The gay liberation movement during the 1980s
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 | 1980:
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Mel Boozer, an openly
gay candidate for vice-president, gave a speech at the 1980 Democratic
National Convention.
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Same-gender sexual behavior between male gays was decriminalized in Scotland.
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| | 1981:
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The World Health
Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental
illnesses. This was six years after the American Psychological Association did the same thing. It was about three decades after researcher Evelyn Hooker conducted a study of gays and lesbians using standard psychological evaluation tests and proved that a homosexual orientation was not a mental illness.
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In July, the Centers for Disease
Control reported that 26 cases of a very rare form of cancer, Kaposi's Sarcoma, was found in young gay men. This was later recognized as
being due to the presence of AIDS.
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| | 1982:
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On JAN-28, The U.S. Department of Defense issued a policy stating
that homosexuality is incompatible with military service.
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More than 1,300 athletes
gathered in San Francisco during August and September, to participate in the first ever Gay Olympics. The
U.S. Olympic Committee obtained an injunction prevented them from using
the world "Olympics" in the name of their meeting.
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Wisconsin became the first
state to prohibit anti-gay bias in housing, employment and public
accommodations.
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Same-sex acts by male gays was decriminalized in Northern Ireland.
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1983: Representative Gerry Studds (D-MA) became the first
openly gay member of Congress. The following year, he was re-elected.
| | 1984:
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Robert Bork led a panel of U.S. Court of Appeals in DC
to rule that it is "impossible to conclude that a right to homosexual
conduct is 'fundamental'."
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Two researchers -- one American and one French --
identified the HIV virus as the
probable cause of AIDS.
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| | 1985:
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Rock Hudson died of AIDS. Suddenly, the disease became high-profile
news.
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Hollywood released the Kiss of the Spider Woman, one of the
first movies to portray a gay man in a positive light.
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The Department of
Defense started to check all military personnel and recruits for HIV
infection.
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| | 1986:
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President Reagan called for a reduction in spending on AIDS
research.
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The Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 decision, upheld the right of states
to criminalize "sodomy" as defined in Georgia as oral or anal sex by anyone
-- heterosexual or homosexual; married or not. They ruled that:
"The Constitution does not confer a fundamental right upon
homosexuals to engage in sodomy." 1 About seventeen years later, during 2003, the same court overturned this ruling with an apology in Lawrence v. Texas.
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Pope John Paul II approved a letter to the Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church as written by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. At the time, the Cardinal was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He later became Pope Benedict XVI. The letter said, in part:
"Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder. ... It is only in the marital relationship that the use of the sexual faculty can be morally good. A person engaging in homosexual behaviour therefore acts immorally. ... All support should be withdrawn from any organizations which seek to undermine the teaching of the Church, which are ambiguous about it, or which neglect it entirely. Such support, or even the semblance of such support, can be gravely misinterpreted." 2
The withdrawal of support hit chapters of Dignity support group particularly hard, because they had widely used church facilities to hold
their meetings.
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| | 1987:
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A group of from 200,000 to 500,000 gays and lesbians participate in
the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. This
was the largest
demonstration of its type in history up until that date.
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The head of the International Banana Association criticized PBS for
a program that used a banana as a prop to demonstrate how a condom is
applied.
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| | 1988:
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At about this time, the effort that had been poured into the gay and
lesbian liberation movement began to be diverted into fighting the AIDS
epidemic.
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The city of Baltimore, MD passed a civil rights bill that
prohibits discrimination against gays and lesbians.
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The first gay and lesbian studies department at a U.S. college or
university was founded at the City College of San Francisco.
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The United Church of Canada revised its membership rules to
welcome gays and lesbians as members and as candidates for ordination.
The resolution stated:
"A) That all persons, regardless of their sexual orientation, who
profess Jesus Christ and obedience to Him, are welcome to be or become
full member of the Church.
B) All members of the Church are eligible to
be considered for the Ordered Ministry."
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| | 1989:
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An internal Department of Defense report revealed that gay recruits are "just as
good or better" than heterosexuals. The government unsuccessfully
tried to suppress the document.
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The Governor of Massachusetts signed into law a bill that protects gays and lesbians from
discrimination.
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The District of Columbia passed a hate crimes bill, which increases
penalties for crimes motivated by homophobia.
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In October, Denmark became the first country to recognize same-sex
partnerships. |
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References used:
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Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, "Letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church on the pastoral care of homosexual persons," The Vatican, 1986-OCT-01, at: http://www.vatican.va
Copyright © 2002 & 2013 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2002-JUL-23
Latest update: 2013-APR-04
Author: B.A. Robinson 
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