Patrick Hall

11/10/14
Professor Kaye
CAS 137H

Out of the Closet and Onto Center Stage: A paradigm shift towards
acceptance of LGBT rights

Who does not love a good Bond movie? Explosions, unbelievable chase
scenes, and of course the beautiful women. As a series with such a
reputation, who would have expected that one of the bikini clad women had
not in fact been a woman all her life? As OMG Facts reveals, bond girl
Caroline Cossey, born Barry Kenneth Cossey, cast as an extra in the For Your
Eyes Only installment of the franchise was actually transsexual, and the first
transsexual person to pose for playboy. One may also be surprised to learn
that the high five, a universal symbol of triumph and manliness was created
by openly gay baseball player Glenn Burke in 1977 (OMG Facts). The mere
mention of something pertaining to the LGBT community may have brought
shock, or even disgust to public faces fifty years ago, and in some places
unusual sexual tendencies are punishable offenses even today. Overall
though, the past sixty-four years from 1950-2014 have seen a great shift
towards acceptance of diverse sexuality among people. This shift did not
occur suddenly all at once, but rather as one might expect, through a series
of baby steps over time. From influential LGBT rights activists, to politicians

and governments creating new laws and policies, to independent lawyers

standing up for what they thought was right, the acceptance of LGBT rights
was not a straightforward process, but rather a long, tedious journey.
The first real advancements in the gay rights movement began in the
early 1950s. In 1951, Edward Sagarin of pen name Donald Webster Cory,
esteemed professor of Criminology and Sociology at the University of New
York wrote a book entitled The Homosexual in America: A subjective
Approach (Edward Sagarin). His book served to support the gay rights
movement to popular distaste be vying for their sympathy and
understanding, showing the daily challenges of living as a homosexual. If this
was the entirety of his story, one might not see where the contradiction is,
but unfortunately, his tale does not end here. Sagarin lived a homosexual
lifestyle himself, which is what made him such an expert on the topic, but
refused to admit his sexuality to the general public for fear of negative
repercussion. Publicly, he would continue to address the LGBT communitys
sexual practices as disturbed (Edward Sagarin). Although he was one of
the rare few brave enough to address these tough topics, even Sagarin did
not yet dare associate himself with the group he decided to defend as he
realized the general opinions of society towards LGBT people were very
hateful and negative at the time. Also during 1951, another prominent figure
emerged in the struggle for LGBT equality, Harry Hay. Hay is considered by
many to be the founding father of the gay rights movement (The American
Gay Rights Movement). He was one of the key founders of the Mattachine

Society, designed to assist those gay people who have been victimized to
reach a better state, and also to promote self-efficacy within the gay
community by promoting well-adjusted gay community members to
leadership positions (The American Gay Rights Movement). Despite its best
intentions, once again this society was not able to accomplish anything truly
monumental due to the times during which it existed, and the publics
questioning of its origin because of its suspected communist ties (The
American Gay Rights Movement). Ultimately, the timing of the emergence of
these two idealists was just wrong, limiting their effectiveness as society was
just not yet ready to accept such radical transformation of some of their
deepest held beliefs. Just the idea that people like Hay and Sagarin were out
there though inspired many others to follow their lead, often through
literature.
Literature continued to be viewed as a safe platform to express
controversial thoughts and ideas throughout the upcoming years. This idea
was exemplified by Alfred Kinsey, the so-called first American sexologist
and successful biologist and professor of entomology. Kinsey published a
series of incredibly popular, yet heatedly controversial works entitled Sexual
Behavior in the Human male in 1948 and the even more acclaimed Sexual
Behavior in the Human Female in 1953, collectively known as the Kinsey
Reports (Alfred Kinsey). Once again, the works inspired controversy, as they
made sweeping assertions that women are less sexually active then men,
and openly questioned conventional thinking about sexuality, enraging

many. Once again, a baby step towards greater rights for the LGBT
community was taken in opening up formerly un-mentionable topics to
popular conversation, but ultimately Kinsey also faded out of the spotlight
within a few years. Unlike many of his predecessors though, there has been a
recent revival in recent years celebrating his thoughts and ideas. This
includes a 2003 Theatre of NOIE play Fucking Wasps which follows Kinseys
life story (Alfred Kinsey). Although the ideas of people like Kinsey were
publicly bashed for years, in this case they were unable to permanently
exterminate his voice, which showed promise for even greater lasting
progress towards acceptance of the LGBT community to come. However, the
war was not yet won, and the next battles would be fought in courtrooms
across the country.
Even if progressive thoughts and ideas about the LGBT community
may have been steadily growing, the next front that would need to be
advanced upon was law, and those people backing them with antiquated
ideas about sexuality. On January 13th, 1958, a case was brought before the
United States Supreme Court that would be come to be known as the case of
Inc. vs. Olesen, involving a magazine entitled ONE: The Homosexual
Magazine (1950s in LGBT Rights). In essence, the court was tasked with
ruling whether or not the magazine was an obscene publication, which they
groundbreakingly decided it was not. Not only was this the first Supreme
Court ruling on a gay issue, but a seemingly huge victory in the LGBT
community as the ruling was in their favor. In 1969, the Omnibus bill was

passed into law in Canada, which served to decriminalize homosexual acts,

famously leading to the statement whats done in private between two
consenting adults doesnt concern the criminal code (Current Publications:
Government, Parliament and Politics). In 1973, the American Psychological
Association even declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder (50 Years
of Huge Strides). Despite these great advancements though, there was still
considerable residual resentment towards the LGBT community, as
evidenced in the Miami Civil Rights Ordinance of 1977. The ordinance was
issued by a group of activists with the intention of making discrimination
illegal in Floridas Dade County. However, a campaign against it was
launched by a Christian Fundamentalist Group headed by singer Anita
Bryant, leading to a crushing 70% of people voting to overturn the bill (The
American Gay Rights Movement), which remains one of the greatest defeats
of LGBT rights activism until this day. It just goes to show that although
overall the ideas and feelings towards LGBT rights were changing over time,
there were still plenty of people resistant to the idea of acceptance of a
different type of sexual behavior from their own. However, the court may not
be able to change peoples mentality, but institutions of law across the
country continued to beat the drums of progress, and from when
discrimination based on sexual orientation was officially banned in Wisconsin
in 1982 (The American Gay Rights Movement) until the present, courts
continually ruled in favor of support and advancement of LGBT rights.
Overall, things looked like they were on the up-and-up, which led to the

addressing of the greatest challenge yet faced by the LGBT community; the
legalization of gay marriage.
The first foray into the still taboo area of full out gay marriage occurred
on December 17th, 1990, when three gay couples all applied to the health
department of Hawaii for marriage licenses (50 Years of Huge Strides). Little
did they know that they were opening the Pandoras Box of legal battles that
would last for around the next ten years of their lives. Of course, as same sex
marriage was not legal anywhere in the country, their applications were
immediately rejected. A huge uprising rose against them in the following
years, leading to a 1994 vote in Hawaii to limit the definition of marriage to
between a man and a woman, and the Defense of Marriage Act being passed
in 1996 by Congress saying no single state could be forced to approve a
marriage that could become illegal in another state (50 Years of Huge
Strides). At this point, a determined and clever New York based lawyer
named Evan Wolfson joined the fray, fighting on behalf of the three couples.
When the circuit court judge ruled that the marriages must be approved as
Hawaii could provide no solid reason as to why they must be illegal, it
appeared a great victory had finally been won by the LGBT community. But
as usual the court ruling was not the end of it, and as soon as 1998, the
voters of Hawaii as well as 30 other states passed amendments allowing
legislators to limit marriage to unions strictly between a man and a woman
(50 Years of Huge Strides). Despite this setback from those whose minds
were firmly rooted in the past, an unstoppable tidal wave of people pushing

for marriage equality eventually overcame the naysayers, leading to the

present legalization of gay marriage in 12 states. Although Wolfson did not
manage to permanently win that particular case for his clients, he moved on
to become the president of the organization Freedom to Marry from which
position he issued his statement, The Hawaii case was the real turning
point it was the first time that the government was forced to come before a
trial judge and show a reason for excluding gay people from marriage. We
were able to show that the government doesnt have one. (50 Years of
Huge Strides) At this point, the tides of change had been set inexorably into
motion, as all those baby steps over the past fifty years finally came to
climactic fruition. Although these many major transitional steps towards
equal rights for the LGBT community occurred to the point that everybody
essentially has equal rights in the US, the same cannot be said of LGBT
communities in all countries throughout the world, even in the modern day.
The United States has always been considered a progressive society,
as the very nature of the foundation of the country was a melting pot of
people from around the world. Now, it is true that people have not always
accepted others for who they are, but along with issues like LGBT rights, this
has improved vastly all through the US over time. However, in recent years,
there has been a backlash against LGBT rights in various countries around
the world, seemingly in response to its continued acceptance in other
regions. In Latin America, the protestant and catholic churches official
position on gay rights is that, if a person has a homosexual tendency it is a

defect, like missing an eye, a hand, a foot but when it enters the practice
of sexual life between people its still not acceptable. (LGBT Rights in the
Americas, pg. 90). As disturbing as an idea like this might be, this is the grim
reality of what many LGBT people must deal with every day. In many African
countries, homosexuality is already illegal, and new anti-gay legislation is
being passed every day, along with routinely increased levels of violence
towards members of the LGBT community (Gay Rights around the World).
Among those countries against gay rights, Russia is the worst perpetrator the
world has seen in years. Putin creates new laws every other day attacking
some aspect of gay rights, or even the presence of suspected gay tourists in
his country. In recent months, there have reportedly been neo-Nazi groups
luring gay teenagers to meetings, where they are forced to come out in
videos that are then posted on social media sites (Gay Rights around the
World). In fact Russia may be one of the least progressive countries among
the 75 countries around the world where homosexuality is still punishable or
criminalized. However, Russia is not alone in its hate for homosexuality, as in
Iran homosexuality is an offense punishable by death, viewed by the people
as an illness that should be cured (Gay Rights around the World). The
opportunity for gay rights to emerge and prosper seemed to finally be at
hand in a large portion of the world, but it appears that other places are still
not quite ready to make the transition into the future of sexuality.
It was mentioned before that change is a gradual process, which takes
place through many successive small steps rather than a sudden jolt all at

once like an earthquake, which would just be unsettling. The trend in rights
of the LGBT community followed this pattern, occurring first through ideas of
equality being implemented in the public mind through literature, followed
by small victories in the courtroom, and eventually a climactic battle leading
to the implementation of equal gay marriage rights in many states US states
and various other countries throughout the world. These changes reflect the
publics slowly broadening acceptance of a diverse range of sexual lifestyles,
but as expected, not everybody was willing to make the conceptual
transition, and almost nobody made it immediately. Many people remain
firmly rooted in their beliefs, as do even entire countries, with ideas more
suited for the fifties, that sexuality must be strictly heterosexual, and to
speak of any other option must be taboo. Despite this backwards thinking
minority, the norm gradually transitioned over sixty-four years from
begrudging admittance of the existence of the LGBT community, to
overwhelming support of full and equal rights in every way for the LGBT
community, reflected in the laws of modern day societies. Never before
would a pope have issued a statement as the current Pope Francis has, If
someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to
judge? (Gay Rights around the World). The controversy regarding LGBT
rights slowly moved out from the closet and onto a brightly lit center stage,
where it remained until full equality for the LGBT community was achieved.