LGBTQ+ History and Harmful Legislation

**TW: This article contains information about oppression of minority groups. Read at your own discretion.**

A lot of the common ideologies and morals that anti-LGBTQ+ individuals have can date back to the late 1600s. The idea that “God created man, male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over his creatures” is a common argument as to why homosexuals should not be allowed in our world today. In 1687, the New England Primer, which many consider to be the first textbook for schools, spoke with religious ideologies about God and had sections dedicated to prayer.

Virginia has a history of segregation, while in 1681 the first anti-miscegenation law was published, stating whites and Blacks or whites and Native Americans cannot marry. This later was overturned by Loving v. Virginia in 1967.

There have always been people who have questioned the societal norms of the time period: Olauda Equiano, for example, wrote a novel about his experiences as a slave and the existence of same-sex relationships within the culture of slavery. Since slaves were not allowed to marry, he admits to having these relations.

The roles of women of the time were also questioned, with only about 400 documented cases of women changing their names to a male name and joining the Union Army. In 1861, for example, Sarah Emma Edmonds began to identify as a man, Franklin Thompson, in order to join the army. She later returned home, began to identify as a woman again, married and had children.

In 1868, the fourteenths amendment was ratified. This amendment serves as the basis for Roe. v Wade, Obergefell v. Hodges, Brown v. Board of Education, and many more court cases today. This grants equal protection under the law despite how one is perceived or identifies.

In 1886, Henry James coined the term “Boston Marriages” in his novel to describe two women living together, without the financial support of a man. Women’s rights became a little more defined during this time than they were before. In 1890, the term “lesbian” was used first in a medical dictionary, but was first used ever by William King in his novel in 1732 to describe women who loved other women.

Oscar Wilde, the famous playwright of works like “The Importance of Being Earnest” was put on trial for gross indecency, or relationships with other men, and served two years in jail in 1895.

We see the first human rights society form in 1924, called “The Society for Human Rights.” This organization dealt with many of its members becoming arrested for being outspoken on LGBTQ+ issues of the time.

Throughout the Holocaust, German homosexual men were to wear a pink triangle on their clothing. There were over 100,000 of these men, who were the last to be released from Nazi concentration camps.

In 1969, the Stonewall Riots happened at Stonewall Inn in New York City, including over 400 gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and straight people who protested gay rights and the actions of police raiding into the Stonewall Inn.

The first gay pride was held in 1970, with people from all across the United States protesting the rights of LGBTQ+ members. The rainbow flag made its debut in 1978 to represent gay and lesbian pride.

President Bill Clinton of the time signed the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Law,” allowing gay and lesbian identifying people to serve in the military in 1993, however it was expected that members of the community were to keep quiet about their sexuality and if officials were able to find out it could be used as terms for dissmissal from the forces. Barack Obama signed this repeal in 2010, making it illegal to silence the voices of lesbian and gay soldiers and not allowing them to be terminated based on their sexuality.

We finally saw it in 2015 with Obergefell v. Hodges that gay marriage became legal for same-sex couples.

Throughout history, it has been a continuous battle to be openly gay or even just live as a gay person. It is a challenge, and today we can credit many gay activists who paved the way for LGBTQ+ people to be able to live more openly. We sadly see discrimination and harm to this community still to this day, but with the long timeline of the history of homosexuality in this world, we know that this did not spark out of nowhere.