Vermont became the first state to recognize same-
sex civil unions. While not marriages, these unions
still carried the same legal rights and responsibilities
for couples. More states followed in the early twenty-
first century, even as other states enacted gay mar-
riage bans in the 1990’s and 2000’s.
Impact Attention to gay rights fluctuated through-
out the decade, with both those for and those against
scoring significant victories. Canada’s military moved
to allow homosexuals to serve, and the debate over
their status in the U.S. armed forces intensified. Can-
ada added homosexuality to its Human Rights Act,
while in the United States the hate crimes committed
against Allen Schindler, Matthew Shepard, and Barry
Winchell (particularly Shepard) served to raise pub-
lic awareness. Finally, the battle for gay marriage
continued into the early twenty-first century, with
the country of Canada and some U.S. states ulti-
mately legalizing gay marriage or gay civil unions.
Further Reading
Gallagher, John, and Chris Bull.Perfect Enemies: The
Religious Right, the Gay Movement, and the Politics of
the 1990’s. New York: Crown, 1996. Argues that be-
cause the Religious Right and gay rights move-
ment exist on the fringes of society, they are ideal
opponents, each spurring the other forward. In-
cludes “don’t ask, don’t tell” and gay marriage de-
bates.
Herman, Didi.Rights of Passage: Struggles for Lesbian
and Gay Legal Equality.Buffalo, N.Y.: University of
Toronto Press, 1994. Discusses the growing gay
rights movement in Canada in the late 1980’s and
early 1990’s. Offers perspective on the Canadian
scene before the Canadian Human Rights Act was
amended in the early 1990’s.
Nava, Michael, and Robert Dawidoff.Created Equal:
Why Gay Rights Matter to America. New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1994. Argues that homosexuals
are denied constitutional rights in the United
States and encourages gay rights activism from
readers.
Pierceson, Jason.Courts, Liberalism, and Rights: Gay
Law and Politics in the United States and Canada.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005. Fo-
cuses on the relationship between legal and social
justice in the gay community, with discussions of
sexual privacy and gay marriage.
Rayside, David Morton.On the Fringe: Gays and Les-
bians in Politics. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University
Press, 1998. Summarizes some key 1990’s gay
rights debates. Canadian section includes a dis-
cussion of the Canadian Human Rights Act. U.S.
section discusses the military ban on homosex-
uals.
Warner, Tom.Never Going Back: A Histor y of Queer Ac-
tivism in Canada. Buffalo, N.Y.: University of To-
ronto Press, 2002. In-depth research into the Ca-
nadian gay rights movement, including the
1990’s and the modification of the Canadian Hu-
man Rights Act as well as the move toward legaliz-
ing gay marriages.
Jessie Bishop PowellSee also AIDS epidemic;Baker v. Vermont; Defense
of Marriage Act of 1996; DeGeneres, Ellen; Do-
mestic partnerships; Don’t ask, don’t tell;Egan v.
Canada; Etheridge, Melissa; Gingrich, Newt; Hate
crimes; Lang, K. D.; Marriage and divorce; Queer
Nation; Shepard, Matthew; Transgender commu-
nity. Hubble Space Telescope
Identification An orbiting astronomical telescope
Manufacturer The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration and the European Space
Agency
Date Launched April 24, 1990, from the Kennedy
Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida
The first large telescope to take advantage of the clear and
undisturbed environment in outer space, the Hubble Space
Telescope revolutionized astronomy. After it was repaired
in 1993, the telescope produced images of unprecedented
clarity.
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) consists of a sin-
gle large tubular enclosure, 13.2 meters (about 43.5
feet) long and 4.2 meters (about 14 feet) wide, and
weighs about 12 tons. Inside it is the primary mirror,
2.4 meters (about 7.8 feet) in diameter, and other
optics, together with several instruments for detect-
ing and analyzing the images formed by the optics.
Initially, there were two cameras with charge-
coupled device (CCD) detectors and two spectro-
graphs for both high-resolution and faint-object
spectroscopy. The optical design is what is called a
Ritchie-Chretien Cassegrain, which involves a series
of curved mirrors: the large primary mirror, whichThe Nineties in America Hubble Space Telescope 433