
Using dialogue to resolve people's conflicting LGBT beliefs
Changes in the American culture. Timeline of
events.
Why is it such a prominent topic now?

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The term "LGBT" refers to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender persons and transsexuals.
Change in society's beliefs:It may be helpful to look at the recent history of homosexuality in North
America. Before the early 1950s, there was a near consensus in North America that gays, lesbians,
and bisexuals were mentally disordered individuals engaging in
obscene, perverted sexual behavior. Same-gender sexual behavior was considered a
criminal act in all states. According to an article about Dr. Evelyn
Hooker, an early researcher into homosexuality:
"The legal penalties for homosexual
behavior were severe. The psychiatric diagnosis was severe and pervasive
emotional disorder. There were simply no [available] scientific data about
non-imprisoned, non-patient homosexuals." 1
Bisexuals were
often considered to be homosexuals who were too timid to recognize the
truth about themselves. Almost all gays, lesbians, and bisexuals remained deeply
in "the closet." Very few heterosexuals were unaware of having met
one. The webmaster of this web site and author of this essay, a heterosexual,
was in his mid 40's before he first knowingly met a gay person. It happened at a distress/crisis center training course. One of
the lecturers was from the Homophile Society at the local
university. It was surprising to many of the students of the class that he looked and acted rather normal. Many people's basic attitudes on sexual and other behavioral matters are
established early in life and are quite resistant to change. Thus, cultural change within a
culture happens slowly. This has been the rule in the past over topics like human slavery, inoculation of children against
diseases, allowing women to vote, dismantling racial segregation, permitting contraception, allowing women access to abortion, granting equal rights for women, allowing inter-racial couples to marry, etc. It is true
today concerning the death penalty, spanking children, physician
assisted suicide, and equal rights for transsexuals and intersexuals. During the five decades from the early 1950s until now, many people have
retained their beliefs about homosexuality and transsexuality unchanged. But others have gradually
modified their opinions. It took a full generation from the time that Dr. Evelyn
Hooker first started to study homosexuality until the mental health
professionals at the American Psychiatric Association decided that
homosexuality should no longer be considered a mental illness. It took another
generation before a significant percentage of adults, and a larger percentage of
youth, started to accept homosexuality as a normal and natural minority sexual orientation. By 2003, when the first draft of this essay was written, there are diverse beliefs about LGBT topics in
North America:
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Very substantial numbers of adults considered it to be an abnormal,
unnatural, immoral, and degenerate addiction.
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A smaller number believe that homosexual acts between consenting adults should be criminalized.
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A strong majority of adults believed that gays, lesbians and bisexuals should be
given equal protection against hate crimes and discrimination in
accommodation and employment.
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Fewer adults believed that same-sex relationships should be
registered by the government and that the couples should be granted some
of the benefits which are routinely given to opposite-sex married couples. This is the
civil union option seen in some states in the U.S.
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A majority of Canadian adults and a sizeable minority of Americans favored same-sex marriage (SSM), as had already been implemented in Holland, Belgium, and Canada.
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As of 2011-SEP, the strong minority of American adults in favor of SSM has grown to be a majority of about 54%, with those opposed totaling about 46%. 
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Significant events affecting homosexuals and bisexuals:Many firsts were recorded in the 1950s and 1960s:
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1953: Dr Evelyn Hooker, a psychologist at UCLA successfully
applied to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for a
grant to study, for the first time in North America, homosexuals in the
real world. Previous research projects were hopelessly biased because they had studied homosexual inmates in penitentiaries and patients in
psychiatric clinics, hospitals, and psychiatrists' offices.
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1962: The first American state in the U.S. repealed its
"anti-sodomy" laws: Michigan.
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1963: The first significant gay rights demonstration occurred in
New York City. Gays were protesting discrimination in the military.
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1965: The first continuing gay rights demonstrations occurred
in Washington DC over employment of gays and lesbians in the federal civil
service.
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1966: The first gay student organization was formed in New York
City.
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1969: Gays, lesbians, transsexuals and some onlookers resisted
when police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City. This was the first
of the "Stonewall Riots," and is regarded as the incident
that gave birth to the Gay
Liberation movement.
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Since then, GLBT individuals and groups have actively pursued what is commonly
referred to as the "gay agenda." It has two objectives:
LGBT-positive organizations have been active in many areas: human sexuality courses in schools, the right to visit their partner in hospital, an end to discrimination in employment, the right to inherit their partner's assets at death,
protection against gay bashing and other hate-motivated crimes, the
elimination of laws criminalizing same-sex behavior in private, the freedom to serve openly in the U.S. military, the right
to collect alimony, the right to marry, etc. Many mainline religious denominations have been discussing what has been
referred to as "the issue" for many years. Church gatherings have debated
whether to bless same-sex unions with a church ritual, and/or whether to
consider candidates for ordination who are involved in a sexually-active
same-sex relationship. The debate is now so bitter that it threatens to cause
schisms in many denominations, much as debates over human slavery did in the 19th century and conflict over female ordination did in the 20th century and continue to do in the 21st. Thousands of Gay-Straight Alliances have been organized the
U.S. These are student-organized and student-run special interest clubs,
generally in high schools, in which students representing all three sexual orientations cooperate for mutual support and to reduce the
harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students in school.

Why have gay rights become so prominent now?Equal rights for lesbians, gays and bisexuals has been a topic that has been simmering for many years.
Gay-positive groups have gradually attempted to achieve equality: company by
company, municipality by municipality, and state by state. The battle accelerated during the summer of 2003 with the unusual coincidence of four important events:
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On 2003-JUN-10, the Ontario Court of Appeal in Canada found
that the anti-discrimination laws in the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms -- Canada's constitution -- conflicted with the Province of Ontario's
marriage act. The court ordered the government of Ontario to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and to register
their marriages.
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On 2003-JUN-26, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the right of
privacy that a majority of Justices believe is implied in the U.S. Constitution conflicted
with an anti-sodomy law in Texas. The court ruling went beyond declaring the law
under question to be unconstitutional; it overturned all 13 state anti-sodomy laws. Of potentially greater importance
to this action is the ruling by the court that states had limited
ability to criminalize private acts which the most people consider to be
immoral. This may eventually have a significant impact on same-sex marriage in the
U.S.
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On 2003-JUL-8, the British Columbia Court of Appeal issued a
ruling similar to the Ontario court decision.
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A very divided Episcopal Church, USA confirmed
the election of Rev. V. Gene Robinson, their first openly gay
bishop. Gay bishops had been consecrated previously. However they have all
been deeply "in the closet." The denomination also allowed their
priests to conduct same-sex union rituals in church. Some believe that a
schism in the Episcopal Church or even in the Anglican Communion is
likely.
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The federal Defense of Marriage Act forbids the Federal Government from extending benefits and protections to same-sex couples who have been legally married. Early in 2011, it was declared unconstitutional in two Federal courts. The Obama administration decided that it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the DOMA law to challenges in court. This was regarded by some commentators as a watershed moment; some predicted that it would create a tipping point leading to an acceleration of equal rights for LGBTs in their future. This tipping point seems to have materialized. 
References:
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"Evelyn Hooker, Ph.D.," University of California, Davis, at: http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/

Copyright © 2003 to 2011 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2003-SEP-4
Latest update: 2011-SEP-09
Author: B.A. Robinson

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