Prior to 1950, psychologists and psychiatrists had mainly studied
gays and lesbians who were either in prison, or in therapy. The typical
psychiatric diagnosis was severe and pervasive emotional disorder. Alfred
Kinsey published "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" which revealed that
4% of men identified themselves as exclusively homosexual, and that 37%
engaged in same-sex activity to orgasm after puberty.
Evelyn Hooker (1907-1996) had the novel idea to
compare a group of non-clinical gay males with a comparable group of
heterosexual males. She:
"...published the first empirical
research to challenge the prevailing psychiatric assumption that
homosexuality was a mental illness. Her work was the cornerstone for an
entire body of research that ultimately led to removal of
'homosexuality' from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders." 1
Her first report
was called "The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual." It
showed that "homosexuals were not inherently abnormal and that there
was no difference between homosexual and heterosexual men in terms of
pathology." More details. She
received the 1991 Award for distinguished Psychology in the Public
Interest. The citation read, in part:
"Her research, leadership,
mentorship, and tireless advocacy for an accurate scientific view of
homosexuality for more than three decades has been an outstanding
contribution to psychology in the public interest."
In 1950, the Mattachine Society was formed in Los Angeles to
promote LGB issues.
In a 1951 review of existing studies, C.S. Ford and F.A. Beach:
"... found that homosexual behavior was widespread among various nonhuman
species and in a large number of human societies. They reported that
homosexual behavior of some sort was considered normal and socially
acceptable for at least some individuals in 64% of the 76 societies in
their sample; in the remaining societies, adult homosexual activity was
reported to be totally absent, rare, or carried on only in secrecy."
2
Kinsey's book "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female" revealed that 2% of
adult women identified themselves as exclusively lesbian, and that 13% of
women had engaged in homosexual activities at least once.
In 1956, The North American Conference of Homophile
Organizations (NACHO) was organized. By the time of their 1960 meeting in Kansas
City, they had become a coalition of about two dozen gay groups. Bob
Martin, a delegate from Columbia University said that their
activities were organized:
"... much as civil-rights groups worked through the first half of the Sixties:
through education, legal action, and voter education, through winning
over the straight majority by appealing to their consciences, through
building a 'good public image,' through lobbying with Congress and State
legislators, through 'respectability." 3
A radical
faction surfaced at the 1960 meeting. They called for a change in
tactics. Item 4 of their manifesto stated: "Our enemies, an
implacable, repressive governmental system; much of organized religion,
business and medicine, will not be moved by appeasement or appeals to
reason and justice, but only by power and force." Although their
manifesto was rejected by the conference delegates, the radicals ultimately
succeed. During the 1960s. The existing homophile groups faded away, and
the more radical Gay Liberationists grew in strength. The
homosexual agenda emerged at this point: -- to gain equal rights for
gays and lesbians, and to end special privileges given only to
heterosexuals.
Ford, C.S., & Beach, F.A., "Patterns of sexual behavior."
Harper & Brothers. (1951). Mentioned in Gregory Herek, "Facts About
Homosexuality and Mental Health," at:
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/
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