By now, it is no surprise that the LGBTQIA+ community in Florida as a whole continues to be attacked by cruel policies designed by the GOP in the Florida Legislature, and by Governor Ron DeSantis. Because of this, we feel that now, it is more important than ever to discuss LGBTQIA+ history, to show that rather than bend and conform, we will still be outspoken advocates in the face of cruel legislation.
When we think of LGBTQIA+ history, we often think of the Stonewall Riots and how this marked the beginning of LGBT+ existence. However in many ways, Stonewall was a breaking point of the silence, bigotry, and homophobia and/or transphobia that affected much of the community. In George Chancey’s Gay New York, he challenges the fact that LGBTQIA+ individuals have not existed. He examines this world in New York from the years of 1890 to the 1940s and in doing so talks about homosexual culture, the presence of it, and the misconceptions that gay men were isolated, invisible, and self-hating. He touches on how LGBTQIA+ existence was not talked about due to the postwar response and not looking as far back as the prewar response via World War I. We see drag balls and gay balls occur in New York as far back as the 1920’s and 30’s. We see presence in newspapers and ads in the 1930’s of LGBTQIA+ culture.
Not only did Chancey challenge previous historical pieces but he contributed to a new understanding of gay history, meaning the community was not invisible, but very much seen in the public eye in the pre-war era of the roaring 20’s and rewrites the beginning of the gay world and brings about this new lens of social histories, looking into homosexual subculture that was present long before the Gay Rights Movement in the 1970’s.
After what seems to be the underground world of LGBTQIA+ culture and community, the rise of the Homophile Movement solidified what was existence and established organizations, groups, and more across the country post World War II. At least 60 groups were operating before Stonewall which became what we know as the Homophile Movement, being the local, national and international social-political movement for gay and lesbian rights. During this period, groups like the Mattachine Society or Daughters of Bilitis would advocate for acceptance among local communities to legitimize homosexuality, increase education, and unification among a community that was so often looked past and as an oppressed minority.
From the infamous history of 1969, marking the year of the Stonewall Uprisings, or the Stonewall Riots as it is more commonly known was ignited by the previous years and decades of blatant homophobia and transphobia as simply displaying any traits of being homosexual or transgender were seen as “immoral”. The spark that lit these riots however was set on the morning of June 28th, 1969, when the New York Police Department raided Stonewall Inn and arrested 13 people for violating the state’s “gender-appropriate clothing statute”.
While the riots were not the start of the advancement of gay rights, they were an important part of the march towards progress for those in the LGBTQ+ community. It was a real galvanizing force nationwide, and the inn, along with the street as a whole was designated in 2016 by then-President Obama as a national monument for the advancement of gay rights.
After the riots, we saw the rise of the AIDS crisis in the 1980’s. The disease was said to come from gay men and was commonly seen as the “Gay-Related Autoimmune Disease” or as the Reagan administration once noted: “a joke.” This would later be heavily criticized as well as create a space where gay men would be discouraged, afraid, and silenced from getting treatment and care.
Flash forward to now, and our state is moving rapidly towards a similarly draconian style of laws governing LGBTQIA+ existence. What we have is a cruel, interweaving web of harmful bills and policies prioritized by our legislature. All of this after the Pulse Nightclub Shooting in 2016 which was at the time the deadliest mass shooting in the nation.
While from 2015 until 2021, policy-wise, the LGBTQIA+ community was seeing their lives change for the better for once but Governor Ron Desantis and Florida Republicans stripped all of that away from them in the interest of “keeping sports fair”, and “protecting children from indoctrination”. This has led to what we see now, particularly in the attacks against transgender Floridians. However, we have to remember that these attacks against the transgender community will spill over into other facets of life.
We should always be standing with our transgender siblings, because an attack on the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole will eventually be an attack on everyone’s bodily autonomy, no matter what. As we have learned from history, the LGBTQIA+ community is the most vulnerable when it is left to stand alone. More than ever, we must stand up to the attacks the community is receiving and protect the lives and rights every individual deserves to have, including the LGBTQIA+ community. It is important now more than ever to preserve the history of the LGBTQIA+ community and create a space to share stories, love, culture, and the past to push for change.
For examples of groups and organizations to support across Central Florida, please see below: