Only Time Will Tell

June 12th, 2008 | 0 comments | Posted by Diana

A Historical Timeline of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Progress, 1860-2008:

1860. German activist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs “pioneers” the LGBT rights movement, by coming out publicly and writing books about boy-boy and girl-girl lurve as well as gender variance. He fancies himself “a female psyche in a male body,” which makes him kinda DISGRASIAN’s 19th century soul sista!

1898. German doctor and scribe Magnus Hirschfeld forms the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee to combat the “Paragraph 175″ Law, which makes sex between men illegal.

1940s. The homophile (focused on love more than sex) movement begins with groups in the Netherlands and Denmark, and continue throughout the 1950s and 1960s with groups in Sweden, Norway, the United States, France, Britain and elsewhere. ONE, Inc. is the first public homosexual organization in the United States.

1969. After the Stonewall riots, in which a group of transgender, lesbian and gay male patrons at a New York bar resist a police raid, the Gay Liberation movement rallies and fluorishes. Organizations like the Gay Liberation Front and Gay Activists’ Alliance are born, bringing together hundreds of people that are loud, proud, queer, here, and damned sure to make people used to it.

1978. The International Lesbian and Gay Association forms and continues to campaign for gay and lesbian human rights with the United Nations and country governments.

1990. Queer Nation is founded by AIDS activists from the group ACT UP. Outraged at growing anti-gay and lesbian violence on the streets and prejudice in the media, they start using confrontational tactics and slogans to show that they are a formidable foe.

2004. Massachusetts recognizes gay marriage as legal. Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, and New York create unions for same-sex partnerships that aren’t marriages, explicitly defined as offering all the rights and responsibilities of marriage under state (though not federal) law to same-sex couples. Maine, Hawaii, District of Clumbia, Oregon, and Washington create legal unions for same-sex couples that offer varying subsets of the rights and responsibilities of marriage under the laws of those jurisdictions.

2008. The Caliornia Supreme Court rules that excluding same-sex couples from marriage is unconstitutional. Effectively, gay marriage becomes legal in California. DISGRASIAN drinks multiple glasses of rose champagne to celebrate!

2008. Reality star Tila Tequila takes credit for the good news in California: ““It is because of me. I definitely think (my show) has helped the movement… Before it came out, everyone was still a little apprehensive about (same sex relationships), then they realized, ‘Wow, everyone is really into this stuff, and it is fine.’ The next thing you know, (gay marriage) is legal.”