Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
LGBTQ conservatism in the United States
LGBTQ+ conservatism in the United States is a social and political ideology within the LGBTQ+ community that largely aligns with the American conservative movement. LGBTQ+ conservatism is generally more moderate on social issues than social conservatism, instead emphasizing values associated with fiscal conservatism, libertarian conservatism, and neoconservatism.
Following World War II, fears of Communist infiltration into American national security institutions combined with pervasive homophobia led both conservative and liberal politicians to endorse policies to remove homosexuals from administrative and military positions within the American government. The same fears led to ideological divisions within early homophile movement organizations such as the Mattachine Society.
Mid-20th-century homophile activists, who pursued civil rights for gays and lesbians in the United States, were primarily informed by Marxist political ideology and had ties to the Communist Party of the United States. During an era dominated by anti-communist rhetoric, governmental, and social ideological policing, homophile movement organizations experienced pressure to deny communist affiliations. For the Mattachine Society, the divisions publicly erupted in 1953, when, at the organization's "Constitutional Convention," a majority of the delegates supported resolutions to disavow 'leftist' ideologies and elect new leaders without ties to the Communist Party.
Ideological divides were also reflected in homophile activism strategies. Often described as a dichotomy using the terms "assimilationist" and "liberationist," each designation refers to a style of activism used in achieving civil rights for sexual minorities. Assimilationist political strategies, otherwise defined as "insider" strategies, reflect a willingness to work within the structures and institutions of a particular political system and include activities such as lobbying or litigation. Liberationist strategies, otherwise defined as "outsider" strategies, reflect an unwillingness to engage in institutions that perpetuate systems of social or political oppression and include such activities as protests or demonstrations. Assimilationist strategies typically focus on elite targets – lawmakers, bureaucrats, judges, medical professionals, etc. – and therefore assume an individual or organization possesses the political, social, or economic capital necessary to engage these actors. This, and the focus on maintaining rather than disrupting existing political institutions, characterize assimilationist strategies as conservative. Even when homophile activists led by Frank Kameny, Barbara Gittings, and members of the East Coast Homophile Organizations adopted outsider strategies, such as pickets at the White House, according to the film Before Stonewall, participants were admonished to dress professionally and wear clothing complementary to traditional gender presentations. Such divides, contingent upon movement strategies or policy priorities, yet maintaining a focus on civil rights for sexual minorities, persist in contemporary LGBTQ+ political debates.[citation needed]
During this era, no major political party openly supported civil rights for gays and lesbians. Although Harry Hay, the founder of Mattachine had also established an organization with the tongue-in-cheek name "American Bachelors for Wallace" – auspiciously supporting Henry Wallace, the Progressive Party candidate for president in 1948 – it was not because the party openly supported gay and lesbian rights. The United States military had a long history of discriminatory treatment of gay and lesbian service members, and after becoming president, Dwight Eisenhower – elected as a Republican – signed Executive Order 10450 which had the effect of barring gays and lesbians from administrative service in the federal government. Even close associates of the president were not exempt from investigation. In the year before signing the executive order, Arthur H. Vandenberg, Jr. was named Eisenhower's Appointments Secretary. On January 13, 1953, however, a week before Eisenhower's inauguration, the White House announced that Vandenberg was taking a leave of absence for health reasons. In April, the same month Executive Order 10450 was signed, he resigned from his position blaming "an attack of stomach ulcers." He told the press that he was uncertain of his prognosis and "the uncertainty was unfair to the President." It was later revealed that J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had come into possession of information that implicated Vandenberg in the bureau's Sex Deviants Program.
Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy included suspected homosexuals in his investigation into communist infiltration of the American Government. An exchange between witnesses during a series of hearings in 1954 implied the presence of homosexuals in the U.S. military and referred to them using the derogatory terminology "pixie" and "fairy".
While early homophile activists primarily pursued a politics of social assimilation, shared perceptions of social problems such as violence and physical assault, employment discrimination, police entrapment, and harassment of businesses catering to gay and lesbian clientele helped solidify a sexual minority identity throughout the 1950s and 1960s. By the end of the latter decade, LGBTQ+ politics was on the brink of a paradigm shift. The most widely-known example of the liberationist perspective in practice is exemplified by the Stonewall Riots. However, such tactics were deployed as early as the Cooper Do-nuts Riot in 1959 in response to police harassment of LGBTQ+ people. The events taking place in New York's West Village throughout late June 1969 had far-reaching repercussions and further exacerbated the divide between those holding assimilationist and liberationist ideologies.[citation needed]
The Gay Liberationist and Lesbian Feminist Movements took shape in the decade of the 1970s. Gender-based tensions fueled by sexism within male-dominated organizations associated with the Gay Liberation Movement led to the formation of a separate Lesbian Feminist Movement that advocated for both gender and sexual equality. Despite the liberationist protest and demonstrative tactics of Gay Liberation Movement organizations, they were dominated by a single-issue advocacy strategy which contributed to the identity politics approach of later 20th and 21st-century LGBTQ+ rights organizations.
Hub AI
LGBTQ conservatism in the United States AI simulator
(@LGBTQ conservatism in the United States_simulator)
LGBTQ conservatism in the United States
LGBTQ+ conservatism in the United States is a social and political ideology within the LGBTQ+ community that largely aligns with the American conservative movement. LGBTQ+ conservatism is generally more moderate on social issues than social conservatism, instead emphasizing values associated with fiscal conservatism, libertarian conservatism, and neoconservatism.
Following World War II, fears of Communist infiltration into American national security institutions combined with pervasive homophobia led both conservative and liberal politicians to endorse policies to remove homosexuals from administrative and military positions within the American government. The same fears led to ideological divisions within early homophile movement organizations such as the Mattachine Society.
Mid-20th-century homophile activists, who pursued civil rights for gays and lesbians in the United States, were primarily informed by Marxist political ideology and had ties to the Communist Party of the United States. During an era dominated by anti-communist rhetoric, governmental, and social ideological policing, homophile movement organizations experienced pressure to deny communist affiliations. For the Mattachine Society, the divisions publicly erupted in 1953, when, at the organization's "Constitutional Convention," a majority of the delegates supported resolutions to disavow 'leftist' ideologies and elect new leaders without ties to the Communist Party.
Ideological divides were also reflected in homophile activism strategies. Often described as a dichotomy using the terms "assimilationist" and "liberationist," each designation refers to a style of activism used in achieving civil rights for sexual minorities. Assimilationist political strategies, otherwise defined as "insider" strategies, reflect a willingness to work within the structures and institutions of a particular political system and include activities such as lobbying or litigation. Liberationist strategies, otherwise defined as "outsider" strategies, reflect an unwillingness to engage in institutions that perpetuate systems of social or political oppression and include such activities as protests or demonstrations. Assimilationist strategies typically focus on elite targets – lawmakers, bureaucrats, judges, medical professionals, etc. – and therefore assume an individual or organization possesses the political, social, or economic capital necessary to engage these actors. This, and the focus on maintaining rather than disrupting existing political institutions, characterize assimilationist strategies as conservative. Even when homophile activists led by Frank Kameny, Barbara Gittings, and members of the East Coast Homophile Organizations adopted outsider strategies, such as pickets at the White House, according to the film Before Stonewall, participants were admonished to dress professionally and wear clothing complementary to traditional gender presentations. Such divides, contingent upon movement strategies or policy priorities, yet maintaining a focus on civil rights for sexual minorities, persist in contemporary LGBTQ+ political debates.[citation needed]
During this era, no major political party openly supported civil rights for gays and lesbians. Although Harry Hay, the founder of Mattachine had also established an organization with the tongue-in-cheek name "American Bachelors for Wallace" – auspiciously supporting Henry Wallace, the Progressive Party candidate for president in 1948 – it was not because the party openly supported gay and lesbian rights. The United States military had a long history of discriminatory treatment of gay and lesbian service members, and after becoming president, Dwight Eisenhower – elected as a Republican – signed Executive Order 10450 which had the effect of barring gays and lesbians from administrative service in the federal government. Even close associates of the president were not exempt from investigation. In the year before signing the executive order, Arthur H. Vandenberg, Jr. was named Eisenhower's Appointments Secretary. On January 13, 1953, however, a week before Eisenhower's inauguration, the White House announced that Vandenberg was taking a leave of absence for health reasons. In April, the same month Executive Order 10450 was signed, he resigned from his position blaming "an attack of stomach ulcers." He told the press that he was uncertain of his prognosis and "the uncertainty was unfair to the President." It was later revealed that J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had come into possession of information that implicated Vandenberg in the bureau's Sex Deviants Program.
Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy included suspected homosexuals in his investigation into communist infiltration of the American Government. An exchange between witnesses during a series of hearings in 1954 implied the presence of homosexuals in the U.S. military and referred to them using the derogatory terminology "pixie" and "fairy".
While early homophile activists primarily pursued a politics of social assimilation, shared perceptions of social problems such as violence and physical assault, employment discrimination, police entrapment, and harassment of businesses catering to gay and lesbian clientele helped solidify a sexual minority identity throughout the 1950s and 1960s. By the end of the latter decade, LGBTQ+ politics was on the brink of a paradigm shift. The most widely-known example of the liberationist perspective in practice is exemplified by the Stonewall Riots. However, such tactics were deployed as early as the Cooper Do-nuts Riot in 1959 in response to police harassment of LGBTQ+ people. The events taking place in New York's West Village throughout late June 1969 had far-reaching repercussions and further exacerbated the divide between those holding assimilationist and liberationist ideologies.[citation needed]
The Gay Liberationist and Lesbian Feminist Movements took shape in the decade of the 1970s. Gender-based tensions fueled by sexism within male-dominated organizations associated with the Gay Liberation Movement led to the formation of a separate Lesbian Feminist Movement that advocated for both gender and sexual equality. Despite the liberationist protest and demonstrative tactics of Gay Liberation Movement organizations, they were dominated by a single-issue advocacy strategy which contributed to the identity politics approach of later 20th and 21st-century LGBTQ+ rights organizations.