Pride & the Law
HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!
This post focuses on historic dates and important people in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in America. It’s not a complete list, of course, but it definitely hits some of the highlights. Many thanks to the instagram page @soyouwanttotalkabout, the excellent resource on a variety of social issues which inspired this post!
1966
The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot ❤️
The Compton’s Cafeteria riot happened in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco in August 1966. In the years prior, the LBG community was increasingly targeted by the SFPD, arrested for sex work (which was involuntary for many) and violating the city’s anti-cross dressing laws. On this particular evening, the police arrested a woman in the Cafeteria, which prompted her to dump her steaming cup of coffee on one of the officers. From there, chairs and dishes were thrown; windows smashed; and a nearby newsstand set on fire.
The Compton’s Cafeteria riot was one of the first LBGT-related riots in American history and marked the beginning of transgender activism in San Fran. It preceded the Stonewall Riots (see below!) by just under three years, and the election of Harvey Milk in 1977. Harvey was the first openly gay elected official in California’s history, and proposed an ambitious reform agenda that focused heavily on protecting gay rights. He was assassinated by a disgruntled former politician in November 1978.
1969
The Stonewall Riots 🧡
The Stonewall Riots (sometimes called the Stonewall Uprising or Stonewall Rebellion) began on June 28, 1969. They were a series of demonstrations in response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan, which turned violent against gay and lesbian patrons. The Stonewall Riots are widely considered to mark the beginning of the LGBTQ+ rights movement in twentieth century America.
Sylvia Rivera, a Latina civil rights pioneer, was one of the key figures in the Stonewall Uprising. In particular, she fought against excluding transgender people from New York’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act. Along with Marsha P. Johnson (another activist and self-identified drag queen, performer, and survivor), Sylvia founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolution (STAR) to organize events and discuss issues facing the NYC trans community.
1970
The First Gay Pride Parade 💛
On June 28, 1970, “Christopher Street Liberation Day” celebrated the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. An assembly on Christopher Street in New York, as well as marches in Los Angeles and Chicago, marked the first Gay Pride Parades in American history. The New York march extended for 51 blocks (from Christopher Street to Central Park) and the marchers took up 15 entire blocks!
Though not directly linked to the Pride marches, Bayard Rustin first played an influential role as the organizer of MLK’s famous civil rights march on Washington. Bayard was openly gay and shifted his focus from civil rights to LGBTQ+ activism in the 1980’s, working tirelessly to bring the AIDS crisis into the NAACP’s sphere of attention.
1982
Wisconsin passes the first Sexual Orientation Anti-Discrimination Bill 💚
On February 25, 1982 Wisconsin governor Lee Dreyfus signed a bill making it illegal for state or private businesses to discriminate in employment and housing based on a person’s sexual orientation. That day, Wisconsin became the first state in the nation to enforce such a law at the state level and an early leader in the protection of LGBTQ+ rights (in fact, there wasn’t a “second state” to enact similar protections for another nine years). Goooooo Cheeseheads!
1996
Hawaii nixes the state’s same-sex marriage ban 💙
On December 3, 1996, Hawaii judge Kevin C. Chang ruled that the state could not deprive same-sex couples of the right to marry. Basically, he found that Hawaii had no “compelling reason” for denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples and enjoined (stopped) the state from doing so. That decision made Hawaii the first state to recognize that gay and lesbian couples had the same marital rights as heterosexual couples!
2004
First legal same-sex marriage in the United States 💜
On May 17, 2004, Marcia Kadish and Tanya McCloskey became the first same-sex couple to get legally married in the United States. They tied the knot in Massachusetts after the Mass Supreme Court officially ruled the state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The two women had been together for almost twenty years before that ruling was published.
According to Marcia, they arrived to the courthouse early “because we wanted to go to everybody else's wedding. We wanted to participate all-day-long in weddings." And they did! Hundreds of same-sex couples got married in Massachusetts on May 17.
When asked about the significance of their marriage, Marcia told NPR that "We wanted to lead by example, not that we were leaders of anything. We just wanted to make sure that the world saw the most positive side of being a gay couple."
2009
The Hate Crimes Prevention Act is passed ❤️
On October 28, 2009, then-President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The Act expanded hate crime legislation by criminalizing actions motivated by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. Shepard was a gay student beaten to death in Wyoming in 2008; Byrd was a Black man killed in Texas in 1998.
During the official signing, President Obama stated that the bill’s Hate Crimes measure would "help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray." As of summer 2018, the U.S. Justice Department had used the Shepard/Byrd law to indict 88 defendants in 42 hate crimes cases, with 64 convictions. While some are discouraged by that relatively low number, the government affairs director of the Human Rights Campaign calls the law “a success” because it has prompted local and state prosecutors to take anti-LGBT violence more seriously.
2015
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges 🧡
On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court officially declared same-sex marriage constitutional. The importance of this decision can’t be overstated. Multiple studies have shown that…
The Supreme Court’s decision reduced disparities in happiness and life satisfaction between LBGT and non-LBGT adults to non-significant levels
The number of same-sex couples has more than doubled since Obergefell, which generated an economic boost for state and local economies
It’s about wayyyyy more than just marriage. Same-sex couples now receive all the same tax benefit, estate planning, child custody, creditor protection, life insurance, and medical planning advantages as their heterosexual counterparts.
For more on that case, Obergefell v. Hodges (and stories about love & law in general!) read this post from February.
And there you have it! America has come a long way with recognizing LGBTQ+ rights, but there’s always room to grow. Happy Pride everyone ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
