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Improvements in legislation alone are not enough to prevent stigma and discrimination against people who do not conform to conventional notions of sexuality and gender.
LGBT History Month
Artical by Gay Berkshire
LGBT History Month is an opportunity to recognise the achievements and contributions that the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community have made to society throughout history.
Improvements in legislation alone are not enough to prevent stigma and discrimination against people who do not conform to conventional notions of sexuality and gender. Homophobic bullying, violence and ostracism are still some of the problems facing LGBT people today. Therefore, a practical effort to raise social awareness about being lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender is also a necessary part of the process of replacing ignorance with understanding.
28 Factoids to celebrate LGBT History Month
| Year | Description |
|---|---|
| 620BC | A woman named Sappho was born who went on to become one of the most respected Greek lyrical poets. Little of her writing survived, but what does was believed by many to show expressions of female love and desire. Sappho was born on the Greek Island of Lesbos. Her connection with the Island coined the term “lesbian”. |
| 1895 | Saw the great writer and poet Oscar Wilde imprisoned for homosexual acts. Wilde was found guilty of gross indecency with a male and sentenced to two years hard labour. He served this sentence at Reading Prison. It was about his pained experiences, that he wrote “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”, upon his release from Her Majesty’s detention. |
| 1903 | On 21st February, New York police conducted the first United States recorded raid on a gay bathhouse, the Ariston Hotel Baths. 26 men were arrested and 12 brought to trial on sodomy charges; 7 men received sentences ranging from 4 to 20 years in prison. |
| 1920 | Male prostitutes would refer to themselves as “gay ladies”. |
| 1930s | The pink triangle first appeared as a visible sign of homosexuality used to identify homosexuals in the Nazi holocaust. |
| 1951 | Roberta Cowell became the first Briton to have gender-corrective surgery. Defined as a male at birth but diagnosed as ‘intersexed’, when given the choice of gender she chose female. |
| 1967 | Sexual activity between males was made legal in England and Wales. |
| 1969 | Stonewall riots took place in New York City. A crowd of gays, lesbians, hippies and drag queens had had enough of harassment from police and responded with taunting, resistance and even violence — marking the definitive turning point of the gay rights movement. |
| 1973 | Homosexuality was removed from the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)” and no longer considered a mental disorder in the USA. |
| 1980 | Homosexuality was legalised in Scotland. |
| 1982 | Homosexuality was legalised in Northern Ireland. |
| 1982 | Terrance Higgins dies from AIDS related illness. |
| 1988 | Section 28 becomes law. Local government makes it illegal for any council or governmental body to intentionally promote homosexuality. Even the publishing of useful texts was abolished and the tackling of homophobia avoided. |
| 1989 | Stonewall is founded. This is a politically motivated group in support of LGBT issues. |
| 1993 | Homosexuality was legalised in Ireland. |
| 1995/6 | Alex Carlile’s Private Members Bill proposed the means to correct transsexual people's birth certificates and status. |
| 1997 | Homosexuality was decriminalised in China. |
| 1998 | Footballer Justin Fashanu committed suicide following a sexual assault scandal with a 17-year-old male. He was the first professional footballer to come out as gay; however, he was treated poorly by the tabloids and regretted his decision. |
| 1999 | Transsexual people gain legal protection in employment. |
| 2000 | The age of consent for gay men is lowered to 16 in the UK but remains 17 in Northern Ireland. The ban on lesbian and gays serving in the armed forces is lifted. |
| 2002 | Around 100 transsexual people took to the streets of London to campaign against proposed new restrictions to accessing gender reassignment services and trans health care. |
| 2003 | Section 28 is repealed. Lesbians and gay men gain protective legislation in the field of employment. In addition to this, theUK law is also updated by way of the Sexual Offences Act, incorporating gay men and transgender people. |
| 2003 | The US Supreme Court decriminalizes homosexual sex. |
| 2004 | Transsexual people can legally change their birth certificates to their correct gender. |
| 2004 | Civil partnership becomes legal for same sex couples in the UK. |
| 2005 | The first ever LGBT history month is celebrated in the UK. |
| 2008 | The pink pound is respected in law with the Equality Act Regulations 2007. |
In the UK lesbianism has never been illegal.
Seven countries have no official heterosexist discrimination. They are Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, and Spain. This full non-discrimination includes the rights of marriage and adoption.
LGBT people in the USA face different laws for certain medical procedures than other groups. For example, gay men have been prohibited from giving blood since 1983 and George Bush’s FDA guidelines barred them from being sperm doners as of 2005.
