Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Minority Rights Revolution

Abstract

For lesbians and gay men in America, January 1977 was a very hopeful moment. After decades of being stigmatized as deviants, outcasts, and criminals, it seemd they were now being accepted as part of mainstream American life. Over the previous two decades, gay rights activists, following the model of blacks in the civil rights movement, had organized, protested, marched, argued, and lobbied, all in an effort to change their outcast status. Now they were beginning to see the success of their efforts. The medical profession had revised its definition of homosexuality, no longer seeing it as a sickness but as part of the wide range of normal human sexual expression and behavior. In the media, more and more positive images were appearing; one major national magazine even presented a gay couple in their special issue on the “American Family.” Numerous states and the federal government were eliminating laws and policies that had criminalized or stigmatized lesbian and gay people. A bill was before Congress adding lesbians and gay men to those groups, like blacks and women, specifically protected against discrimination. The president, newly elected on a platform of human rights, promised to give serious consideration to the concerns of lesbian and gay America. A national poll showed that the American public saw lesbians and gay men as the minority most discriminated against—more than blacks, Hispanics, and other groups.