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Lauren Nogay
Professor Kaye
CAS137H
I Can't Even Think Straight
Should a bullet enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door. Supervisor
Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to a public office in the state of California,
recorded this message after receiving several death threats because of his sexuality. On
November 27th, 1978, former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White murdered Harvey Milk in his
office, shooting him five times. The last two bullets went through his skull.
The LGBT movement advocates for the acceptance and equality of lesbians, gays,
bisexuals, transgender people, as well as other minority genders and sexualities. According to
sociologist Mary Bernstein, the cultural goals of the LGBT movement include ...challenging
dominant constructions of masculinity and femininity, homophobia, and the primacy of gendered
heterosexual nuclear family (heteronormativity) and its political goals include ...changing laws
and policies in order to gain new rights, benefits, and protection from harm (Bernstein). A
largely homophobic society marginalized and systematically disadvantaged LGBT people for
much of recorded history; much of this guilt falls on the United States, particularly. During the
rise of civil rights movement of the 1960's, the LGBT movement emerged to bring attention to
the injustices that LGBT people face. Although dominant societal opinions of LGBT people and
their rights continue to evolve to this day, the LGBT movement has seen radical changes in terms
of acceptance amongst the general public in the past forty years. This can be attributed to the
change in visibility of the LGBT community in the sense that LGBT issues are becoming more

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widely recognized and well known.
The modern LGBT movement began after the Stonewall riots of 1969. Beforehand, the
gay rights movement consisted of loosely connected grassroots campaigns. Not much came of
these campaigns due to the lack of a central authority amongst the different participating groups.
The Stonewall riots occurred in a notorious gay bar in Greenwich Village in New York City after
years of frequent raids and harassment of the patrons by the police. The police accredited the
motivation behind these raids as an act to rid the community of sexual deviants. The angry gay
youth finally tired of all of the police harassment and began a three day riot in the streets (PBS).
During this time, the general public as well as police did not view violence or harassment
towards LGBT people as a hate crime. Oftentimes, they viewed LGBT people in the same light
as sexual offenders, as sexual deviants and perverts who did not deserve respect, let alone rights.
Violence against LGBT individuals due to their identity persists to this day, but unlike the limited
press coverage the Stonewall riots received, the general public would react with much more
outcry if this sort of police brutality occurred today.
One major change in the perception of LGBT people occurred when the American
Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from their official list of mental
illnesses (PBS). Lawmakers used the mental illness status of homosexuality as a tool to justify
anti-gay laws and legislation; the removal of the mental illness status thus encouraged and
opened up opportunities for the creation of LGBT anti-discrimination laws (Head). Without
equal protection by law, homophobic people have opportunities to deny LGBT people from
access to things like employment and housing. This creates an unfair and discriminatory
socioeconomic burden on LGBT people.

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Today, lawmakers create and enforce LGBT anti-discrimination laws regularly. Currently,
eighteen states prohibit employment discrimination based on both sexual identity or gender
identity; a total of twenty-one states prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual identity
alone (ACLU). Forty years ago laws of this sort would seem completely absurd, but the law still
lacks a guarantee for protection against discrimination for LGBT people in all states. Equal
protection for LGBT people has been a hotly contested issue, as some argue that the gay lifestyle
contests with their religious beliefs. The lack of a unified or simple answer to the question of
equal protection in terms of employment has caused legislators to first address other issues with
the LGBT community, namely marriage.
In the mid-1990's, the president signed two important pieces of legislation into effect that
have since been determined as discriminatory and thus unconstitutional. President Bill Clinton
signed Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) into law in 1993. DADT created a policy within the
United States military that stated that you could not be out in the military; in other words, one
could not profess themselves to be a homosexual, nor could someone ask another person if they
were a homosexual. Technically, DADT ended the World War II era ban on homosexuals serving
in the military, but it still placed unfair restrictions on homosexuals serving in the military. After
a review of the constitutionality of the law, both the House of Representatives and the Senate
found this policy discriminatory and thus a violation on the Constitution's equal protection
clause. President Barack Obama repealed DADT in 2011 (Encyclopdia Britannica).
The second piece of controversial legislation from the 1990's is the 1996 Defense of
Marriage Act, commonly referred to as DOMA. The Supreme Court found one particular part
of this law, known as Section Three, unconstitutional in 2013 as it too violated the equal

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protection clause of the Constitution. Section Three prevented same-sex couples from receiving
several federal protections and benefits such as Social Security. In essence, Section Three
allowed the federal government to not recognize same-sex marriages despite recognition of
legitimacy by their home state. The Supreme Court argued that it placed an unfair government
sanctioned socioeconomic burden on same-sex couples and thus proved itself as unconstitutional.
Despite this, Section Two of DOMA still stands, which allows states to not recognize same-sex
marriages that happen in other states (GLAAD).
The evolution of these two pieces of legislature conveys how lawmakers in particular are
becoming both more aware and more respectful of LGBT issues. The past forty years have seen a
change from laws purposefully disadvantaging LGBT people, to laws that expressly protect
them. The past ten years alone have seen a drastic change in public opinion of LGBT issues.
According to a news poll conducted by the Washington Post in collaboration with ABC News, in
2003 only 37% of the American population supported the legalization of same-sex marriage. In
2014, that number has since risen to an all time high of 59% of the population. Another statistic
from the same poll states that 69% of the population believes that business should not
discriminate in terms of service even if homosexuality violates their religious beliefs
(Washington Post).
In 2000, Vermont became the first state to legally recognize same-sex civil partnerships.
The law granted same-sex couples the same benefits, privileges, and responsibilities as married
couples. However, Vermont law continued to define marriage as something between
heterosexual couples (Infoplease). For the first time, same-sex couples had the opportunity to
have their relationships recognized by their state's legislature. Most consider this event as the

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break in the rapidly changing legal beliefs surrounding same-sex marriage and partnerships,
paving the way for the legalization of gay marriage in other states.
As of 2014, thirty-two states as well as Washington, DC allow for same-sex marriage
(ProCon). Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage (rather than just
civil partnership) in 2004. The Massachusetts Supreme Court rationalized that denying same-sex
couples the right to marry ...is incompatible with the constitutional principles of respect for
individual autonomy and equality under law (Law Libraries). Similar rationalizations have been
used by the thirty-one other states that have since legalized same-sex marriage. This shows a
growing trend in belief amongst state legislatures that marriage rights fall under the equal
protection clause. While eighteen states still hold a ban on same-sex marriage, six of those states
currently have the issue under court review (ProCon). The states that still hold a ban on same-sex
marriage simply continue to follow the legal practices that have existed since the beginning of
the LGBT movement. This shows the changing attitude state legislatures have about specifically
the issue of same-sex marriage. In a broader sense, it reflects the changing attitudes surrounding
just what equal protection under law constitutes.
In 2012, Barack Obama announced that he supported same sex marriage, making him the
first sitting president to do so. This view apparently changed since the beginning of his
presidency where he claimed to believe that marriage was something for heterosexual couples.
He claims that working and interacting with the LGBT community during his time in office
caused the change in heart (Stein). It also further represents the changing opinions of LGBT
issues. While the president's support of same-sex marriage has little impact politically, it sets a
precedent for future (particularly Democratic) candidates and presidents. Same-sex marriage was

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a hotly debated issue during the 2012 presidential election, further exemplifying how LGBT
issues have undoubtedly became a part of mainstream political debate. Mainstream politics can
no longer simply ignore LGBT issues.
The year 2012 also saw the first openly gay senator. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from
Wisconsin, made history as both the first gay senator as well as the first female senator from
Wisconsin. She joins four openly gay members of the House of Representatives. Baldwin
follows in the footsteps of other groundbreaking gay politicians such as Harvey Milk, supervisor
of San Francisco and pioneer in the LGBT community, as well as roughly 118 other gay and
lesbian politicians to have won their elections (Grinberg). The rising number of LGBT politicians
shows the increasing visibility of LGBT people in the mainstream; LGBT people are becoming
less of an other and more of a part of the dominant society. Despite this, certain groups within
the broader LGBT community have undergone significant less progress than others.
While lesbians, gays, and bisexuals have seen drastic changes in their rights and reception
by the public, transgender people have undergone significantly less change in the past forty
years. The trans community suffers the most hate crime related violence within the LGBT
community; a 2012 study found that transgender people were nearly twice as likely to experience
threats of violence and intimidation than other members of the LGBT community (AVP). While
the transgender community has existed just as long as the gay community, it has remained much
more hidden than its counterpart. Not to say that the transgender community has made no efforts
towards gaining greater visibility. In fact, the first transgender organization, the National
Transsexual Counseling Unit, was established in 1966 (Infoplease). The difference lies in the
amount of acceptance and understanding the general public has found in the transgender

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community.
GLAAD National Spokesperson Wilson Cruz said that anti-LGBT violence, particularly
amongst the transgender community ...is a reminder that our work in the LGBT community isn't
done. Cruz notes the importance in recognizing that proportionally, transgender women of color
suffer the most hate crimes. He emphasizes the importance of educating the media and sharing
the stories of the lives of transgender people for gaining acceptance of the transgender
community.
One cannot expect all aspects of a movement to progress at the same rate. Much smaller
in numbers than the gay community, the transgender community thus has received less work and
attention. To promote transgender issues, The National Center for Transgender Equality was
founded in 2003. According to its mission statement, it devotes itself to ending discrimination
and violence against transgender people through education and advocacy on national issues of
importance to transgender people (NCTE). This group emphasizes the importance of educating
the public on transgender issues as a means to gain visibility and acceptance.
Harvey Milk popularized the term coming out of the closet; he used it in the sense that
the LGBT community needs to claim their visibility to gain acceptance in the mainstream. He
rationalized that if people could see that LGBT people were just like everyone else and lived
similar lives, people would become more accepting of their lifestyle. The growing visibility of
the LGBT community shows its transition into mainstream society, as opposed to fifty years ago
when the LGBT community existed only in the underground. Activists have worked to gain
LGBT visibility, for one cannot accept what they cannot understand. With a growing recognition
and understanding of LGBT issues, the movement will continue to progress towards its goals.

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Works Cited
Bernstein, Mary. Identities and Politics: Toward a Historical Understanding of the Lesbian and
Gay Movement. 3rd ed. Vol. 26. Duke UP, 2002. Print.
"Frequently Asked Questions: Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)." GLAAD. GLAAD, 2014.
Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
Giovanniello, Sarah. "NCAVP Report: 2012 Hate Violence Disproportionately Target
Transgender Women of Color." GLAAD. GLAAD, 4 June 2013. Web. 02 Nov.
2014.
Grinberg, Emanuella. "Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin Is First Openly Gay Person Elected to
Senate." CNN. Cable News Network, 07 Nov. 2012. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
Head, Tom. "How The American Gay Rights Movement Has Played Out So Far."About. About.
2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
"Massachusetts Law About Same-Sex Marriage." Massachusetts Law About Same-Sex Marriage.
Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
"National Report on Hate Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and
HIV-Affected Communities Released Today." Avp.org. National Coalition of
Anti-Violence Programs, 4 June 2013. Web. 2 Oct. 2014.
"National Center for Transgender Equality: About NCTE." National Center for Transgender
Equality: About NCTE. N.p., 2011. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
"Non-Discrimination Laws: State by State Information Map." American Civil Liberties Union.
ACLU. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
Stein, Sam. "Obama Backs Gay Marriage." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 09

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May 2012. Web. 01 Nov. 2014.
"Support for Gay Rights More Entrenched across the Country."Washington Post. The
Washington Post, 05 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
"The American Gay Rights Movement: A Timeline." Infoplease. Infoplease, 2014. Web. 01 Nov.
2014.
The Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) (United States
Policy)."Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 30
Oct. 2014.
"Timeline: Milestones in in the American Gay Rights Movement. PBS. PBS. 2014. Web.
29 Oct. 2014.
"32 States with Legal Gay Marriage and 18 States with Same-Sex Marriage Bans - Gay Marriage
- ProCon.org."ProConorg Headlines. ProCon, 21 Nov. 2014. Web. 29 Oct.
2014.