10 Most Important LGBTQ Achievements

10 Most Important LGBTQ

LGBTQ rights have come a long way. As everyone is focused on the issues the community faces currently and looking to address them, it’s important to remember where we’ve come from. Looking back, you will notice that the rights accorded to the community were once a daydream. Here are the key historical milestone achievements of the LGBTQ rights movement. 

 

1924 – The first gay rights group is established

Henry Gerber, world war I veteran, established the Society for Human Rights in Chicago. The group was the first organization to ever champion gay rights in America. It ran a newsletter titled “Friendship and Freedom,” the first-ever recorded gay rights publication. 

 

1958 – The Supreme Court rules in favor of gay rights

Most Important LGBTQ

A court case was launched against the US Post Office after it refused to deliver America’s first widely distributed pro-gay publication, ONE: The Homosexual Magazine porno xxx. The Post Office and FBI had declared the magazine as obscene material. When the Supreme Court ruled in favor of homosexuals, it was a significant stride for the community. 

 

1973 – Homosexuality is no longer considered a mental illness

Following years of studies and changes in cultural perceptions, the American Psychiatric Association’s board of directors removed homosexuality from the official list of mental illnesses. 

 

2000 – Vermont makes a massive stride towards legalization of same-sex marriages

Vermont was the first state to offer same-sex couples the right to enter civil unions. The legal partnerships allowed gay couples the same rights and benefits as heterosexual marriages. 

 

2013 – SCOTUS abolishes the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

The DOMA act, established in 1996, stated that the federal government did not recognize marriages between lesbian and gay couples. It meant that the couples couldn’t enjoy legal benefits like health insurance and social security. The abolishment of the DOMA act meant that same-sex couples married within their states could enjoy these federal benefits. 

 

2015 – The death of conversion therapy

The tragic suicide of a transgender teenager forced to undergo Christian conversion therapy hit the nation hard. After this incident, President Obama called for an end of this practice. It was no longer okay for anyone to try changing a person’s gender identity through conversion therapy. 

 

2015 – Love wins 

10 Most Important LGBTQ Achievements

The Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage as a constitutional right nationwide. Therefore, all states were required to permit Americans to get married irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender. 

 

2015 – The military allows transgender Americans to serve openly 

Ashton Carter, US Defense Secretary, announced that the army had lifted a ban that prevented transgender individuals from serving in the armed forces. Unfortunately, President Trump rescinded this right in 2019. As of 2021, however, transgender individuals are now allowed to work in the military again. 

 

2019: New York City honors LGBTQ activists with monuments

New York City erected a monument in Greenwich dedicated to two LGBTQ activists, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. They both played a vital role in the Stonewall riots and the NYC queer scene. 

 

2020: The Supreme Court expands the law to protect LGBTQ against workplace discrimination

After hearing three individual cases from two gay men and one transgender woman, the Supreme Court ruled 6:3 for expanding the 1964 civil acts law. The clause was amended to protect the rights of sexual minorities and transgender people from workplace discrimination. 

 

 

 

6 Testimonials about Gay Life

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We all have a story to tell – some are sad, and others are very tragic. In this piece, we have summarized some inspiring testimonials from the LGBTQ community. The stories are deeply personal and will encourage you to go through your trials confidently.

1.     Married and Living a Lie

Nick, in his 50s and married to his wife for 30 years, is also gay. “I think my wife has always been suspicious about my sexuality, but things came to light when I had an affair with another man,” Nick says. “From the beginning, there was unhappiness in our marriage with doubts whether we had made the right decision. My wife asked if I wanted to leave, and I said I didn’t. She is my best friend, and we agreed to remain in our marriage.”

2.     Living As a Gay Person in South Africa

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As a 17-year old girl living in one of the oldest townships in Johannesburg, Kim faces many challenges. Although South Africa has been progressive about embracing gay rights, homophobia and homophobic violence are widespread. Kim is forced to deal with threats and discrimination every day Xnxx. Since the community Kim believes that girls and boys should act in a certain way, she is forced to hide her identity. “Girls should be feminine, wear make-up and dress up,” Kim says. She hopes that in the future, she can be comfortable in her skin.

3.     I Am Gay But Wasn’t Born This Way

Brandon’s story goes to show that sexuality is not a mere result of biology. His sexual journey through college was run-of-the-mill. Being in a conservative Christian college in the US, Brandon married a woman, even though he felt wrong about it. The confusion was avid, as he even toyed with women once in a while. Eventually, Brandon divorced his wife. It’s always been challenging for him to explain why he is gay, yet he was in love with the woman he married.

4.     A Gay “Soft Life”

Having been raised in an extremely open-minded and liberal family, Emily had it easy when she needed to come out. Her parents and siblings understood and supported her immensely. Emily knew she was gay during her second year in college when she fell for her roommate. Although she had boyfriends in high school, the attraction Emily felt for girls was beyond measure.  

5.     The Gay Boxing Promoter

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From a young age, Mark knew that he was different but didn’t know-how. It was not until Mark read an article by April Ashley that he realized that he was born in the wrong body. Mark felt like he had a feminine brain, and in his dreams, he pictured himself as a little girl and never a boy. Growing up in the 80s as a gay person was challenging because transgender rights were non-existence. Mark’s successful boxing career put him in the limelight, making it even more difficult for him to come out. When people became more accepting of gay people, Mark finally found his voice and opened up about his sexuality.

6.     A Gay Indian Crown Prince

Mr. Manvendra came out to himself in 1995 after meeting Ashok, who was the first Indian to come out as gay openly. Unfortunately, when he told his family in 2002, the experience was traumatic. They reacted badly and asked him to get medical help. They even asked religious leaders to intervene. Luckily, over time, Manvendra found peace and lives happily now.

Sexual Diversity, How Does It Affect Youth?

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Sexual orientation refers to the emotional, sexual or emotional attraction that one feels towards another person. There are four main types of sexual orientation;

  • Homosexual

Homosexual persons are romantically and physically attracted to individuals of the same sex.

  • Bisexual

Bisexual people are physically and romantically attracted to members of same gender

  • Heterosexual

Heterosexual refers to people who are emotionally and physically attracted to members of opposite sex.

  • Asexual

These group covers individuals who are not interested in sex, but they feel emotionally attracted to other people

  • Bisexual

Bisexual persons are romantically and physically attracted to members of both sexes

LGBT, abbreviation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender is used to describe sexual orientation. Although transgender is more of a gender identity than sexual orientation, these individuals fall under LGBT because they do not fit in the category of being heterosexual or “straight”. For LGBT persons, it often feels as if everyone is supposed to be straight porno.

1.   Psychological and Social Issues

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Gay and lesbian adults confess of feeling ashamed, isolated and afraid of being identified as different during their adolescent years. These emotions can potentially impact on self-esteem and identity formation. According to studies, approximately half of gay people and a fifth of lesbians confess to experiencing verbal and physical assault in high school due to their orientation. Such harassments elevate the likely hood of dropping out of school. Homosexual individuals can also face harassment at home and have a higher risk of being kicked out of their homes and moving to the streets than their heterosexual counterparts.

2.   Difficult Relationships

It is during adolescent and teenage phases that young people learn to relate to peers and potential romantic and sexual partners. This is often complicated for homosexuals and bisexual teens because they lack models of same sex relationships. These teens find it a challenge to meet someone who may be interested, the process of dating, how to flirt and how to introduce the element of sex to the relationship.

3.   Challenges in Accessing Medical Care

Like their heterosexual peers, LGBT youth have the same health care needs that are not necessarily linked to their sexual orientation. However, LGBT persons continue to experience challenges in accessing healthcare services. Some attest to experiencing difficulty in finding hormone replacement therapy, fertility and reproductive services, HIV prevention and treatment options and finding a welcoming primary care service. Others confess discriminatory treatment by health care providers.

4.   Harassment Victimization and Violence

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LGBT youth report experiencing increased levels of harassment, victimization, and violence, including, physical, verbal and sexual abuse. These experiences are also related to substance use, psychological health problems as well as sexual risk-taking behaviour. Scholl-based bullying, harassment and peer victimization based on known or perceived gender identity and sexual orientation remain common. Studies shows that youth who exhibit gender-atypical behaviour or open up about their sexual orientation are prone to becoming targets of victimization. Such harassment victimization and violence lead to mental health issues and posttraumatic stress symptoms.

5.   Family Issues

LGBT teens who are in the process of identifying with their sexual orientation often find it a challenge to disclose to their parents about their orientation. They dislike the fact that they are lying to their parents yet worry about their parent’s reactions. Some teens worry about the possible negative repercussions of disclosing their orientation to their parents.

The Most Important LGBT Movies of All Times

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The importance of representation can never be downplayed. Watching films that mirror every group in society increases our tolerance levels. Unfortunately, the LGBTQ community has long been buried under unsubtle stereotypes in the film industry. Thankfully, things are looking up, and several Hollywood films and beyond have ensured complete inclusivity.

1.     Bad Education (2004)

This is among the earliest LGBTQ movies that were ever cast. The storyline revolves around a young filmmaker, Enrique Goded, who is searching for a story for his next movie. One day a man comes to see him in his office claiming to be an old school friend and first love, Ignacio. He brings a script based on revenge fantasy and loosely talking about their abuse by a priest at school. The resulting events are almost impossible to summarize but worth indulging.

2.     Milk (2008)

Based on the life of a gay rights activist and politician, Harvey Milk, this film had a huge impact.  Harvey was the first openly gay to make it to a public office in California, back in the 70s. Milk was and remains one of the best gay icons to have ever lived. The film shows tube porno francais his romantic relationships, how he ascended into power, and his life in general. Unfortunately, Milk was assassinated. It’s nothing short of an iconic film.

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3.     Blue is the Warmest Color (2013)

If you have ever requested for recommendation on a film to watch from a lesbian friend, this is probably the one they suggested. The French cinema features Adel, who is a teenager that falls in love with an older art student – Emma. Just any relationship under the sun, theirs’ is filled with sagas of ups and downs, tortured passion, and heartbreaks.

4.     Love, Simon (2018)

If you grew up watching high school rom-com like Say anything, pretty in pink, and sixteen candles, you won’t be disappointed by this one. The film is grounded in the novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda; it shows what it’s like to not be in high school during the post-Glee world.

You might not be part of a liberal community or an accepting family, but that doesn’t make coming out necessarily easier. xnxx. Featuring a queer actor and a gay director, this is a movie that will get you crying and clapping through some scenes.

 5.     Tangerine (2015)

It was released amidst a lot of critical praise for how it portrayed its transgender characters. Set in West Hollywood, the movie depicts the friendship between a pair of sex workers. Tangerine is sharp, explosive, dirty, and dark. Films revolving around transgender women and men are countable, and finding a good one is even harder to come by. This one is authentic and has transgender characters taking up the transgender roles. Since transgender individuals are underrepresented in the film industry, this movie is changing the scene.

6.     Moonlight (2016)

Founded on the play, in moonlight, black boys look blue by Tarrell McCraney, the film debuted to high critical praise for its depiction of black gay male identity, storytelling, and cinematography. It was directed by Barry Jenkins, as he follows the youth, adolescence, and adulthood of Chiron in three acts. It is set in Miami’s liberty neighborhood and waves through the actor’s heartbreaking relationships with parental figures. It won several awards during the 2017 red carpet season, including Oscar’s award.

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As we hope for more inclusion and acceptance of the LGBTQ community, it helps to know that actionable steps are already underway. The production of films based on queer relationships is a huge milestone that requires some celebration. These six films have a lot to teach about LGBTQ.

Letter from the Allegheny County HIV advisory committee

Friends and colleagues,

I am sending this email to those of you who may be involved in county or state elections this year particularly for executive positions. I know that I don’t have all the names of those representing our interests so feel free to circulate this if you see any merit in it.

Happily, we met with Roddey last year and he promised us needle exchange and he actually did it. I believe that at the county and state level we have more opportunity to garner support than we ever did.

Over the years, I have observed that we often (rightly) ask about legislation but seldom ask candidates such as governor or county executive or the old county commissioners about what they will do in the executive branch.

Because of my work, I have often seen the most vulnerable of our community receiving no or poor services. About a third of homeless youth are gay but there are few programs for them and little training for professionals dealing with them (the Whale’s Tale here is an exception but the problem is state-wide). We all know that our schools do not have adequate anti-bullying programs or adequate HIV education. The same is true in mental health, drug and alcohol and other services. For example, routinely, lgbt people going into treatment in D and A treatment centers are told not to mention their homosexuality or gender differences. We all know that if treatment is to work addicts and alcoholics have to deal with their social life, their families including chosen families, self-esteem etc. You can’t do that in a therapy group if you are hiding who you are.

I can give many other examples as I am sure that Randy and others of you can. My point is that candidates for governor and county executive appoint the people who run STD, HIV, children and youth, education, corrections, mental health, drug and alcohol, human relations and other services.

I think our community would benefit enormously if politicians are willing to appoint cabinet officials who pledge to work with our community to identify needed policies and programs and to implement them.

In addition, all state and county workers need to be trained on cultural competency including us, of course.

There may be other things that we can ask for in this regard such as the appointment of a top level staff person responsible for ensuring equitable services for lgbt people. Others may have other ideas.

I just hope that we can urge the candidates to remember our most vulnerable community members and to begin to address the problems that they live with.

Take care,
Tony

Opinion Piece: What GSPCGP Identifies as an LGBT Issue (May 2003)

The Gertrude Stein Political Club of Greater Pittsburgh (GSPCGP) is a multipartisan organization working in electoral politics for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. Each election, the Club endorses a slate of candidates who are pro-gay, pro-choice, and anti-racist. Just this past election, questions came up from the community as to what the Club identifies as an lgbt issue. As a long-time Club member and former chair, I offer the following as my understanding of the members’ rationale in choosing candidates and issues to support.

GSPCGP recognizes the right to autonomy over our own bodies as a core lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender issue. Examples include whom we choose for sex partners; what reproductive decisions we make, from birth control and artificial insemination to abortion; and how we transform our bodies to fit our true genders.

Members of the lgbt community all share some of the same specific needs such as the right to a civil union, adoption and child custody, and safe school or work environments. In some of our other seemingly common issues such as anti-discrimination laws, women and racial minorities within the lgbt community may require additional legislation such as affirmative action for the anti-discrimination laws to be effective.

GSPCGP, an all-volunteer political organization, has steadfastly supported candidates and legislation that support all of the needs of the lgbt community. When the Pennsylvania state legislature showed a chance to pass hate crime legislation last year provided that “gender identity” be removed, the Stein Club lobbied state congress to pass legislation without any changes. This means that the Stein Club stood behind the trans members of the community to ensure that the hate crime legislation specifically protected them as well as the rest of the lgbt community. And the Hate Crime Bill passed intact.

The Stein Club believes that its work over the past 20 years has contributed to the growth of a broad pool of supportive candidates. In recent years, two or three and sometimes eight or nine candidates for the same office have been endorsable. These candidates have supported all of the issues GSPCGP has presented to them regarding the diverse needs of the full community. With this track record, the Club resists endorsing candidates who have proven themselves to parts of the community while not the full community. Candidates who have supported domestic partnership, funding for AIDS, and affirmative action but did not support reproductive rights tend to not receive the Stein Club’s support. Candidates who support all of those rights but not health care coverage for sexual reassignment surgery also tend to not receive endorsement. However, candidates who seek further education on lgbt issues are met.

The Stein Club believes that if it sacrifices the needs of some of the community members, then all of the community will eventually suffer for it. On the other hand, when the Club insists on full support, more and more candidates will rise to the occasion, and these are the ones the Club wants to see succeed.

Over the years, GSPCGP has seen its endorsed candidates climb the political ladder while maintaining their strong advocacy of lgbt rights. Among them are Jim Ferlo, from City Council to Pennsylvania State Senate; Barbara Burns, from the Pittsburgh Board of Education to City Council; and Valerie McDonald Roberts, from the School Board, to City Council, to Recorder of Deeds. Barbara Hafer has moved from Allegheny County Board of Commissioners to state Auditor General to PA Treasurer. Shelley Friedman and Max Baer, from their positions as attorneys to judges, have better enabled the lgbt community to achieve justice.

These candidates are within both the Democratic and Republican parties. When the strongest advocate is in a third party such as the Greens or Libertarians, GSPCGP will support that candidate, sending a message to politicians that lgbt needs are essential and not to be relegated to the back burner. Some of these candidates join the major parties in future elections and some remain in the third party as they continue lobbying for lgbt rights.

GSPCGP welcomes new members, new ideas, and new directions to continue its endorsement and lobbying of candidates and legislation to enhance the lives of all who make up the lgbt community.

US Campaigns supporting the LGTB human and civil rights

On March 4, the Ed Rendell for PA Governor campaign held a luncheon in the Rivers Club at One Oxford Center for the lgbt community. Nine members of the community and four campaign staff attended the lunch. Richard Meritzer, who represented GSPC, said that the other lgbt organizations represented included the Marriage Coalition, League of Gay and Lesbian Voters, and Persad. While the organizations were predominantly political ones, Meritzer also noted that the community was represented predominantly by white men.

In his introductory speech, Rendell talked about his support for the right of hospital visitation for lgbt people and his support for reversing the law that forbids Pitt to offer domestic partnership rights. He said that, as governor, he would support domestic partnership for state employees.

The luncheon was then opened for discussion, in which Rendell expressed the following: He supports hate crime legislation and employment non-discrimination legislation. He supports adoption reform. He said he would enforce the executive order protecting state employees from discrimination. He was unfamiliar with the recent issue Pittsburgh had over people with AIDS confidentiality. He said that protecting anonymity of people was very important and no amount of research should compromise this protection. He said that his campaign would provide assistance to lgbt groups but only if they provided a good business plan. He promised that during his administration there would be regular relations with the Governor’s office.

GSPCGP Endorses Rendell for PA Governor, Kukovich for Lt. Governor

The Gertrude Stein Political Club of Greater Pittsburgh (GSPC) has endorsed Ed Rendell (Dem) for Pennsylvania governor in the Primary Election scheduled for May 21. Rendell supports covering the lgbt community in the state’s Hate Crime legislation. Allen G. Kukovich (Dem), who has been endorsed for Lt. Governor of PA, was instrumental in passing the hate crime legislation in the PA Senate. This legislation will soon be up for a vote by the representatives in the General Assembly. In choosing candidates to support in the General Assembly, the Stein Club especially looked for incumbents dedicated to passing the bill.

Of the incumbents, GSPCGP endorsed Dan B. Frankel (Dem) in district 23 and Joseph Preston, Jr. (Dem) in district 24. Jake Wheatley (Dem) in district 19 and Mike Crossey (Dem) in district 42 have also been endorsed for representatives in the General Assembly. GSPCGP recognizes Patrick Dowd of the Democratic party with Honorable Mention. Dowd is running against Preston to represent district 24.

Two viable candidates in the Democratic party are running to fill the PA Senate seat in district 38: Jim Ferlo, who received the Stein Club endorsement, and Bonnie DiCarlo, who received Honorable Mention by the Club. The Club also endorsed the following candidates for Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee: Brenda Frazier and Sandra Roberts in district 38; Robert V. Frank in district 42; Barbara Danko, Richard Fitzgerald, Marvin Leibowitz, Michael McGeever, and Scott Safier in district 43; and Carmella Mullen in district 45.