Stonewall Research Paper

After the riots at Stonewall occurred, the LGBT movement moved further away from the homophile groups of the 50’s and 60’s towards a more radical activist mentality. While there were some groups that made progress through legal channels with the help of the ACLU, groups such as the Gay Liberation Front and the Radical Lesbian Feminists of the time were disenchanted by the government’s failure in Vietnam, and literally wanted to smash the current society to create a better and more accepting America. This led to protests, cultural bonding sites that attempted to create a more cohesive LGBT community, and some isolation of Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender groups that was often only overcome when these groups came together to fight the prejudices

While there were many groups of lesbian feminists, the main tenet of these groups was that sexism and the patriarchy was the cause of all discrimination, and “that only a “woman’s culture”, built on superior female values and women’s love for each other could rectify all that had gone wrong in male hands.” (Faderman 216). In attempting to create this lesbian society without men, they started “women born women” publishing houses, support groups, sports teams, and bookstores. Additionally, the Women’s Music business became a large success, with brands like Olivia Records holding concerts throughout the US (Faderman 221). However, even as new businesses and communities popped up, lesbian feminists could agree on very little in terms of policy. They disagreed on the inclusion of male children and transgender women in movement events, on whether the movement should socialize with men, and about behavioral policies within the movement. For example, based on the lesbian feminist slogan, “the personal is political ”, women were expected to be politically correct in all walks of their life, including their dress, housing, and sex. Penetration was deemed inappropriate, as was role playing, or any orgasm seeking behavior (Faderman 231-232). This intense policing of personal lives, as

The Gay Activists Alliance was a significant liberal LGBT group, that hap members who supported radical activism, but “believed that GAA could work most effectively and best promote gay and lesbian mobilization if it avoided entanglements with other movements.” (Stein 100). These similarly minded groups around the country worked with the ACLU through legal channels to accomplish such things as shooting down the Briggs Initiative, removing homosexuality as a mental illness from the DSM, and abolishing sodomy and obscenity laws that pertained to homosexuality in many states (Stein 121-122, 139-141). They also established social groups that both supported and celebrated many facets of the LGBT community, including religious groups, “Third World” or minority gay alliances, and commemorative Stonewall marches (99,111). These social and legal advancements provided the foundations for the movement through the 1990’s, and would eventually be the groups that other separatist movements would morph