How gay activists challenge the politics of civility

On April 13, 1970, New York Mayor John Lindsay and his wife came to the Metropolitan Opera House. It was opening night of the season and Romeo and Juliet was playing. The *** and party mayor had no idea he was about to be ambushed by members of the newly formed Gay Activists Alliance (GAA). The attackers sneaked into the event, dressed in tuxedos, blending in with the elite crowd and chanting "End police harassment!" and "Gay power!" "Their pleas directed at the mayor resounded through the packed halls. Although Lindsay continued to make headlines during the Stonewall riots a year ago, he refused to enact a citywide anti-discrimination ordinance. Over the next two years, Homosexuals would continue to confront him in public, booing, stomping and shouting, and taking the stage during tapings of his weekly TV show in 1972, in response to the ruthlessness. Under pressure, Lindsay finally signed an executive order banning municipal agencies from discriminating against job applicants based on sexual orientation.

From its founding in the early 1970s to the response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, the United States The gay liberation movement pursued a political strategy of sustained confrontation by public figures, a hit-and-run tactic known as Operation Zapp, to attract necessary media attention and force homophobic figures and institutions to recognize gay rights. ***'s approach was inspired by other New Left groups such as yuppies and radical feminist collectives, who together set a historical precedent for the kind of shaming and heckling that has recently disrupted *** and party leaders. The "Party of the Democratic Revolution" The first organizations of the "Party of the Democratic Revolution" included the GAA and the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), which was formed after Stonewall and was committed to non-violent, but militant resistance. While there were early efforts to promote gay rights in the United States, these efforts were primarily based on values ??of privacy and respectability, a departure from the "homosexual" communities of the mid-20th century, namely Bilitis and Mattachine societies. Daughters, civilized politics characterized by polite pleas for inclusion, these organizations have assimilation goals and prefer to work with existing institutions rather than destroy them. In the late 1960s, the Mattachins encouraged "peaceful and quiet behavior in the village streets" and were known for their cooperation with the police and the Black Power and radical feminist movements, as well as youth and students. The Nazi culture in the late 1960s and early 1970s provided the model for revolutionary organizing, but gay groups had a special flair for the drama of Operation Zapp, as Nazi activist Carl Wittmann wrote in 1969. As Gay Manifesto concludes, "We've been acting for a long time, so we're the perfect cast...it's going to be a good show!" "In fact, the zap scene emerged from a community with strong ties to live performance. It was meant to unfold in front of the camera.

In the early 1970s, most zap The focus is on ***'s negative representation of gays and lesbians in television shows, movies and newspapers, such as ***'s "Marcus Welby MD" (fired in 1973 for conflating homosexuality with disease), NBC's " Policewoman" (defeated in 1974 by the Lesbian Womenic Liberation group for describing a gang of lesbian murderers targeting the elderly in nursing homes. Activists knew the media influenced the public Public opinion, they wanted more control over the narrative. In 1973, Mark Sehgal infiltrated the set of the CBS Evening News on behalf of a small group called the "Gay Raiders" who jumped on the set of the CBS Evening News. In front of Cronkite, waving a banner that read "Gay *** CBS Bias," the action attracted 60 million viewers and prompted a debate about why the network didn't cover the riots at The Wall or any New York gay pride. *** . Segal, who recently donated his papers and artifacts to the Smithsonian's National Museum of History, also claimed that the host of a CBS dance show had a crush on him after he saw him dancing with a male partner. , drove him out.

Eventually, Cronkite decided to take the issue of homosexuality more seriously, airing regular gay news segments in a more favorable light for the next decade.

The Zaps quickly transformed from a shocking affront to civilization to a necessary part of the liberation movement. As GAA campaigner Arthur Evans explains, initially the larger LGBT community was "upset that the *** were rocking the boat", but eventually this turned into "anger [and] a a class consciousness." These actions provide a personal outlet, foster a sense of collective identity, and make people feel safer going out. According to Life magazine, participants believed that "a good zap on the psychiatrist's couch was worth a few months," but perhaps more importantly, the *** was politically effective of. As scholar Sara Warner puts it, "Simply threatening to kill a person in authority often leads to victory."

But in the summer of 1977, the struggle intensified and it became clear that It marked the beginning of a conservative backlash against the movement's gains nationwide, manifesting itself in hate crimes, increasingly inflammatory rhetoric, and local initiatives aimed at undermining protective legislation. Activists stepped up their response, launching larger "super sweeps" of Antiguan politicians, lawyers and business owners. They are not afraid of showing up at their targets' private homes or facing the inevitable legal consequences. Some of their actions received negative media coverage - a Time magazine article called them "gay thugs" and quoted one of their critics: "Why do people who claim to want human rights act like a bunch of people trying to Wandering around like a storm trooper terrorizing others? "But public attention eventually increased GAA membership. ”

One of the biggest moments of the year came when former beauty queen, singer and Florida Orange Juice Company spokeswoman Anita Bryant launched Save Our Children in Miami, a Christian coalition to protect Young people protected from recruitment by gay sex offenders In a televised news conference in Des Moines, Iowa, Bryant once called gays "human garbage" and young *** people at the time. Thom Higgins smashed a pie in her face and a tearful Bryant began to pray for Higgins' soul, her voice cracking as she sarcastically said, "At least that's one. Fruit pie. This comical sideshow pie-throwing act was a way of turning a villain into a joke. Bryant never changed her stance on gay rights, but her political influence and career followed. disappeared for several years.

When the AIDS epidemic devastated the gay community in the 1980s, the movement suddenly became an urgent life-or-death struggle for those who saw their friends and partners abandoned. ’s activists know they must put their bodies on an unprecedented line, amid evangelical calls for AIDS as “nature’s retribution” and “God’s punishment,” Reagan’s willful neglect, and the lengthy process of approving new drugs. In the process, it was not time for civility. From this crisis, the AIDS Alliance to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) was born in 1987.

This grassroots organization has an apolitical spirit and a street-level attitude. *** Tricks. Dozens of attendees were dragged away by police at a "Stop the Church" death ceremony at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Screaming “You bigot, you’re going to kill us! "Also" there is blood on your hands! "At Cardinal John O'Connor. They threw condoms in the air and refused to leave. The operation was responsible for infiltrating the *** and party National Women's Club, shutting down the FDA offices, and linking themselves to the headquarters of a pharmaceutical company. They also Angry at New York City's new mayor, Ed Koch, who was slow to respond to AIDS out of fear of being seen as gay: "AIDS funding is ineffective, blame Koch." , heterosexuality! "Hundreds of members have been charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing. Destroying public space and blocking traffic was a calculated calculation to convey the high stakes of the crisis.

They were savvy when it came to news coverage; they coordinated publicity campaigns with journalists in advance and created their own media in the form of eye-catching posters with memorable slogans like "Silence equals death" in major cities

While some within and outside the gay community believed the group had gone too far, historians recognize ACT-UP's success in pressuring politicians and the public to reduce social stigma and save lives. way of looking at the disease. “KDSP” Whenever the threat of homophobic violence, media vilification, or repressive laws reaches a critical point, gay liberation activists make a choice, instead of seeing politeness as the answer. After all, the anger and fear translated directly into confrontational action, and there was no civility to be found in the rhetoric used to justify their painful deaths. As Morty Manford reflected, years after he had been involved in such *** activities: "We're doing something new. We're doing something righteous