Film Friday 76 – Happy Pride Month!

Let’s see, what do we have new to add to the timeline:
2006 – The International Conference on LGBT Human Rights is held in Montreal. The United States Senate fails to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment. Missouri legalizes homosexuality between consenting adults. South Africa legalizes same-sex marriage. The Israeli High Court orders Israeli law to recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad.

June has been Gay & Lesbian Pride Month ever since June of 1969, when the modern gay and lesbian civil rights movement was born in New York city.

At the time it was common for the New York police to raid bars, restaurants, and clubs where gay members of the community were known to hang out. The police would enforce obscure laws, drag out patrons, beat the gender non-conformists, and often arrested denizens unjustly.

Such a raid took place at popular gay bar, The Stonewall Inn, on June 27th, 1969. But on this night, the lesbians, gay men, and transgendered people decided that they had had enough and fought back violently against the would-be arresting officers. When word spread about this confrontation with the police, the gay/lesbian community and their supporters took to the streets that night and for many nights after the altercation to protest the mistreatment historically inflicted upon the gay/lesbian community.

These protests became known as the Stonewall Rebellion and were the catalyst for the modern political movement for gay and lesbian liberation – calling for gay pride and action to secure basic civil rights.

Before the 1960s, many people were at a loss for how non-heterosexuals should be categorized – aside from the derogatory terms often used by the un-accepting members of the straight community. The term “homosexual” is not preferred because it places too much emphasis on the sexual nature of being, there is much more to being gay than who one takes to bed, it is a physical and emotional connection between two people (just like for the straight folks). Much after Stonewall Rebellion, in the mid 1990s, we began using the terms like LGBT to refer to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered folks.

The Gay Liberation/Human Rights movement has worked to produce a lot of very positive changes and promote a better understanding and acceptance of the LGBT community, but unfortunately, in many parts of the world, the fight still goes on.

This month, learn something new about gay history, sign some petitions for gay rights, watch a gay pride parade, rent some gay or lesbian porn – and give our LGBT (or as I learned it LGBTTQQ) brothers, sisters, and brothers/sisters your support.

[LGBTTQQ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Two-spirited, Queer, and Questioning, but if you really wanted to expand the acronym to be all encompassing it would be LGBTTIQQAA - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Intersexed, Transgendered, Two-Spirited, Queer, Questionning, Asexual, and Allies ]