Interview by Lauren Gutterman Lillian Faderman’s The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle (Simon & Schuster, 2015) provides a moving and far-reaching account of the LGBT movement in the United States, from the founding of the homophile movement in the 1950s, to recent struggles for an Employment Non-Discrimination Act […]
Tag: gay rights movement
Why I Oppose a General Pardon for Historical Convictions for Homosexual Offences
Justin Bengry UK Labour Party leadership contender Andy Burnham recently proposed automatic pardons for all men convicted of historical homosexual offences that are no longer crimes. This has been an ongoing conversation in the UK, which in 2013 granted WWII Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing a posthumous royal pardon. The issue reappeared […]
Rainbow Plaques: Mapping York’s LGBT History
Kit Heyam There are over 70 plaques in York, marking historically significant places from a Roman fortress (Bootham) to a minuscule street (Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate). While the original “blue plaque” scheme was started by English Heritage, any group may erect a plaque, marking spaces linked to people or events they consider worthy […]
Sexuality, Family Planning, and the British Left: An Interview with Stephen Brooke
Interview by David Minto A sweeping account of sexuality and socialism in twentieth century Britain, Stephen Brooke’s Sexual Politics has the feel of a traditional political history even as it foregrounds a subject still too often ignored in the analysis of political modernity. Demonstrating how leftist organizing shaped national battles over abortion, […]
The Obergefell Syllabus: Historicizing Same-Sex Marriage in the United States
On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision established the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry in all 50 states. Discussions of the United States national past abounded in the majority opinion and in the dissents. The words “history” / “historical” / “historic” appear in the […]
‘Pray the gay away’: The Catholic Church, Sexology and Sexuality in Italy
Chiara Beccalossi From Ireland’s recent referendum in support of same-sex marriage to the Australian Prime Minister’s adamant refusal to offer a conscience vote on the same issue, countries around the world are once again talking about homosexuality. But for all the positive steps taken towards granting LGBTI citizens the same rights as […]
Organized Labor, Gay Liberation and the Battle Against the Religious Right, 1977-1994
Miriam Frank What common cause could bring organized labor together with gay liberation in the United States? When gay rights became a referendum question in municipal or statewide elections, unions’ strategic and direct participation or their indifference mattered profoundly for the fortunes of gay rights. Beginning in 1972, dozens of cities […]