 | The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(January 2023) |
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LGBT rights organizations are non-governmental civil rights, health, and community organizations that promote the civil and human rights and health of sexual minorities, and to improve the LGBT community.
The first LGBT rights organizations began to emerge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early organizations were primarily research-oriented psychiatric organizations that took a sympathetic, rather than a corrective, approach to homosexuality. The Uranian Union was an organization initiated by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs in 1865 with which he urged for the repeal of anti homosexual laws. [1] [2] The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK) was founded in 1897 by Magnus Hirschfeld, the first outspoken advocacy group for LGBT and women's rights in Germany. [3]
Founded in 1950 by Harry Hay the Mattachine Society (also called Mattachine Foundation) was one of the first LGBT rights groups in the United States. Its members began as communist-affiliated leftists and the society was a key member in the 1950s Homophile movement. [4]
Taking place from the 1940s into the 1960s, the "lavender scare" was a societal panic about the notion that gay men and lesbians were communist sympathizers. This connected with the anti-Communist Red Scare, spurred on by McCarthyism. As a result, thousands of LGBT people were fired from their jobs. [5]
Early LGBT organizations in the United States were, like earlier German organizations, primarily centered around the rights of gay men. The Society for Human Rights was founded in 1924 in Chicago, Illinois, by Henry Gerber, who was inspired by Hirschfeld's work in Germany and produced the first gay-rights-oriented publication in the US, Friendship and Freedom . The Society for Human organization was short-lived, due to some members' arrests for "obscenity." Though the charges were dropped, the fees associated made Gerber file for bankruptcy. [6] The first national gay rights organization, the Mattachine Society, was formed in 1951, [7] was created by Harry Hay.
The first lesbian rights organization in the US was founded in 1955. The Daughters of Bilitis was founded in San Francisco, California, by activist couple Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. [7] In 1965, The Imperial Council of San Francisco was formed by José Sarria. In 1966, National Transsexual Counseling Unit was formed in San Francisco. [8]
In the wake of the Stonewall riots, LGBT organizations began to flourish around the United States, including politically active organizations. Many of these organizations formed in the early 70s were particularly militant in their approaches. As well as militant social justice groups forming, groups dedicated towards all aspects of gay living. In this era the Rainbow Flag was created by gay activist Gilbert Baker, a symbol that would replace the previous Red, Gold, and Green flag. The Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club was founded in 1971 by Martin & Lyon, as well as activists Beth Elliot and Ben Foster. In 1976, Harvey Milk founded a splinter organization known as the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club. In the 1980s LGBT organizations were happening in many aspects of culture from medical and dental to housing. At the same time,organization in this period was done within city centers the eventual strength of the organization led to more political parties building coalitions with these LGBT organizations. [9]
In 1981, American doctors began using gay-related immune deficiency (GRID) as a term for what would later be called acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). [10] In the 1980s the syndrome was colloquially referred to as the gay plague, and other terms related to sexual practises of gay men. [11] This linked the virus to gay identity to many. The CDC has used acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) since 1982. [12] The Reagan presidential administration did not mention the term "AIDS" until 1985 in his second term. [13] Depsite this a member of his Administration's press corp, Lester Kinsolving, would often make homophobic comments or jokes in the years between 1981 and 1985. [14]
The twenty-first century saw a dramatic rise in LGBT organizations and acceptance in the U.S.
Tremendous progress has been made over the beginning of the 21st century, though equal rights are only beginning for the LGBT community. Some notable organizations have had an impact for almost half a century and are still cornerstones today, including the Human Rights Campaign. [15] They stand for equal rights and have advocated for the legalization of same-sex marriage since 1995. The Human Rights Campaign has recently elected its first Black and Queer president (University of Missouri alumnae), Kelley Robinson. The National Black Justice Coalition has been monumental in advocacy for the Black LGBT community. They have been influential in policy-making and community outreach/education since 2003. [16] Starting in 1998, The Trevor Project began their mission of ending death by suicide in the LGBT community. This organization is now a leading crisis intervention service nationwide. [17]
The Mattachine Society, founded in 1950, was an early national gay rights organization in the United States, preceded by several covert and open organizations, such as Chicago's Society for Human Rights. Communist and labor activist Harry Hay formed the group with a collection of male friends in Los Angeles to protect and improve the rights of gay men. Branches formed in other cities, and by 1961 the Society had splintered into regional groups.
The homophile movement is a collective term for the main organisations and publications supporting and representing sexual minorities in the 1950s to 1960s around the world. The name comes from the term homophile, which was commonly used by these organisations. At least some of these organisations are considered to have been more cautious than both earlier and later LGBT organisations; in the U.S., the nationwide coalition of homophile groups disbanded after older members clashed with younger members who had become more radical after the Stonewall riots of 1969.
One, Inc., or One Incorporated, was one of the first gay rights organizations in the United States, founded in 1952.
Robert Boyle "Bobbi" Campbell Jr. was a public health nurse and an early United States AIDS activist. In September 1981, Campbell became the 16th person in San Francisco to be diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma, when that was a proxy for an AIDS diagnosis. He was the first to come out publicly as a person with what came to be known as AIDS, writing a regular column in the San Francisco Sentinel, syndicated nationwide, describing his experiences and posting photos of his KS lesions to help other San Franciscans know what to look for, as well as helping write the first San Francisco safer sex manual.
The Society for Human Rights was an American LGBT rights organization established in Chicago in 1924. Society founder Henry Gerber was inspired to create it by the work of German doctor Magnus Hirschfeld and the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee and by the organisation Bund für Menschenrecht by Friedrich Radszuweit and Karl Schulz in Berlin. It was the first recognized gay rights organization in the United States, having received a charter from the state of Illinois, and produced the first American publication for homosexuals, Friendship and Freedom. A few months after being chartered, the group ceased to exist in the wake of the arrest of several of the Society's members. Despite its short existence and small size, the Society has been recognized as a precursor to the modern gay liberation movement.
The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) is the world's first openly gay chorus, one of the world's largest male choruses and the group most often credited with creating the LGBT choral movement.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place worldwide in the 1950s.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the 1960s.
LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century and influential in achieving social progress for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people.
Timeline of events related to sexual orientation and medicine
Harold Leland "Hal" Call was an American businessperson, LGBT rights activist, and U.S. Army veteran. He served as president of the Mattachine Society and in the 1950s, was one of the first gay activists to speak publicly on television. Call founded printing presses for LGBT publications and later opened gay adult shops and pornographic film screening venues. He received a Purple Heart for his service in the Pacific War.
Henry Gerber was an early homosexual rights activist in the United States. Inspired by the work of Germany's Magnus Hirschfeld and his Scientific-Humanitarian Committee and by the organisation Bund für Menschenrecht by Friedrich Radszuweit and Karl Schulz, Gerber founded the Society for Human Rights (SHR) in 1924, the nation's first known homosexual organization, and Friendship and Freedom, the first known American homosexual publication. SHR was short-lived, as police arrested several of its members shortly after it incorporated. Although embittered by his experiences, Gerber maintained contacts within the fledgling homophile movement of the 1950s and continued to agitate for the rights of homosexuals. Gerber has been repeatedly recognized for his contributions to the LGBT movement.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United States have a long history, including vibrant subcultures and advocacy battles for social and religious acceptance and legal rights.
The U.S. state of Illinois has an active LGBT history, centered on its largest city Chicago, where by the 1920s a gay village had emerged in the Old Town district. Chicago was also the base for the short-lived Society for Human Rights, an early LGBT rights advocacy organization (1924).
Dr. Kathleen Alison McGuire is a choral and orchestral conductor, arranger, composer, music educator, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. Known also for her work with social justice and human rights organizations, from 2000 to 2010 she served as the first female artistic director and conductor of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus – the world's first openly gay choral organization – and in 2010 she established Singers of the Street: a choir of people affected by homelessness in San Francisco. She became a US citizen in 2011 and, in 2013, returned to Australia to serve as director of music at Queen's College and co-artistic director of the School of Hard Knocks. In 2006, she was a grand marshal in the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade. Her contributions have officially been recognized by the California Senate and State Assembly, and "Kathleen McGuire Day" was designated twice in her honor by San Francisco mayors Gavin Newsom and Edwin Lee.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in San Francisco is one of the largest and most prominent LGBT communities in the United States, and is one of the most important in the history of American LGBT rights and activism alongside New York City. The city itself has been described as "the original 'gay-friendly city'". LGBT culture is also active within companies that are based in Silicon Valley, which is located within the southern San Francisco Bay Area.
The following is a timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) history in the 20th century.
The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is an American memorial wall in Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan, New York City, dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes". The wall is located inside of the Stonewall Inn and is a part of the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history. The first fifty nominees were announced in June 2019, and the wall was unveiled on June 27, 2019, as a part of the Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 events. Each year five additional names will be added.
Queer radicalism can be defined as actions taken by queer groups which contribute to a change in laws and/or social norms. The key difference between queer radicalism and queer activism is that radicalism is often disruptive, and commonly involves illegal action. Due to the nature of LGBTQ+ laws around the world, almost all queer activism that took place before the decriminalization of gay marriage can be considered radical action. The history of queer radicalism can be expressed through the many organizations and protests that contributed to a common cause of improving the rights and social acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.
