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History
The first organized gay rights movement arose in the late nineteenth century in Germany. When the German Nazi party came to power in 1933, one of their first acts was to burn down the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, and begin a process to send homosexuals to concentration camps. Fascism destroyed the organized gay rights movement, and it would not arise again until after the Second World War.
In the late 1940s - early 1960s a gay rights movement arose in large urban cities in America and Western Europe, and was opposed by most institutions in the society, and thus their was little need for any organized opposition to gay rights. It was not until, the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s that certain institutions and some members of public became to support specific gay rights issues, that an organized movement arose to oppose gay rights.
During the sexual revolution, some radical gay rights organizations sought to abolish the age of consent laws, and the NAMBLA arose in the 1970s as an organization of gay male "boylovers". In the 1980s the rise of the AIDS-HIV pandemic and greater public awareness about child abuse, contributed to a public backlash against gay rights issues, and forced gay rights organizations to formally rebuke NAMBLA and to advocate safe sex programs. While there is no evidence that homosexuals are any more likely to molest children, and in fact most credible studies done show that most child molestors are heterosexual, the stereotype that gay men and women had a predatory interest in children was a powerful tool for organizations that wanted to oppose gay rights legislation and reforms .
Anita Bryant
In the late 1970s gay rights organizations were making small gains in large urban centers in America such as San Francisco, New York City, and Minneapolis. Several states reformed their criminal code to decriminalize homosexuality between consenting adults in private, and some cities were passed local anti-discrimination laws that included protection based on sexual orientation.
Anita Bryant organized the first major opposition movement to gay rights in America, based on fundamentalist Christian values. The group used various slogans that played off the fear that gay people were interested in "recruiting" or molesting children into a "life-style." A common slogan of the campaign was "Homosexuals cannot reproduce — so they must recruit" or its variants, based on the underlying belief that a homosexual orientation is chosen. The Bryant campaign was successful in repealing many of the city anti-discrimination laws, and in proposing other citizen initiatives, such as a failed California ballot question designed to ban homosexuals or anyone who endorsed gay rights from being a public school teacher.
The name of this group was Save Our Children, and its most successful campaign resulted in the repealing of Dale County's Civil Rights Ordinance by an overwhelming margin of 69% to 31%. Soon after, legislation was passed outlawing adoption by non-heterosexual persons in Florida. In 1998, Dale County passed an anti-discrimination law that included the protection of people from discrimination based on sexual orientation, but the ban on homosexuals adopting children remains on the books. The success of the Bryant campaigned encouraged the development of other organizations who opposed gay rights legislation on similar fear-based grounds.
From the late 1970s onwards, Christian fundamentalist organizations such as the 700 Club, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women For America, and the Christian Coalition found that opposition to gay rights based on Biblical teachings, and various anti-gay sterotypes was an effective tool to raise revenue for their organizations. They built strong lobbying organizations to oppose gay rights, as well as other "secular sins" such as abortion, feminism and pornography. These organizations aligned themselves with the Republican Party as part of the party's Southern Strategy to win Electoral College votes in the traditionally socially conservative South.
Fundamentalist Christian organizations followed a similar model in other nations. In the 1980s organizations opposed to gay rights succcesfully persuaded the British Conservative Party to enact Section 28, which banned public schools from "promoting homosexuality" or endorsing same-sex marriages. In the late 1990s, the growing public education and support for gay rights legislation in America and many other developed countries forced the organizations opposed to gay rights to change their model.
Public opinion
In 1970, a national survey in that year found that more than 70% of respondents agreed with one of the assertions: "Homosexuals are dangerous as teachers or youth leaders because they try to get sexually involved with children" or "Homosexuals try to play sexually with children if they cannot get an adult partner."
Public perception has changed since. Gallup polls have found that increasing number of Americans would allow gay people to be elementary school teachers. For example, the proportion was 61% in 2003, compared to 27% in 1977.
In another poll conducted in 1999, the belief that most gay men are likely to molest or abuse children was endorsed by only 19% of heterosexual men and 10% of heterosexual women. Even fewer — 9% of men and 6% of women — regarded most lesbians as child molesters.
The public was less willing to believe that most gay people were sexual predators, more gay characters were appearing in popular culture, and the murder of Matthew Shepard required the opponents to gay rights to change their model.
New model
Many of the organizations opposed to gay rights began to soften their message, although some organizations such as the small church lead by Fred Phelps continued a hardline message. Homosexuality became a problem to be overcome, akin to alcoholism, rather than something to be feared or loathed.
While the ex-gay movement has been in existence since the 1970s, it started to be a greater force in socially conservative organizations that wanted to oppose gay rights. Along with the ex-gay movement, the focus on the opposition to gay rights often centers often around same-sex marriage as many other gay rights issues such as anti-discrimination laws and the right to privacy have mainstream support. For example, when the United States Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that states could no longer criminalize consensual acts of sodomy between adults, many opponents of gay rights did not publically support sodomy laws, but rather opposed the ruling because it would lead to gay marriage. Under the new model of opposition, gay rights should still be opposed, but gay men and women need compassion and treatment for their problem.
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America excludes homosexuals and bisexuals from its organizations, both as Scouts and Scoutmasters. In 2000 the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case Boy Scouts of America v. Dale that the organization can decide its own membership rules, but there is still a movement to try and persuade the organization to change its policy or allow local chapters to decide for themselves.
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces has a policy of don't ask, don't tell where gay men and women are separated from the armed forces if they "tell", but that the armed forces is not supposed to "ask." While the policy is defended on fundamentalist grounds, it also argued that young avowed heterosexual men would not tolerate working with young avowed homosexuals and those lifting the ban would hurt the morale and unit cohension. The enforcement of this policy has been noted to fluctuate with shifting manpower requirements in times of conflict.
Socialist and communist opposition
- For more information, see Socialism and LGBT rights.
Socialists and communists historically had a mixed record when it comes to gay rights issues. Authoritarian communist governments have generally opposed gay rights, while the more libertarian-socialists and democratic socialists have generally supported some gay rights issues.
Libertarian opposition
- For more information, see Libertarian perspectives on gay rights
Libertarianism runs contrary to the mainstream gay rights movement on some, but not all, gay rights issues. While a libertarian perspective on gay rights endorses some gay rights positions, it also opposes gay rights when they involve anti-discrimination laws that impose government regulations on the private sector, religious organizations or private clubs. The Gays and Lesbians For Individual Liberty filed a brief in support of discrimination against gays by the Boy Scouts of America before the Supreme Court, and other libertarian organizations, such as the Outright Libertarians, likewise oppose all gay rights that require government action.
Fascist opposition
Fascist political parties have been universal in their violent opposition to gay rights. Today, Neo Nazi organizations and the Ku Klux Klan also oppose gay rights, and advocate the death penalty or life sentences in prison or concentration camps for homosexuals.
Anarchist & other opposition
Most anarchists support gay rights, though there is one key exception: Hardline straight edge. Hardline is an ascetic anarchist variation on straight edge, indebted to Abrahamic religion, which opposes gay rights. Their primary objection is that the ethos dsseminated in the Hardline Manifesto opposes special privileges for certain groups. Though they also have religious objections to homosexuality (regarding sex purely for procreation) as well.
See also
References
- "Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation", article from the psychology department at UC Davis