Many may find it difficult to believe that the advent of communism and the Russian Revolition provided a level of acceptance for homosexuals- albeit temporarily. With it’s desire to eradicate anything that defined the previous social order of the Czars the Russian revolution removed all mentions of sexual practices from the Crimal Code established in 1922. This opened the way for a higher acceptance of prostitution, abortion and yes- homosexuality.  However these new freedoms were short lived. When Stalin came to power The Stalinist government banned abortion, made divorce more difficult and re-criminalized homosexuality. Gay men faced up to eight years in prison. Homosexuals were driven back into the closet and suicides rose significantly. In 1934 there were mass arrests of homosexuals in Moscow and other cities. photo attribution: Vladimir_Lenin_and_Joseph_Stalin 1919  public domain  (see page for author)

PRIMARY REFERENCE

Although the German criminal code had an element referred to as “paragraph 175” since it’s inception in 1871 it was the Third Reich which took enforcement of the code to new, degrading heights. In 1935 the code was reformed to include “A man who engages as the active or passive partner in lewdness with another man is to be punished by imprisonment.” This resulted in the eventual inclusion of thousands of known homosexuals being imprisoned in concetration camps. It was during this time that the pink triangle came into use to help identify those types of prisoners. Towards the end of the war, with the plight of the Nazis becoming desperate for manpower, many homosexuals were released into the Waffen SS 36th Grenadier Division. This Division itself consisted of many sexual deviates and were resposnsible for some of the worst human atrocities of the war.  However, towards the end of the war this “elite” band was so decimated itself that inclusion in it’s ranks became an almost certain death sentence. photo attribution: http://www.glenvigus.com/wordpress/faith/my-freedom/ 

Ground Breaking Transexual 1950

The idea for an organization dedicated to homosexuals emerged from a Mattachine Society discussion meeting held on October 15, 1952. ONE Inc.’s Articles of Incorporation were signed by Antonio “Tony” Reyes, Martin Block, and Dale Jennings on November 15, 1952. Other founders were Merton Bird, W. Dorr Legg, Don Slater, and Chuck Rowland. Jennings and Rowland were also Mattachine Society founders. The name was derived from an aphorism of Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle: “A mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one”. The name was also a nod to referring to a gay person as “one of us”. ONE was the first LGBT organization in the United States to have its own office, as such its offices acted as a prototype LGBT community center

One, Inc. readily admitted women, including–with their pseudonyms–Joan Corbin (as Eve Elloree), Irma Wolf (as Ann Carrl Reid), Stella Rush (as Sten Russell), Helen Sandoz (as Helen Sanders), and Betty Perdue (as Geraldine Jackson). They were vital to its early success. ONE and Mattachine in turn provided vital help to Dorothy Louise Taliaferro Martin and Phyllis Ann Lyon to form the Daughters of Bilitis in 1955 and launch their newsletter The Ladder in 1956. The Daughters of Bilitis was the counterpart lesbian organization to the Mattachine Society, and the organizations worked together on some campaigns and ran lecture series. Bilitis came under attack in the early 1970s for “siding” with Mattachine and ONE, rather than with the new separatist feminists. Photo attribution: National Museum of American History

Compton Cafertria Riot 1966

Almost lost in history but sometimes referred to as a dress rehearsal for Stonewall the Compton Cafertia Riot illustrated the  growing disgust with police and their ations. Three years before Stonewall, the crowd who hung out at Compton’s in the Tenderloin Distric in San Francisco —drag queens, transgender women, gay hustlers—finally got sick of the constant harassment and the way the cops would throw them in jail for any reason: wearing lipstick or mascara, or even a blouse that buttoned on the “wrong” side.

It’s hard to imagine an inner-city battle between citizens and police — not to mention the novelty of a confrontation between cops and gender-nonconforming people — getting ignored by the media. But a half-century ago, no San Francisco publication would touch the Compton’s Cafeteria riot; that’s why it’s unclear what day it actually occurred (a commemorative panel from 10 years ago simply gives the date as August 1966).

Stonewall Riots 1969

PRIMARY REFERENCE

The UpStairs Lounge Maasacre 1973

In 1977 Dade County, Florida passed an ordinance that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation. Soon after singer Anita Bryant, who was also the face of the orange juice industry led a very publicized campaign to repeal the ordinance as a leader of a coalition knows as “Save Or Children” (Not to be confused with a later non-profit group). The campaign was based on conservative Christian beliefs regarding the “sinfulness” of homosexuality and a perceivd threat that homosexual teachers were recruiting children to a homosexual lifestyle and possible child molestation. The campaign marked the beginning of an organized opposition to gay rights that spread across the nation.

On June 7, 1977, Bryant’s campaign led to a repeal of the anti-discrimination ordinance by a margin of 69 to 31 percent. However, the success of Bryant’s campaign galvanized her opponents, and the gay community retaliated against her by organizing a boycott of orange juice. Gay bars all over North America stopped serving screwdrivers and replaced them with the “Anita Bryant Cocktail”, which was made with vodka and apple juice.  Sales and proceeds went to gay rights activists to help fund their fight against Bryant and her campaign. During this period Bryant was known to refer to Gay people as “human garbagee”.

Harvey Milk, was a visionary civil and human rights leader who became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk’s unprecedented loud and unapologetic proclamation of his authenticity as an openly gay candidate for public office, and his subsequent election gave never before experienced hope  to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) people everywhere at a time when the community was encountering widespread hostility and discrimination. His remarkable career was tragically cut short when he was assassinated nearly a year after taking office. On November 27, 1978, a disgruntled former city Supervisor assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Dan White sneaked into City Hall through a basement window, avoiding the metal detectors at the official entrances, went to Moscone’s office, killed him, then walked down the hall to kill Milk. That night, a crowd of thousands spontaneously came together on Castro Street and marched to City Hall in a silent candlelight vigil that has been recognized as one of the most eloquent responses to violence that a community has ever expressed.

In one of his most remembered speeches, Milk spoke of the American ideal of equality, proclaiming, “Gay people, we will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets. … We are coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions. We are coming out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I’m going to talk about it. And I want you to talk about it. You must come out.”