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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyFebruary 26th, 2012
TODAY IN HISTORY:
Barney Frank and “Gay Power”: 1973. Newsweek provided a quick update to the beginnnings of what would become a growing political movement in a small article titled “Gay Power”:
The time is probably not at hand when Chicago’s Mayor Richard J. Daley will don black tie and hie himself off to an annual dinner of the Chicago Gay Alliance — just another politician seeking votes among just another group of citizens. Nor has Richard Nixon yet expressed his hopes for a brighter future for America’s homosexuals. But in recent years, in the backwash of political organizational efforts by migrant workers, welfare mothers and other once formless and powerless groups, the nations homosexuals have begun taking a few assertive steps of their own — and finding to their not inconsiderable surprise that the politicians can be made to pay attention.
Newsweek wrote that progress, so far, had been measured “mostly by symbol and gesture” and was limited to major cities and college campuses. San Francisco, Los Angeles were mentioned, but Newsweek was more impressed with the activity taking place in the Northeast, where gay advocates worked to overturn anti-sodomy laws (43 states still had them in 1973), enact equal rights protections, ensure child visitation rights in custody battles, and even fight on behalf of gay taxi drivers in New York City who required medical certifications of sanity before they were allowed to drive cabs. Gays were visible as never before except for one young legislator who, while not yet out, may have dared reporters to ask:
In Boston earlier this month, freshman State Rep. Barney Frank caused a small sensation when he told his colleagues that he had routinely used gays as campaign workers last year, among ordinary citizens as well as among other homosexuals — “and as all of you know, campaigning is a peculiarly personal kind of thing.”
But nobody asked, and Frank didn’t tell. It wouldn’t be until 1974 when Massachusetts (and the nation) would see its first openly gay state legislator (see Nov 5). Frank came out on his own initiative in 1987.
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Charles
February 26th, 2012
1973 was the year that I graduated from college. That is now two generations ago and times have changed radically. Gays did not exist in South Carolina. Gay issues were not even discussed in newspapers or on TV. Of course tongues wagged and rumors existed as to who was and who was not gay.
In addition, Women weren’t really in the workforce, except as nurses and teachers. Perhaps 90% plus of all doctors, lawyers and other professionals graduating in that year were male. Today it is about around 50/50.
Kopter6
February 26th, 2012
Interesting info on Rick Santorum…
http://www.nndb.com/people/035/000025957/
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