#11 - 5/21/'15

In class, we have been talking about how "the sixties" was a time of great changes in America. Right now, I would like to focus on the advocates of homosexuality. In one of the American Studies readings, Foner states that "gay men and lesbians had long been stigmatized as sinful or mentally disorder". Back then, this was how the society perceived these people. Let's take a look at the African Americans, who were severely abused by the white people. Even this group was not considered mentally ill. Nevertheless, the homosexuals were classified as sinners or sick people. Later on, Foner touches base on one of the most crucial events for this group of people, which was the 1969 police raid on the Stonewall Bar, where these underrepresented people finally stepped out of their "closet", as Foner calls it, and insisted that "sexual orientation is a matter of rights, power, and identity". Nevertheless, the contemptuous act by the government continued on, and each time, the homosexuals counteracted. The police must not have expected the minorities (back then) to act this way, for they used to be very conservative about their sexual orientation. Foner calls the emergence of the movement for gay liberation "the greatest", which signifies a great change in how the society deemed them back then and how it view them now. Right now, 37 states and the District of Columbia have legalized same sex marriage, which is a great improvement for them.