate passed a gay marriage bill, which had already passed in the House. State Senator J. Kalani English said, “This is nothing more than the expansion of aloha in Hawaii.”
2014
Jan. 6, The United States Supreme Court blocked any further same-sex marriages in Utah while state officials appealed the decision made by Judge Shelby in late December 2013, creating a legal limbo for the 1,300 same-sex couples who had received marriage licenses since Judge Shelby’s ruling.
Jan. 10, The Obama administration announced that the federal government would recognize the marriages of the 1,300 same-sex couples in Utah even though the state government had just decided not to do so.
May 19, Same-sex marriage became legal in Oregon when a U.S. federal district judge ruled that the state’s 2004 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage violated the Equal Protection clause in the U.S. Constitution.
May 20, a judge strucl down the same-sex marriage ban in Pennsylvania. Until then the state did not even recognize domestic partnerships or civil unions.
Oct. 6, The U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear appeals of rulings in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin that allowed same-sex marriage.
Nov. 12, The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to block same-sex marriage in Kansas
Nov. 19, A federal judge struck down Montana’s ban on same-sex marriage.
Nov. 20, The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to block same-sex marriage in South Carolina making it the 35th U.S. state where same-sex marriage is legal.
2015
June 26, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have the fundamental right to marry and that states cannot say that marriage is reserved for heterosexual couples. “Under the Constitution, same-sex couples seek in marriage the same legal treatment as opposite-sex couples, and it would disparage their choices and diminish their personhood to deny them this right.” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.
July 27, The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) National Executive Board by a 45-12 voted to end its ban on gay adult leaders. The new policy does still allow church-sponsored Scout groups to ban gay adults for religious reasons.
2016
But even with the June 26, 2015 landmark Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges, the GLBT community is still fighting against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.
On May 13, President Obama weighed in on the “toilet wars”—legislation being hashed out in some states about which bathrooms transgender people have the right to use—with the guideline: students may use bathrooms according to their self-identified gender.
Saying the gains happened in 8 years is to dismiss the years that it took to get those gains.
So being told to lighten up is to be told to forget what you did to get this far.
No, we old warriors have a right to be angry, some were killed in the effort and many died in the 80s because we were not worthy of the country’s attention, and the beneficiaries of our work should also be aware that what took 65 years of fighting to gain is about to be taken away, and they need to do what is needed to stop that.
In some places, especially Massachusetts, young GLBT people, not so much the T’s since they have just recently received protections, have lived without housing and employment discrimination, went to schools where legislation requires that school districts have policies and procedures to prevent and deal with instances of bullying because of sexual orientation and, now, gender identity, and teachers have to attend mandatory workshops to learn how to handle it, and same sex marriage has been around most of their adult lives.
The older people know what will come if certain things happen under this new administration, and will think, “Crap. We have to do all that fighting again?”, while the younger GLBT people will wonder what the hell happened and ask, “What do we do now?”.
Four words to remember, First Amendment Defense Act.
Discrimination is back nationwide if this bill passes, and the president signs it. He has indicated he will.
“Be of good cheer” may be a warm and fuzzy biblical bit of advice, but tell that to someone being mistreated, and it loses its warmth and fuzziness.
So don’t tell me I have some obligation to relax, get over it, and wait and see what happens.
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