Homophile Movement In The 1950's

In the 1920s, homosexuals were widely accepted. The author of a popular play about homosexuality, Mae West, was an early advocate of gay rights. In the 1930s, the public didn’t want to deal with homosexuality in the actors, so they forced them to retire or keep their sexuality private. Homosexuals would not be accepted again until the 1960s. In the 1930s, life was harsh for homosexuals. Homosexuality, at this point, was regarded as a mental illness. Many had to hide their identity to avoid being made fun of and even imprisonment. Many police forces used young, undercover cops to try and get a confession out of homosexuals.

The LGBTQQ rights movement was started on December 10th, 1924 led by Henry Gerber the grandfather of the Gay Rights Movements. The LGBTQQ Rights Movement still continues on today in the USA and other countries around the world. This society is a group of people that believe that they as people in the LGBTQQ community should have the same rights as everyday people like me and you. LGBTQQ people have been fighting to be equal in the community so that they aren’t discriminated at their jobs or in their communities. The LGBTQQ community has faced many forms of discrimination such as unequal treatment at work and unfair treatment within the community.

After nearly one-hundred and fifty years of living in the New World, the colonists were anxious to be separated from their mothering country, England. Thomas Jefferson and other colonists got together to write an official document called the Declaration of Independence in July of 1776 to send to King George III. This document stated how the colonists were being treated unjustly and how independence should be granted to the citizens. The Declaration of Independence promises natural rights for all men, however, some rights such as suffrage, are not realized for some disenfranchised groups.

“A group of people decided they’d had enough. They took a stand and in doing so

America gained its independence in 1776 with the expectation that every American should have liberty and equality. However, American women did not have the right to vote until 1920, which was almost more than 140 years after the United States was established. Women could do little to protect themselves and promote their careers due to being treated unequally and inferior to men. During the 19th and the early 20th century, women were working hard and fighting for gender equality, so that more and more women could live a better life with basic civil rights in their hometowns. In reality, women’s equality was challenged by traditional conventions in the fields of biological difference in sexes, religion and gender roles, and different perspectives towards these conventions of different people made women’s civil rights controversial.

During the nineteenth century, reform movements in the United States led to an expansion of democratic ideals from 1825 to 1855. Throughout the Antebellum period there was a focus on forming a better individual and society. This was exemplified through the increased interest in religion, medicine, education reforms, transcendentalism, abolitionism, and women’s rights.

Several social changes in the post-war years opened women to feminism's message. P. 2, The demand for a larger and more skilled labor pool generated by the Cold War, and postwar consumer economy were the driving force cause American society to become more open to feminism’s message. No doubt WW II created the demand for expanded women’s roles in the workplace, Document 1. Having proved their equal abilities during the war, they stood ready willing and able to contribute moving forward. Nevertheless attitudes toward women staying in the workforce after World War II were not favorable. Communism, “the red scare” and the mistrust of women's associations with socialist labor movements to gain legal status all combined to keep women held

The distinction between men and women in the Antebellum-era Southern United States can be identified in the roles that each gender was expected to fulfill as parents, spouses and citizens. While young men and women alike were encouraged to marry and immediately start a family, females were primarily given the task of caring for their children and husband. Because they were viewed as the ‘morally superior gender’, women were supposed to raise the next generation of obedient citizens, while men were free to pursue a career and get involved in politics. As a result, a movement arose to expand the rights and freedoms of women, with the ultimate goal of creating a society where equal opportunities are

The fight for women’s rights had never been easy for feminists and at the outset of the 1960s, women’s legal equality seemed momentarily out of reach. The chaotic social and political landscape of 1960’s America was as much a blessing to feminists, as it was a burden. The civil rights movement had picked up momentum from landmark judicial decisions and simultaneously fostered a discussion about the opportunity for women’s legal equality. However, not everyone was eager to engage in the discussion. Ideological rifts and political alliances plagued feminist’s attempts for change. Nevertheless, advocates within the legal community sought to build a united

Arlene Stein’s book “Sex and Sensibility” is a literary masterpiece that develops the framework of content that was essential towards explaining the rise of the lesbian movement; though solid in its message, Stein’s bias is recognized throughout the text, she was cognizant of issues and factors that affected the movement but she fails to piece together the entire spectrum. Stein captures three fundamental factors displayed throughout the text: (1). The recognition of new sexual identities and their associated orientations (2). The separation of the Feminist and Lesbianist movements, and (3). The differentiation of the “Old Gay” and “New Gay”lesbian identities. Though these factors are important, she consistently neglects specific fragments

Throughout time, people have struggled to be recognized as equal, to be treated fairly and with dignity, as well as being able to partake in the same opportunities for sucess and hapiness as others. Take, for instance, the United States when it severed its ties to Great Britain. The United States recognized that they were being treated unjustly, and in response to that, leaders wrote a formal statement- The Declaration of Independence. The Declaration decreed that everyone was equal and that they should all have rights. This document later inspired other activists to fight for rights in the same way. The declaration inspired people fighting for suffrage, particularly women and African Americans. In addition, the LGBTQ+ community leaned

Over the years, the thought of prejudice and gender role has changed somewhat drastically. Women and men view themselves in a different way, and have made themselves known on the topic. During the 1900s, men saw women as their own personal property, property used to clean, cook, and attend to men’s everyday needs. Even though that was the case women have moved up in the world since then. The story “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell demonstrates how women were treated in the 1900s; women have accomplished so much and are accomplishing women’s rights today; the women’s right movement demonstrates a change in woman’s roles, life, and future.

The Civil Rights Movement gained traction around the 1950s, paving the way for many other oppressed groups. These groups fought for different rights, but they still had a similar struggle to the original movement. One of these groups is the Gay Rights Movement. The comparison between the black civil rights movement and the gay civil rights movement is “typically a sensitive subject, even among liberals” (Williams). Some people believe that it is unfair to compare a fight for marriage to a fight to gain equality in every aspect. If they step back and see the bigger picture, they could tell that the structures are very similar. The Gay Rights Movement is similar to the black Civil Rights Movement.

The feminist movement and the gay rights movement are two communities that have been fighting for their rights for a long time and are similar in many ways, yet different in many others. While they are both social movements, the feminist movement’s main focus is on women’s rights, while the gay rights movement’s main focus is on gay rights. Similar to each other or not, the two movements could (and do) benefit from each other.

The status of homosexuals in America during the 1960s underwent a monumental change in the span of a decade, as a topic rarely discussed in the mainstream due to its status as a taboo in American society, deemed sinful and "aberrant", stretching all the way back from America 's puritanical root. In reality, the major victories homosexuals gained were not vast and opportunities for homosexuals were limited by discrimination without federal protection, yet was unique in the way this liberation movement sought to bring homosexuality to the public attention as normal, not as a deviant or "sinful" way of life, and permitted homosexuals, as a group, to express their homosexuality openly as a form of protest. This liberation movement for homosexuality would arise near the end of the 1960s as a surprise