The sources answer the question of how has society adapted it’s the view of gay rights over time. The sources show how in the early 1900’s, society was not accepting at all of homosexual individuals. The source “Havelock Ellis on Gay Life in the American City (1915)” talks about how homosexual people were called sexually inverse, and how they were viewed as sexual predators. It describes how many, who wear the red neckties of the inverse, are also male prostitutes. As the 20th century progressed, some movement towards acceptance was made. In the source “James Justen Recalls Growing Up Gay in the 1950s”, Justen tells of how he remained closeted throughout high school, and then came out to his parents after. He was lucky, his parents were very…
The LGBTQ community has developed and changed over the years, gradually becoming more inclusive of all types of sexual and gender identities. It brings a sense of belonging to a group of people and gives many that land in the span of the LGBTQ spectrum places that they know they can go to where they will be accepted. However the community that queer people have built around them and the acceptance of the diversity and complexity of how people identify themselves does not always transfer into other aspects of life. The LGBTQ spectrum is ever changing adding new identities all the time, however they are not always readily accepted by all. Gender and sexual fluidity being among the ones that have had to face their battles to have basic rights…
The quote, “They [monuments dedicated to homosexual injustice] make people consider the past, and encourage greater understanding of sexual diversity and the dignity of gay men and women” (pg 99), is compelling because homosexuality is now accepted and universal. The fact that the struggles endured by homosexuals during the Holocaust were not recognized for years is appalling considering how much the world analyzed the mistreatment of the Jewish community.…
As of 1977, no openly gay politician had ever held office in the United States. Homosexuality, at the time, was frowned upon and therefore the idea of a someone with “different” sexual preferences holding office was almost an impossibility. As our country was evolving during the 70’s, gays and lesbians began fighting for their rights. The voice of this phenomenal movement was that of Harvey Milk. In 1977, Milk would change American politics forever.…
“Homosexual” is a term that is more common in today’s society. This is a term meaning a girl or boy likes someone of the same sex. Homosexuals are often discriminated against similar to blacks in different slurs or physically damaged. Richard D. Mohr explains how gays are dealing with discrimination.…
Sexuality, like many other things in our world, is an ever changing thing. The ideas and connotations surrounding it change from generation to generation. Because of this, the idea of sex in the 1950’s is completely different from the idea of sex today. Today, sexuality can be expressed in almost anything we do. Commercials, billboards, TV shows, movies, magazine articles, and many other things are driven and influenced by the idea of sex. People today cannot escape the sexuality that surrounds us. However, things were not always like this. In the 1950’s, sex was a taboo topic. Nobody talked about it, it wasn’t used in advertisements,…
Until the 1960s, birth control pills were inaccessible and widely prohibited, which essentially was leaving contraceptive decisions solely to men. In 1960, Margaret Sanger’s oral contraceptive was approved for use by the FDA . While birth control was still denied to a vast body of women in years following, this event influenced the beginning of sexual awareness and openness among American people. Now, sexual openness is widely debated and opinions surrounding the topic range in levels of tolerance; it is evident that the degree of openness has increased substantially since 1960. In many ways, the state of sexual awareness has become considerably more complicated since this era, and several factors have progressed into this idea. The advancement…
The Women's liberation saw much change within the 1960s as women campaigned for equal pay for equal work within the workforce. These women came to be called "Labor Feminists" as they fought for their rights to be acknowledged within the workplace and were active members of unions. Different women's trade unions worked to secure the rights for women within the work place and they were a critical part of the push that created the Equal Pay Act of 1963. This act made it so that women are now legally required to receive equal pay for equal work.…
Some men abused this power though, and used it to have complete control over women’s sexuality. During this time women were susceptible to rape, because women were seen as the weaker sex. It was a dark time for women; the possibility of being raped or abused was high. In Blocks excerpt, she brings to light the numerous sexual attacks on women going on in early America. According to Block, “sexual coercion took many forms in early America.” Block starts off her argument by telling numerous stories of victims of sexual assault and rape to illustrate to readers some of the horrific behaviors men were inflicting on women during early America. The sexual attacks Block discusses were a result of social power and physical force. These stories reiterate to readers that in early America women were vulnerable to sexually coercive tactics, simple because they were women. Women were being sexual attacked by men who had no social relation with them, or men in their households, such as fathers, husbands, and masters. Men were able to get away with a lot during the 18th century; this increased their power over women, and in their efforts to further control women’s…
In the mid 1900s, during the Civil Rights era, the world we live in now was much different, as signs on doors told people with a different skin color if they were welcome in their business, and life in the U.S. was in a time of segregation. In school we have been taught in our classes of all the discrimination and hate that happened during that time period, and I hope that we all can agree that it was wrong. . At the time, passing as a white in society made things much easier, as many people had prejudices and pre-judgments because of skin color. I tried to imagine what it was like living in a world with such unfairness, and the images in my mind completely disgusted me. But these things are still happening today,…
There are so many meanings and connotations that are imposed on words as a language evolves it becomes almost difficult to pinpoint exactly what a person means if you were reading a book from a century ago. A common word that has a completely different meaning than intended when it was used over a century ago is the word "gay". The…
The definition of the word “gay” has evolved greatly over time. What you consider “gay” today is definitely not what was considered “gay” 200 years ago, or even 50 years ago. 200 years ago, the word was used as a term of promiscuity. It was also used as a slang term to call someone a “young hobo.” (“gay”) Today, we use the word mostly as “homosexual” or referring to someone who is attracted to the same sex. At the same time, the younger age group of America is using the word “gay” as a way to express dislike toward something. A common way would be saying “that’s gay” when a friend tells them their team lost the game. This misuse of the word can often lead to offending the homosexual community. The meaning of the word ”gay” has changed vastly over time, which today, can be offensive.…
Gay, a word with multiple meanings: A person who is merry and happy, a person who is a homosexual, something that is lame or stupid, and a word that can be used for degrading. Over time this word has been molded and shaped into different meanings in all sorts of directions. The different meanings honestly have no similarities to each other, which makes it strange to see such a word as happy go to meaning a homosexual. It is strange to see such a word go from meaning happy to a word that can be offensive to someone who is actually homosexual. The word gay doesn’t have just one definition anymore it has three, four and maybe more in other cases. Gay’s most common meanings are happy, homosexuals, stupid, and referring to someone as gay and degrading them.…
Thesis Statement: The Gay Rights Movement dates back to the 19th century. By 1970 gay and lesbian organizations existed all over the United States and in other countries all over the world. Some supporters of the movement would say that our society as a whole has made great strides towards acceptance of homosexuality. However, gays and lesbians are still fighting for equality in 2009. The issues are vast and widespread, with same-sex marriage at the top of the list. In the world that we live in today one might be surprised to learn how many countries are accepting of gay and lesbians, as well as how many are not. The world has made progress within the last decade regarding this issue, but definitely not enough. We need to take steps to protect and balance Gay rights.…
The meaning gay has changed tremendously over time. In the past, the term gay was not used as frequently and as freely as it is used today. The term originated from the Old French and dates back to the 1600s, “Deriving ultimately from Germanic source” (Wikipedia). The word means “Joyful, carefree, bright and showy” (Wikipedia). Gay also means to be “Addicted to social pleasure and dissipations,” as a noun “of a person: homosexual” (OED). The word gay has a sexual connotation and the people usually referenced with it are carefree. In the 20th century the term gay was used for heterosexuals. When people used the term, towards heterosexuals they were usually describing sexually active people that disregarded the immorality of their actions in relationships. The heterosexuals may have multiple girlfriends or boyfriends or be affected by nymphomania. As time grew on from the early 1900s and into the late 1960s, homosexuality, was frowned upon greatly and the term gay was used to describe it since the terms “such as queer, were felt to be derogatory” (Wikipedia). People would use terms related to happy along with the word gay to signify a person being homosexual. In the 21st century, the term has grown to describe all sorts of things ranging from people to things not even closely related to the definition at all. In 1924, the earliest known gay rights organization was developed and from this point on change in the United States for the term gay began to grow. The term gay today has gained more respect than it has in the past it is no longer a derogatory term and is used in favor of the homosexual community.…
