I have a whole new perspective on the GLBT struggle

[realisticphish]

I'm currently working as a practicum student at the Ohio Historical Society. My project is to index and create a finding aide for a collection of papers from Stonewall Columbus, a GLBT rights group. Most of the papers are agendas, minutes, newsletters, etc, from the mid to late 1980's. Obviously I don't have time to read every paper, but I've gotten an eye-opening look into what the gay community went through during that time.

The fear of HIV/AIDS is easy to see in many of the publications; I read a few medical advice brochures, and it's hard to imagine the terror of a disease that no one really knew anything about, or how it was spread (though their advice seemed to be very sound, concerning safe sex practices, testing, etc). There was almost desperation in the tone of some of the advice. I can't imagine what it was like to live in such a dangerous and uncertain environment.

The photos of rallies and marches are interesting too. Primarily in that the signs and slogans are basically identical to the signs and slogans I see now. Rightwingers like to claim that gay marriage has suddenly become an issue in the last 5-10 years. Well, I've seen pictures of people advocating that exact thing dating from years before I was born. I think that cultural acceptance of homosexuality has increased (though I have no perspective from inside the community, so maybe it hasn't). But it's sobering to realize that in legal terms, for most states, nothing much has changed in the last 30 years.

Reading letters to the editor, magazine columns, and personal correspondence really puts a face on the issues GLBT people have had to deal with. It's so easy to talk about "The ____ Movement" and leave it at that, forgetting that real people have really suffered; I see this with liberals just as much as conservatives.

[Kurovski]

1. Thanks for sharing your personal perspective.

K&R! :)

[babylonsister]

2. Very interesting; you are reviewing history. That sounds

very cool to me. Prior to the '80s, anything went. So you are at the beginning of something in your work that we all eventually realized.

I'm glad you know how important the history you are learning about is.

[realisticphish]

3. what led into this project

was another part of the GOHI (Gay Ohio History Initiative) Collection, about the First Baptist Church in Granville, OH. It was disfellowshipped from the American Baptist Church in 1995 because it advocated open acceptance of the GLBT community. It, along with four baptist churches in California and one in Georgia, were all attacked at about the same time.

Reading some of the letters from surrounding hostile churches was horrifying. The utter hate that spewed from these people, including children as young as six (!) scribbling about how God detested homosexuality. I'm sure they were coached, but wow.

The Columbus Baptist Association kicked them out, but eventually a regional group in upstate New York which was far more liberal took them in. It was funny reading about them trying to organize meetups when they were 400 miles away from the nearest church in their region.

[Norrin Radd]

4. kr

[EC]

5. Watching "Angels in America"

brought all those memories of the 80's back to me and how angry I got every year when the studies and reports came out. With Reagan saying we had nothing to see here it'll take care of itself basically...he figured gays would just die off...problem solved in his eyes...

[realisticphish]

6. I was listening to an interview

with an epidemiologist. She said that the "AIDS=Gay" thing is entirely a matter of chance. If the disease had hit a heterosexual population, you would see a very similar layout of infection rates. It just so happened that the insert point for the virus was in the gay community, and there isn't a lot of crossover. I mean, look at Africa. Yes, there are a lot of reasons for their problems with it, but it's hardly a "gay disease" over there.

I am curious as to how much more government money would have been poured into AIDS research had it been straight people who were getting it...