Homosexuality appears
in virtually all social contexts—within different community settings,
socioeconomic levels, and ethnic and religious groups. The number of
homosexuals in the population is difficult to determine, and reliable data do
not exist. However, current estimates suggest that the term homosexual
may apply to 2 to 4 percent of men. Estimates for lesbians are lower. Not all
people who engage in homosexual activity necessarily identify themselves as
homosexual.
HISTORICAL
AND CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
|
Attitudes toward homosexual
behavior have varied with time and place. In ancient Greece, homosexual
relations were accepted and, in some cases, expected activity in certain
segments of society. Later attitudes toward homosexuality in the Western world
were determined largely by prevailing Judeo-Christian moral codes, which treat
homosexuality as immoral or sinful. But like many other sins, homosexual
relations were seen as expressions of the weakness inherent in all human
beings, and not as a mental disorder or as the behavior of a specific type of
person. This latter view, which regarded homosexuality as a pathology,
developed in the late 19th century. By the beginning of the 20th century, psychoanalysts
viewed homosexuals as the victims of faulty development. Austrian physician
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, considered homosexuality a
deviant condition. More recently, scientists have searched for a biological
explanation of sexual orientation. A study published in 1993 sought to identify
a genetic marker for sexual orientation. The research, which did not include a
cross section of the population, was inconclusive.
During the first half
of the 20th century, attitudes toward homosexuality were overwhelmingly
negative. Homosexual activities were hidden and spoken of only in whispers, and
homosexual behavior, even among consenting adults, was a criminal offense in
most of the United States. Homosexuals were subject to stereotypes and prejudice.
Gay men were viewed as effeminate, lesbians were portrayed as mannish, and both
were seen as being obsessed with sex, with little self-control or morality.
Homosexuals frequently were thought to be potential child molesters. In the
1930s and during World War II (1939-1945), homosexuals were targets of
persecution in Nazi Germany.
Prejudices against homosexuals
in Western societies have only recently begun to change. The first major shift
followed the publication of two famous reports, Sexual Behavior in the Human
Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1952), by
American biologist Alfred Charles Kinsey. Although these works contained
inflated estimates of the homosexual population and the incidence of behavior,
they provided a more realistic picture of homosexuality and helped demystify
it. Unlike earlier studies which focused on homosexuals who had sought medical
or psychological help, the Kinsey reports described homosexuals outside of
clinical settings. Kinsey found homosexuals in all walks of life, growing up in
all kinds of families, practicing many different religions. As a result of the
ensuing scientific discussion, the American Psychiatric Association in 1973
eliminated homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses and, in 1980,
dropped it from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM).
GAY
RIGHTS ACTIVISM
|
In recent years, people
who support homosexual rights have worked and demonstrated to increase those
rights. In the United States, the watershed event for homosexual activism was
the Stonewall riot, which protested a police raid on a gay bar in New York City
in 1969. It was the first public protest by homosexuals against harassment by
police. Since then, homosexual communities in the United States have organized
to work for gay rights. Such groups include the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force, a civil rights organization that promotes equality and freedom from
prejudice and discrimination for gays and lesbians; Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund, which provides legal representation for gays and lesbians; and
the Human Rights Campaign Fund, which lobbies state and national legislators.
In Canada, Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE) has worked to secure
equal rights for gays and lesbians and to influence federal legislation on gay
rights. Canadian gay rights groups helped bring about the amendment in 1996 of
the Canadian Human Rights Act to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on
sexual orientation. Other countries that have specifically outlawed
discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals include The Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
One of the greatest challenges
to face the homosexual community was the outbreak of acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome (AIDS) in the early 1980s. In the United States, the disease first
became prevalent among gay men and spread with devastating effect. When little
was known about the disease and how it was spread, AIDS patients and
homosexuals experienced an increase in discrimination in housing and health
insurance. Many people protested against agencies of the U.S.
government—including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—claiming
they were slow to study the disease and search for treatment. More
organizations were formed to help educate people about the disease and to help
AIDS patients get proper care.
SAME-SEX
UNIONS AND GAY MARRIAGE
|
Gay Wedding Ceremony
Although same-sex marriages are not legally
recognized in most of the United States, many gay couples choose to hold
weddings. In the ceremony shown here, two gay men exchange rings to signify
their commitment to one another. In 2004 Massachusetts became the first state
to legalize same-sex marriages.
In the 1990s and 2000s
homosexual rights groups addressed a number of other issues, including the
rights of gay and lesbian families. In 2001 The Netherlands became the first
country to legalize same-sex marriages, giving same-sex couples the same rights
that heterosexual couples have in areas such as inheritance, taxes, divorce,
and pension benefits. Belgium legalized same-sex marriages in 2003. Spain and
Canada followed suit in 2005. Canada became the fourth nation to legalize
same-sex marriage and the first outside of Europe. Several other European
countries recognize homosexual unions, although these unions are generally
called civil unions or registered partnerships rather than marriages. The
United Kingdom, for example, permitted civil partnerships beginning in December
2005. The same month the Constitutional Court of South Africa struck down the
country’s Marriage Act as unconstitutional because it did not permit same-sex
marriage. The court stayed its ruling for one year to allow parliament to amend
the act, but it stipulated that the ruling would go into effect regardless by
December 2006. In December 2006 South Africa became the fifth country to
legalize gay marriage. The federal district of Mexico City allowed civil unions
for same-sex couples in late 2006.
In the United States,
39 states have passed laws forbidding same-sex marriages and denying
recognition of same-sex marriages obtained elsewhere. In 2004, 13 states—most
of which already prohibited such marriages by law—enacted constitutional
amendments banning same-sex marriages, joining four other states that had
previously done so. Gay couples can legally marry in only one state in the
United States, the state of Massachusetts. Four states—Connecticut, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, and Vermont—permit civil unions, which extend the same
legal rights of marriage to same-sex couples that heterosexual couples have under
state law. Vermont legalized civil unions in 2000, Connecticut did so in 2005,
New Jersey in 2006, and New Hampshire in 2007. In addition California state law
extends full marriage rights to domestic partnerships.
In November 2003 the Supreme
Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the state’s highest court, ruled that gay
couples have the right to marry under the state’s constitution. In February
2004 the court clarified its ruling, saying that civil unions were not
sufficient and that only marriage met its criteria for equal rights for gays.
The court ruled that “the history of our nation has demonstrated that separate
is seldom, if ever, equal,” in affirming that homosexuals are entitled to the
same rights of marriage as heterosexuals. On May 17, 2004, same-sex marriages
became legal in Massachusetts, and authorities there began to marry gay
couples. State legislators pledged to amend the state constitution to ban gay
marriage but allow civil unions. Such an amendment would require voter
approval.
A growing number of local
governments and private corporations have implemented domestic partnership laws
or policies that extend some of the legal benefits of marriage to same-sex
couples. Generally, however, homosexual couples in long-term relationships do
not have the same legal protection as people in heterosexual marriages. Under
the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, for example, many federal marriage benefits,
such as tax breaks and Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid provisions, are
denied to gay couples. Adopting children is also problematic for homosexuals.
One state, Florida, has laws that explicitly prohibit homosexuals from adopting
children. Other states, such as Utah, have administrative rules that prohibit
adoptions by unmarried couples, which would preclude gays. Other states allow a
same-sex partner to adopt the biological child of the other partner. The vast
majority of states do not explicitly prohibit gay couples from adopting. New
Hampshire is one of the few states that explicitly allows gay couples to adopt.
OTHER ARENAS OF ACTIVISM
|
Another area in which
activists have worked for change is the policy toward gays and lesbians in the
military. Before the administration of President Bill Clinton altered the
policy in 1993, candidates for military service filled out a form that included
a question on sexual orientation. Under the new policy, popularly called “don’t
ask, don’t tell,” that question has been eliminated. Sexual orientation is now
considered a personal matter and not a bar to entry or a cause for separation
from the military unless the individual engages in homosexual behavior.
However, some people consider the policy inadequate because it still forbids
homosexual activity, and government surveys have found that harassment of gays
remains rampant on U.S. military bases.
As activists have worked
to secure the rights of homosexuals, the homosexual community has become a more
visible presence in society. National publications, such as Christopher
Street and The Advocate, have appeared, and churches to serve the
homosexual community have been established. With the advent of gay rights
studies programs at many universities, homosexuals have begun to reclaim their
history.
As homosexual communities
became more visible, large numbers of homosexuals—including some prominent
people—have openly declared their identity as homosexuals and demanded their
right to equal and respectful treatment. There are now openly gay
representatives in the Congress of the United States. Across the country openly
gay officials have pursued and often won office at both state and local levels
of government. Gay and lesbian activists are found in both liberal and
conservative political organizations. In 2003 the Episcopal Church USA
confirmed an openly gay man as the bishop of New Hampshire, the first gay
bishop in an American church.
RECENT
DEVELOPMENTS
|
The year 2003 marked a
milestone in extending legal rights to homosexuals in North America. In June
2003 the Supreme Court of the United States struck down laws that criminalized
homosexual behavior. Gay rights activists regarded it as a landmark ruling. The
decision in the case, Lawrence v. Texas, involved a Texas state
law that made sodomy (oral and anal sex) between members of the same sex
illegal. Five of the nine Supreme Court justices ruled that the law violated
the Constitution's guarantee of due process, and their opinion drew on other
court precedents regarding privacy. In a forceful opinion written by Justice
Anthony M. Kennedy, the Court found that gays are “entitled to respect for
their private lives” and that “the state cannot demean their existence or
control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime.” The
opinion reversed an earlier 1986 decision known as Bowers v. Hardwick,
which had upheld a similar law against sodomy in the state of Georgia. “Bowers
was not correct when it was decided, and it is not correct today,” Justice
Kennedy wrote. A sixth justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, issued a concurring opinion
but based her objection to the Texas law on the grounds that it violated the
Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. O’Connor noted that the Texas law
applied only to gays and therefore discriminated against gays as a class.
The ruling struck down
sodomy laws still in existence in 13 states. Although many of these laws were
rarely enforced, they nevertheless had widespread implications and often
resulted in denying gays the right to hold certain jobs, the right to adopt
children, and rights to child custody and visitation on the grounds that they
were engaged in criminal conduct. But the thing here is that American president Trump has stopped Gay marriage and sex.
