110 PART onE • THE AmERiCAn sYsTEm
The Rights and Status of Gay Males and Lesbians
On June 27, 1969, patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a New York City bar popular with gay men
and lesbians, responded to a police raid by throwing beer cans and bottles because they were
angry at what they felt was unrelenting police harassment. In the ensuing riot, which lasted
two nights, hundreds of gay men and lesbians fought with police. Before Stonewall, the stigma
attached to homosexuality and the resulting fear of exposure had tended to prevent most gay
men and lesbians from engaging in activism. In the months immediately after Stonewall, how-
ever, “gay power” graffiti began to appear in New York City. The Gay Liberation Front and the
Gay Activist Alliance were formed, and similar groups sprang up in other parts of the country.Growth in the Gay Male and Lesbian Rights Movement
The Stonewall incident marked the beginning of the movement for gay and lesbian rights.
Since then, gay men and lesbians have formed thousands of organizations to exert pres-
sure on legislatures, the media, schools, churches, and other organizations to recognize
their right to equal treatment.
To a great extent, lesbian and gay groups have succeeded in changing public
opinion—and state and local laws that pertain to their status and rights. Nevertheless,
they continue to struggle against age-old biases against homosexuality, often rooted in
deeply held religious beliefs, and the rights of gay men and lesbians remain an extremely
divisive issue in American society.State and Local Laws Targeting Gay Men and Lesbians
Before the Stonewall incident, forty-nine states had sodomy laws that made various kinds
of sexual acts, including homosexual acts, illegal (Illinois, which had repealed its sodomy
law in 1962, was the only exception). During the 1970s and 1980s, about half of these
laws were either repealed or struck down by the courts.
Lawrence v. Texas. The states—mostly in the South—that resisted the movement to abol-
ish sodomy laws received a boost in 1986 with the Supreme Court’s decision in Bowers v.
Hardwick.^19 In that case, the Court upheld, by a five-to-four vote, a Georgia law that made
homosexual conduct between two adults a crime. But in 2003, the Court reversed its earlier
position on sodomy with its decision in Lawrence v. Texas.^20 In this case, the Court held that
laws against sodomy violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The
Court stated: “The liberty protected by the Constitution allows homosexual persons the
right to choose to enter upon relationships in the confines of their homes and their own
private lives and still retain their dignity as free persons.” As a result, Lawrence v. Texas invali-
dated the sodomy laws that remained on the books in fourteen states.
state Actions. Today, twenty-five states, the District of Columbia, and more than 180
cities and counties have enacted laws protecting lesbians and gay men from discrimination
in employment in at least some workplaces. Many of these laws also ban discrimination in
housing, in public accommodation, and in other contexts.
In contrast, Colorado adopted a constitutional amendment in 1992 to invalidate all
state and local laws protecting homosexuals from discrimination. Ultimately, however, theLO5: Summarize the recent
revolution in the rights enjoyed by
gay men and lesbians.
19. 478 U.S. 186 (1986).
20. 539 U.S. 558 (2003).
Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.