#queeras

It is finally here!  A post that explains our blog name!  The lives and societal perceptions of queer people have looked very different in different time periods and different locations.  Here are some of the ways that these things have looked recently in the US:

The Twilight Era: Late 1800s, Early 1900s

Queer people were not necessarily celebrated, but there was less controlling discrimination than we often think there was

Lots of gay literature was published!! 500 books with lesbian themes and 1000 with gay themes!  That’s a lot of gay pages!

Henry Gerber and the Society for Human Rights were some of the first activists for queer rights during this time

The Institutional Repression Era: 1930s-1960s

There was violent homophobic discrimination from many angles

Medicine

Law

The government and military

The violent discrimination sparked some resistance.  

Some of this resistance was from other early gay rights organizations, such as the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Billitus

Others of it started in institutions like law, medicine, and the government.  Particular individuals in those organizations took issue with how their institutions oppressed gay people and resisted.

The Gay Liberation Era: 1969-Now

Starts with Stonewall

This is the first time sexuality is seen as an issue that needs to be publicly discussed, rather than a private matter

The Gay Liberation Front and Gay Activist Alliance form