Harry Hay is considered the founder of the Modern Gay civil rights movement. History also apparently tells he had strong involvement and ties to the Communist party and the labor union advocate. He also created the Mattachine Society, and a gay spiritual cult group called he “The Radical Faeries”. These are just some of the components that make up he man we call Harry Hay in history. Beginning in Harry's early teens his links to homosexualiy stared to appear. Harry was apart of the Communist party, and due to the pressure of he other party members he tried to become straight and married a woman and he adopted two children. He realized that he couldn't’ pretend being someone he is not, and quickly divorced he woman. After the divorce Harry …show more content…
Another fact about Harry is he was an actor. He acted in Los Angeles for art avant-garde arts movement of 1930s Los Angeles, where he worked as an actor. He participated in the San Francisco General Strike of 1934 and fought against fascism, racism, and anti-Semitism in the 1940s. Throughout the 1950s he did research into areas of anthropology, science, history, and mythology for evidence of what he termed “my people” meaning gay people. In the 1970s he worked for and supported Native American struggles and helped to define and bring together the gay men’s group the Radical Faeries. Hay continued theorizing and organizing his “people” and supporting social justice for all people, right up to his death in 2002. These are just a few other things Harry Hay did in …show more content…
“You're talking about coming out to yourself and coming out to one or two other people. But it's not coming out to the people on the street you live on. It's simply coming into consciousness.” (Harry Hay). Harry did realize that many people were affected by the result/ the reaction of people once they come out. He was a symbol of hope for many people around the world. There are many accounts of Harry being many people's’ voice and inspiration, but he was also experienced hate from other groups such as the Chalcedon Foundation. This foundation was started in 1965 by Rousas John Rushdoony, who is known as “father of Christian Reconstruction”. Rushdoony supported the death penalty for homosexuals calling them “abominators”. Not only disliking homosexuals, but Rushdoony also thought the holocaust was a hoax, and also disagreed with interracial marriage. Another organization against homosexuals is the Concerned Women for America or CWA. This organization was founded in 1979 by Beverly LaHaye. This was an anti feminist group that matched the power of the National Organization for Women. LaHaye blamed gay people for a “radical leftist crusade”, and she also thought that gays have equated homosexuality with pedophilia. There are many more people and organizations that have problems with people being homosexual. Harry Hay obviously realized that these people have a bi of influence over homosexuals and their minds, which made
Although the conclusion of the Civil War during the mid-1860s demolished the official practice of slavery, the oppression and exploitation of African Americans has continued. Although the rights and opportunities of African Americans were greatly improved during Reconstruction, cases such a 1896’s Plessy v. Ferguson, which served as the legal basis for segregation, continue to diminish the recognized humanity of African Americans as equal people. Furthermore, the practice of the sharecropping system impoverished unemployed African Americans, recreating slavery. As economic and social conditions worsened, the civil rights movement began to emerge as the oppressed responded to their conditions, searching for equality and protected citizenship.With such goals in mind, associations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which came to the legal defense of African Americans and aided the march for civil rights reforms, emerged. By working against the laws restricting African Americans, the NAACP saw progress with the winning of cases like Brown v. Board of Education, which allowed the integration of public schools after its passing in 1954 and 1955. In the years following the reform instituted by the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, the fervor of the civil rights movement increased; mass nonviolent protests against the unfair treatment of blacks became more frequent. New leaders, such as Martin Luther King, manifested themselves. The civil rights activists thus found themselves searching for the “noble dream” unconsciously conceived by the democratic ideals of the Founding Fathers to be instilled.
Jones began his group in San Francisco and was once a respected community leader. He started programs to help the elderly and poor. His circle of friends once included leading politicians, who once defended him against allegations of abuse.
After watching the movie Freeheld and doing a little bit of research about it from Wikipedia, I was actually surprised thinking about how far the LGBT movement has come in twelve years. It is disappointing to think about how long it took for the LGBT community to be granted marriage equality rights in America. I actually thought this movie took place much earlier than the early 2000s, but the fourth generation Camaro and Wikipedia page told me otherwise.
The 1960’s were one of the most significant decades in the twentieth century. The sixties were filled with new music, clothes, and an overall change in the way people acted, but most importantly it was a decade filled with civil rights movements. On February 1, 1960, four black freshmen from North Carolina Agriculture and Technical College in Greensboro went to a Woolworth’s lunch counter and sat down politely and asked for service. The waitress refused to serve them and the students remained sitting there until the store closed for the night. The very next day they returned, this time with some more black students and even a few white ones. They were all well dressed, doing their homework, while crowds began to form outside the store. A columnist for the segregation minded Richmond News Leader wrote, “Here were the colored students in coats, white shirts, and ties and one of them was reading Goethe and one was taking notes from a biology text. And here, on the sidewalk outside was a gang of white boys come to heckle, a ragtail rabble, slack-jawed, black-jacketed, grinning fit to kill, and some of them, God save the mark, were waving the proud and honored flag of the Southern States in the last war fought by gentlemen. Eheu! It gives one pause”(Chalmers 21). As one can see, African-Americans didn’t have it easy trying to gain their civil rights. Several Acts were passed in the 60’s, such as Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. This was also, unfortunately, the time that the assassinations of important leaders took place. The deaths of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr., all happened in the 60’s.
Upton Sinclair, reformer from the womb, was born on September 20, 1878. He became a peculiar rags-to-riches story. Beginning his life in Baltimore, Maryland, His father’s family had a drawn out history of naval involvement and alcoholism. Growing in the south with the destruction of the Civil War, Sinclair’s family was living in poverty for an extended time. His open mind probably came from both perspectives of poor and wealth, because he evolved with his wealthy grandparents in New York at age ten. Sinclair then began writing jokes of ethnics and fiction for a few magazines. Sinclair’s religious background made Jesus Christ his number one hero. At the right age, he was accepted to Columbia University. His first marriage inspired an unhappy novel, Springtime and Harvest. Then many novels came to life after he ended his life of hackery to live one for socialism. He avoided communism of people around him when he joined the Socialist Society in 1905, but only a year earlier Fred Warren, a socialist editor, convinced Sinclair to write about the immigrant hardships of working in the Chicago meat packing houses.
...gays in this time period, Gene is not able to express his feelings and struggles with the concept of being different. As readers see Gene repressing his feelings because of the time period he lives in, it also is easy for them to see that the book itself is struggling to “come out” of the closet. Even though it is easy to find evidence that this is a gay novel, John Knowles never gives the readers a direct answer as to whether it absolutely is or not. In fact, although this is a work of fiction, a lot of Knowles’s actual life is infused into the book. Just like in the book, Knowles went to an all-boys boarding school in the first half of the twentieth century. Even though we cannot say that Knowles was gay, we know that he grew up in the same era of homophobia and may have still felt uncomfortable with expressing homosexuality openly--even through a fictional story.
The background of homosexuality in the 1940’s and 50’s was harsh, but people started to be opened toward the rights. There were criticisms toward homosexuality in the early days of Milk. Gay men carried the labels of mentally ill or psychopathic. Often times, gay men committed suicide from harsh judgement and criticism that always followed them. Even though population of homosexuality grew and had jobs, they were harassed and beaten by the police. There were a lot of disapproval and hostility of homosexuality. Anita Bryant, a singer, made a campaign to oppose the rights of homosexuals. Christian forces and activists withdrew gay-right legislation which lead to Proposition 6. The harshness from background of homosexuality back in the 1940’s and 50’s took the freedom away from the homosexuals. After the harshness, there came a little bit of hope for the homosexuals in San Francisco. Castro, a city in San Francisco, became the center of gay neighborhood. In 1964, gay men formed Society of Individual Right (SIR), and 1,200 members joined. Homosexuals started having good views when Sipple who was gay saved the president from a gunshot. Finally in 1972, Board of Supervisor banned the discrimination law for homosexuals. Even though in 1940...
Civil rights can be defined as the rights for individuals to receive equality. This equality includes the right to equal jobs, justice, the right to be free from harsh treatment and discrimination from the whites in various ways. These rights include education, voting rights, employment, same sex marriages, housing, and many more. Civil rights include gay and lesbian rights, women rights to vote and hold positions in offices, African- Americans and Hispanics as well. Looking at it from a historically, the civil rights movement is the fights, protest, and demonstrations all in a non-violent form by African-Americans to achieve equality amongst whites. Today, civil rights can be used to describe the call for equality for all people regardless of culture, race, sex, age, disability, national origin, religion, or certain other characteristics.
Thousands of homosexuals immigrated to the San Francisco area in this time period, as stated in Gay Manifesto by Carl Wittman. Feeling threatened and targeted by heterosexual society, they formed an enclaved on the basis of sexual identity. United, gays advocated for the integration of tolerance of society as they felt in many aspects the group was misunderstood. Labeled as “sexual perverts,” the group worked to change this negative perception. Gays attempted to seek support from women and minorities facing similar discrimination. However, support was not always granted. Assaults on members of gay community were in considered to be lynching, by the community. The comparison did not connect with African Americans. The vision of freedom the Gay community envisioned was one of social unity with disregard to sexual identity. The avocation of gay perceptions eventually changed the ideals of equality and societal
The essential association for recognizing gay men as an oppressed social minority was the Mattachine Society, established in 1950 by Harry Hay and ...
The Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's was arguably one of the most formative and influential periods in American history. Hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists utilized non violent resistance and civil disobedience to revolt against racial segregation and discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement began in the southern states but quickly rose to national prominence. It is of popular belief that the civil rights movement was organized by small groups of people, with notable leaders like—Martin Luther King, Jr, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and even John F. Kennedy—driving the ship. That is partly correct. The Civil Rights Movement, in its truest form, was hundreds of thousands of people organizing events and protests, working together to ensure that every American—whether black, white, brown and anything in between—had the right to a prosperous and harmonious life.
Feeling the warmth when they hold a loved one is something for which people should not be judged. It should not matter what sex their partner is because, put simply, they are in love. The gay rights movement is a continuing procession that fights for their rights. The gay rights movement actually begins on November 11, 1950 when gay rights activist Harry Hay founds America’s first national gay rights organization by the name of Mattachine Society, according to the “Timeline: Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement”. Their leaders or people who advanced their purpose are Harvey Milk, Harry Hay, LGBT, or lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual groups. This purpose is to stop intolerance and, ultimately, gain the right of and benefits of marriage. The gay rights movement is embodied in “What We Want, What We Believe,” which shows that even though the group was not seen, or given rights, that in time with their unity they would gain equality. It is a manifesto that states what the entirety of the LGBT groups want. Moreover, no one should feel the shunning of discrimination or hatred for whom they love because of what sex they are.
The history of the gay rights movement goes as far back as the late 19th century. More accurately, the quest by gays to search out others like themselves and foster a feeling of identity has been around since then. It is an innovative movement that seeks to change existing norms and gain acceptance within our culture. By 1915, one gay person said that the gay world was a "community, distinctly organized" (Milestones 1991), but kept mostly out of view because of social hostility. According to the Milestones article, after World War II, around 1940, many cities saw their first gay bars open as many homosexuals began to start a networking system. However, their newfound visibility only backfired on them, as in the 1950's president Eisenhower banned gays from holding federal jobs and many state institutions did the same. The lead taken by the federal government encouraged local police forces to harass gay citizens. "Vice officers regularly raided gay bars, sometimes arresting dozens of men and women on a single night" (Milestones). In spite of the adversity, out of the 1950s also came the first organized groups of gays, including leaders. The movement was small at first, but grew exponentially in short periods of time. Spurred on by the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the "homophile" (Milestones) movement took on more visibility, picketing government agencies and discriminatory policies. By 1969, around 50 gay organizations existed in the United States. The most crucial moment in blowing the gay rights movement wide open was on the evening of July 27, 1969, when a group of police raided a gay bar in New York City. This act prompted three days of rioting in the area called the Stonewall Rio...
Scholars consider Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, H. G. Wells, and Yevgeny Zamyatin as four of
He believed his school bullies and school masters represented man’s general inhumanity towards their fellow man. Several of his works state the tyranny of religion and the oppressive government has on the population, including one of his works “The Masque of Anarchy”. He was also a big animal rights activist, believing that animals were being treated wrongfully treated and slaughtered, which is why he promoted vegetarianism and a natural diet in many of his works. He supported the lower classes, and believing they were taken advantage of, and he was determined to inspire them. He encouraged his followers to throw off those who oppress them such as the royal courts, churches, government systems, and legal courts, and to rebel against social normality. His peaceful approach to his defiance inspired many passive resistances of leaders such as Ghandi, Karl Marx, and Upton Sinclair (“Percy Bysshe Shelley.”