The movement for gay equality in America has come in four basic
stages. Each of these stages made a distinct contribution. Each was
marked by its own missteps. Each provoked stiff resistance. Each
suffered stinging defeats. But each ultimately advanced the cause
and prepared the way for the next stage. With the recognition of
same-sex marriages in Massachusetts - the first time a state has
done so - we have entered the final stage of the gay rights
movement.
Stage 1: Emergence
The first stage of the movement covered roughly the middle of
the twentieth century up to the time of the Stonewall riot in New
York in June, 1969. We might call this stage "Emergence," since
it's when homosexuals began to emerge from the closet and to
organize politically for the first time.
The atmosphere in the country during the Emergence period was
harshly repressive. Homosexuality was considered not just sinful,
but a mental disorder. All 50 states had sodomy laws directed and
enforced primarily against gay sex. Raids on gay bars were common.
Known homosexuals were forbidden in many states to obtain
professional and business licenses. Same-sex marriage was
unthinkable.
In the face of repression, a few extraordinarily courageous
individuals declared that homosexuals were perfectly normal. They
formed the first gay political and educational groups like the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis. It was during this
period that the American Law Institute recommended eliminating
sodomy laws, and Illinois became the first state to do so, in
1961.
Stage 2: Liberation
Stonewall marked a new and more radical stage in the gay rights
movement. We might call this stage "Liberation," since the gay
movement appropriated the rhetoric and methods of other
"liberation" movements for women and racial minorities. Liberation
is also an appropriate moniker for this second stage because the
movement emphasized separation from mainstream American society and
institutions through unbridled sexual freedom and revolutionary
critiques of existing customs and ways of living. For many
activists of this period, fighting for marriage would have seemed
like a surrender to heterosexual norms.
During the Liberation period, the American Psychiatric
Association removed homosexuality from its official list of mental
disorders, many more states eliminated their sodomy laws, gay
publications and organizations mushroomed, the first openly gay
officials were elected, and a few localities banned discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation.
Yet this second stage engendered a ferocious backlash, led by a
newly self-conscious movement of social conservatives now known as
the religious right. Anita Bryant infamously led successful drives
to repeal gay rights ordinances in places like Miami and St.
Paul.
Stage 3: Tolerance
The heady and optimistic second stage of the gay rights movement
ended with the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s. AIDS
soon sapped almost the entire energy of the movement. Gay advocates
shifted from emphasizing freedom and separation to emphasizing
caring, responsibility, community, and commitment - the
preconditions for the development of a marriage ethic. At the same
time, the brutal process of dying from a disease identified almost
entirely with gay men brought many homosexuals out of the closet
for the first time. The protest group ACT-UP, whose antics were
sometimes childish and counter-productive, transformed the American
medical establishment to be more responsive to patients' needs for
care and life-saving drugs.
While some Americans responded to AIDS by calling for
quarantines, the predominant reaction was one of sympathy and
support. We could call the third stage of the gay-rights movement
"Tolerance," since Americans now opposed many forms of
discrimination yet a majority remained convinced that homosexuality
was morally wrong.
During the Tolerance period, many more civil rights laws were
passed, corporate America led the way to the equal treatment of gay
couples, and sodomy laws were finally vanquished. Gay couples began
to demand benefits, leading to the creation of private and public
domestic partnerships and, toward the end of the third stage, civil
unions in Vermont. Still, there were reverses, including the
codification of the military's gay ban and a federal ban on
recognizing gay marriages.
Stage 4: Acceptance?
On May 17, 2004, the day Massachusetts began recognizing
same-sex marriages, we entered what I expect will be the end stage
of the gay rights movement.
As in each stage of the gay rights movement before this one, gay
advocates will be guilty of excesses and will suffer serious
setbacks. Beginning this November, we are going to be plastered in
a series of anti-gay-marriage initiatives on state ballots around
the country. Gay marriage will temporarily win a battle here and
there in a few courts, but will overwhelmingly lose. For a time,
legislatures will bottle-up or defeat gay marriage bills even in
gay-friendly states, like California.
Gay marriage may even lose its toehold in Massachusetts come
November 2006, when citizens there may vote on a state
constitutional amendment. But I doubt it, and even if we lose in
Massachusetts gay marriage will resurface somewhere before long.
Having seen that gay marriage causes no harm and brings much joy,
Americans will allow it, by fits and starts, to sweep the
country.
By the time that happens, perhaps 30 years from now, the need
for an organized gay rights movement in this country will be gone.
There will still be bigotry and ignorance to fight, in America and
around the world, but the heavy political and legal lifting will
have been done.
History can't be written before it happens, and there is nothing
inevitable about progress. But, if it turns out as I expect, this
final phase should be called "Acceptance," since it will end in
gays' full inclusion in the nation's legal and social life.