Dave
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🏳️🌈 Where It all Began
Anything I write about the Stonewall Riots, which began 52 years ago today, will pale in comparison to what others have said. Let’s just say that the shot glass heard ’round the world changed millions of lives for the better.
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🏳️🌈 Before Stonewall
While Stonewall was the event that galvanized the LGBT rights movement, there were many organizations advocating for equality before the first brick was thrown. Two of the most famous are the Mattachine Society, founded in 1950 to support gay men, and the Daughters of Bilitis, founded in 1955 for lesbians.…
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🏳️🌈 Marriage Equality at Last
Six years ago today, the Supreme Court ruled for marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges. It’s hard to describe to straight people exactly how momentous this was. This passage is one of the most profound things I have ever read: “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies…
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🏳️🌈 Sickening
In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. Before that watershed decision, LGBTQ people were seen as sick people in need of a cure. Today, the medical community is often at the forefront of the fight for fair and fact-based healthcare for gays, lesbians,…
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🏳️🌈 The UpStairs Lounge Massacre
Today is the 48th anniversary of the UpStairs Lounge massacre. The UpStairs Lounge was a gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Someone set fire to the bar, and 32 people died from fire or asphyxiation. It is believed, but not confirmed, that the arsonist was a gay…
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🏳️🌈 Go Back to Political Party City Where You Belong
When people say “both political parties are essentially the same,” I just want to cut a bitch. When it comes to LGBTQ people, there is an enormous rift between Democrats and Republicans. In 1980 — yes, 41 years ago — the Democratic National Committee became the major first party to…
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🏳️🌈 45 Years
The battle for marriage equality goes back to 1970. Richard Baker and James McConnell applied for a marriage license in Minnesota. They were denied, so they sued claiming that state law made no mention of gender as it pertained to marriage. The case went as far as the state Supreme…
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🏳️🌈 Alphabet Soup
Someone once asked me, “What’s up with all those letters in LGBTQ+, and why are they in that order?” The answer is actually quite cool, because it takes you through several decades of gay history. By the 1940s and 1950s, the term “homosexual” (or derivatives of it, like “homophile”) were…
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🏳️🌈 A Toast to Gay Bars!
Bars and nightclubs have played an important role in LGBTQ history, and it’s no surprise that the Stonewall Riots started in a bar and not, say, a coffeehouse, store, or library. For many, many years, bars and nightclubs were pretty much the only safe spaces where LGBTQ people could congregate…
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🏳️🌈 We Apologize for the Break in our Regularly Scheduled Programming
I forgot to post something yesterday because the Complimentary Spouse were on vacation. Can you guess where we are? FYI, you’ll be proud to note that Disney has gone all-in on LGBTQ Pride. Years ago, the company was quick to point out that things like Gay Days weren’t official Disney-sponsored…