Broadening of the campaigns for civil rights - Gay rights - OCR AGay rights

Discrimination against the gay community

The gay community experienced significant discrimination in America. By the late 1960s, the rights of gay people were limited in many ways, such as:

• The American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a form of mental disorder.
• Homosexuality was illegal in 49 of 50 states. Illinois became the first state to decriminalise homosexuality, in 1961.
• In 1953, President Dwight D Eisenhower signed an order to ban gay people from working in the federal government.
• Until 1966, when Lyndon B Johnson was president, it was illegal for gay people to gather in groups. Bars refused to serve gay people drinks as the law deemed them to be disorderly.
• Gay people in the US military could lose their jobs if their sexual orientation was made public.

The gay community in New York

The largest gay community was in New York City. The police there would regularly arrest men suspected of being gay and would raid bars that were known to serve gay people. The New York Police Department arrested over 50,000 gay men between the 1920s and the 1960s. This increased anger in the gay community.