Homosexuality in the United States

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Date of introduction of same-sex marriage.
Legal status of same-sex partnerships in the states of the USA
  • Same sex marriage is conducted
  • Same-sex marriage is not conducted, but accepted
  • Same-sex marriage is not accepted
    (stripe: mixed jurisdiction)

    • Homosexuality in the United States is currently the subject of controversy in society and has been a campaigning issue in parliamentary elections and at the state level in the United States in recent years. Most legal regulations exist at the state level.

    legality

    In the United States, criminal bans on homosexual acts are inconsistent with the current interpretation of the United States Constitution . Until the 21st century, homosexual acts or sexual practices that are particularly widespread among homosexuals were sometimes subject to high prison sentences and fines in many American states . Same-sex bans had long been in place in Kansas , Oklahoma , Missouri, and Texas . A decision by the US Supreme Court ( Lawrence v. Texas ) repealed these laws in 2003. At the same time, laws in Alabama , Florida , Idaho , Louisiana , Mississippi , North Carolina , South Carolina , Utah and Virginia that made oral and anal intercourse a criminal offense for heterosexuals were also dropped.

    With this court ruling, homosexuality-specific provisions on age of consent have also become ineffective . In Kansas, for example, homosexual and heterosexual acts had their own rules since 1999, based on the Lawrence v. Precedent . Texas were overturned in proceedings before the Kansas Supreme Court ( State v. Limon , 2005).

    Some states lifted the ban on same-sex sexual acts as part of general criminal law reforms by the state parliaments, for example Illinois became the first state (1962). In others, state courts declared legislation incompatible with state constitutions. However, in the early 1990s, about half of all states still had bans on same-sex sexual practices. Even after the decision of Lawrence v. Texas , which overruled the law, opposed the Utah Parliament in March 2007 to remove its law that made sex outside of marriage a criminal offense. The motion of openly gay Senator Scott McCoy ( Democrats ) to delete was not accepted in plenary for consideration.

    Anti-discrimination laws

    Current Labor Law Protection Against Discrimination
    In All Employment Relationships:
  • Sexual orientation and sexual identity
  • Sexual orientation
    • State employment relationships:
  • Sexual orientation and sexual identity
  • Sexual orientation
  • No state protection for LGBT people

    • Anti-discrimination laws exist only partially at the local and state levels.

    In the armed forces until the end of 2010 , homosexuality was deliberately forced to maintain secrecy with the so-called Don't ask, don't tell policy (German: Don't ask, say nothing ); these requirements did not apply to heterosexual members of the armed forces. A bill was passed in Congress in 2010 to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell rule . The House of Representatives decided to repeal the rule in May 2010. On December 18, 2010, the Senate also passed a repeal bill, which was signed by President Barack Obama on December 22, 2010 .

    In February 2014, the state of Arizona passed a law that allows companies not to serve homosexual customers for religious reasons. However, Republican Governor Jan Brewer refused to sign the bill.

    In June 2014, President Obama issued a decree banning discrimination against homosexual employees in companies that work for the US government . The decree therefore stipulates that employees of these companies may not be disadvantaged because of their sexual orientation. The decree will affect 20 percent of all workers in the United States.

    In February 2015, the Arkansas regional assembly decided that this state should not have LGBT anti-discrimination legislation.

    A draft law, the Equality Act , has been in planning at the federal level since 2016 , which prohibits discrimination in labor law and civil law nationwide. 32 out of 50 states have no overarching anti-discrimination law. (As of March 2016)

    In June 2020, the decision Supreme Court of the United States in the case Bostock v. Clayton County that Article VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , which explicitly prohibits discrimination based on sex, also protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity . The New York Times noted that the ruling focused on discrimination in the workplace, but that "legal scholars say his language could enforce extended protection of civil rights in education, healthcare, housing and other areas of daily life."

    Recognition of same-sex civil partnerships and marriages

    The legal recognition of same-sex partnerships in the United States is largely regulated at the state level and is currently in a state of rapid development. In 2014, gay couples were only allowed to marry in 37 states ; however, same-sex marriage was not allowed in 13 states in 2014. On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was permissible and equal in all states.

    → see main article: Recognition of Same-Sex Partnerships in the United States for further regulations

    Social situation

    Use of language

    " Fagbug " - confident handling of the swear word fag at a gay pride event ( bug = VW Beetle )

    The terms gay (German: gay, often also homosexual) and queer originally had a derogatory meaning, but have now been positively reinterpreted through (re) appropriation by those affected. In the American language today, gay in particular has largely acquired a similar high-linguistic and value-free quality as the expression gay in German. The word queer goes through a similar development and is increasingly chosen by those affected as a self-confident self-designation. This development is far from over, however, and the term is still seen by some homosexuals, especially people over 40 and 50 (and especially when used by non-affected people) as offensive or sensitive, or at least (self or Foreign) description rejected.

    There is a tendency to revalue the strongly derogatory expression fagot (short: fag ) through self-use. Most of the time, however, it is still considered a swear word and it has not yet been possible to use it by heterosexuals without judgment.

    The term LGBT ( L esbian , G ay , B isexual , T ransgender ) is also widespread in the USA, and is now sometimes supplemented to LGBTQ (LBGT, queer ).

    The English word homosexual (homosexual), on the other hand , is rejected by many concerned because of its medical history - namely the pathologization of homosexuality under this name.

    In connection with transgender themes and the expression in Indian communities in some two-spirit (. English about: two spirits ) used. It refers to the traditional view of several North American Indian tribes that there is a third gender in addition to "male" and "female".

    social acceptance

    In a 2010 survey by the Global Attitudes Project , 56% of Americans surveyed said that homosexuality should be accepted; 44% of those questioned said no. A 2006 study by the Field Research Corporation found that 27% of respondents felt that homosexual relationships should not be opposed in any way; 73% of the respondents stated that homosexual relationships should always be rejected. In 1997, 45% had stated that homosexual relationships should always be rejected; 38% had replied that homosexual relationships should not be rejected in any way. A 2006 Pew study found that 50% of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of homosexual men; 48% had an unfavorable opinion of lesbian women. A 2014 poll found that 55% of Americans are in favor of same-sex marriage and 42% oppose it.

    In June 2016, 49 people were killed in an attack in a gay bar in Orlando, Florida.

    Homosexuality and children

    In the US (2007 survey) over 30% of lesbians have given birth to a biological child and one in six gays has a son or daughter.

    Homosexuality and religion

    Since religion plays a far greater role in the lives of most Americans than it does for most Europeans (only 2 percent of Americans consider themselves atheists or agnostics ), reconciling homosexuality and belief is a must in the United States particularly explosive topic. The Christian churches take very different positions on homosexuality. While Jehovah's Witnesses , many Baptist and Mormon congregations do not even admit homosexual people as members, some Christian churches such as the Metropolitan Community Church , the United Church of Christ , the Unitarians , the Presbyterian Church, and the Anglican Episcopal Church of the United States not only allow them homosexual pastors, they even carry out weddings for same-sex couples . Some mainline churches of the Churches Uniting in Christ, such as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) , the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Moravian Church Northern Province , have advocated the blessing of same-sex couples . With the Anglican bishops Gene Robinson and Mary Douglas Glasspool and the Lutheran Bishop Guy Erwin , the first consecration of openly homosexual bishops in these churches took place in recent years. With the rise of AIDS, it became clear that changing attitudes are also possible in the churches. Although many evangelical churches reject homosexuality, they found the following compromise for dealing with homosexual people: We hate the sin, but we love the sinner . The spectrum of views is similarly wide in the various orientations of American Judaism .

    Openly homosexuals in political office

    Since the Republican Party is generally more reluctant to open up to sexual minorities than the Democratic Party , open-minded gay and lesbian politicians are more likely to be found on the liberal or left-wing side of the political spectrum, including Barney Frank , who served in the US House of Representatives from 1981 to 2013 and whose coming out took place in 1987. The first openly homosexual governor of a US state is James McGreevey (Democrat), sworn in in 2002 and " outed " in 2004 . Steve Stanton , who has been the city ​​manager of Largo , Florida since 1993 , made his transsexualism public in February 2007 and was fired on March 23rd.

    According to a Gallup survey published in February 2007, 55% of respondents would be willing to vote for a qualified presidential candidate even if the candidate was homosexual.

    In recent years, David Cicilline , Mark Pocan , Sean Patrick Maloney , Jared Polis and Mark Takano, other openly homosexual Democratic MPs, have entered the House of Representatives. With Tammy Baldwin , the first openly gay senator arrived in the United States Senate .

    Working life

    At the turn of the 21st century, many American companies began to reduce the disadvantages their homosexual employees had been exposed to. 2006 already 78 of the 100 largest companies granted US ( Fortune 100 ) - including, for example, General Motors , Chevron , ConocoPhillips , General Electric and Ford their living in same-sex partnerships employees the same perks (- Engine benefits received), also married heterosexual employees . No domestic partnership benefits received homosexuals, however, the biggest companies in the country, Wal-Mart and Exxon ; the second largest company in the USA, has abolished its domestic partnership benefits after the merger with Mobil Oil (1999).

    Many cities and municipalities now also grant full social benefits to their homosexual employees who live in permanent partnerships.

    Homosexuality in the media

    Movie

    Gay, lesbian and bisexual people are clearly underrepresented in the film. As a study by the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles showed for the hundred most profitable films from 2007 to 2017, only 0.7% of the 4403 film characters examined were lesbian, gay or bisexual in 2017. In contrast, 3.5% of the US population falls into these groups.

    watch TV

    Gay people have achieved high visibility on US television today. Openly homosexual television personalities like Ellen DeGeneres , Rosie O'Donnell , Jim Parsons , Chris Colfer , Neil Patrick Harris , Kate McKinnon and ABC weather presenter Sam Champion are less and less exceptional.

    In 2002, the network here! Became the first American television station with a homosexual target group . was founded, whose program can be received nationwide by cable subscribers. As early as 1985, Pride and Progress , the first gay news program in the United States, went on the air. LGTB news programs that are still in production today include In the Life (since 1992), Gay USA (since 1996) and CBS New on Logo (since 2005).

    The first homosexual appeared on American reality TV in 1973 in the multi-part documentary An American Family . However, gay reality TV only became widely popular with the makeover show Queer Eye , which was produced from 2003 , the success of which stimulated numerous other gay reality programs, but which were only short-lived, such as Boy Meets Boy (2003), He's a Lady , Playing It Straight , Straight Plan for the Gay Man (2004), Open Bar , Queer Eye for the Straight Girl (2003), Real Gay (2005), and Jacob and Joshua: Nemesis Rising (2006). The newest gay reality program is the dating show Gay, Straight or Taken? (2007) and the Mockumentary Modern Family (since 2009).

    The first fictional television series with a gay main character was the comedy show Love, Sidney with Tony Randall, produced from 1981 to 1983 . This was followed by Ellen (1994–1998), Will & Grace (1998–2006), Buffy - The Vampire Slayer (1996 / 2000–2003), Normal, Ohio (2000–2001), Queer as Folk (2000–2005) and Some of My Best Friends (2001).

    Current sitcoms and TV series with main gay characters are Absolutely Relative , Reno 911! (both since 2003), Young and Passionate - As Life Played ( Gregory Michael ), The L Word (2004–2009), Noah's Arc , Strangers with Candy (1999–2000), the youth series South of Nowhere (both since 2005 ) and the hospital series Grey's Anatomy (since 2005). The US soap All My Children (broadcast until 2011) also dealt with the topic (Bianca Montgomery).

    One show that treats homosexuality heavily is Glee . Six of the characters known so far (including 4 main characters) are homosexual: Kurt Hummel ( Chris Colfer ), Blaine Anderson ( Darren Criss ), Santana Lopez ( Naya Rivera ), Brittany S. Pierce ( Heather Morris ), David "Dave" Karofsky ( Max Adler ) and Sebastian Smythe ( Grant Gustin ).

    With programs such as Queer Duck (2002–2004) and Drawn Together (2004–2007), the homosexual theme has even conquered the cartoon genre. Individual film genres such as horror are also opened up with television series such as Dante's Cove and The Lair . The television series Orange Is the New Black has been running very successfully since 2013 .

    Press

    The highest-circulation American magazines with a homosexual target group are Out (since 1992), The Advocate (since 1967), Instinct (since 1997), Frontiers (since 1981), David Atlanta (since 1998), Genre (since 1991), HX (since 1991 ), Lavender (since 1995), Metro Weekly (since 1994), MetroSource (since 1990), My Comrade (since 1987), Next Magazine , OUTNOW , QSaltLake (since 2006), Queer (since 1998), RFD (since 1974) and XY (since 1996). The magazines Curve (since 1991), Girlfriends (since 1993), GO NYC (since 2001) and Velvetpark (since 2002) are addressed to lesbians .

    LGBT art and culture

    Artwork in support of same-sex marriage, Alamo Square , San Francisco

    In 1976, in New York City, John Glines, Barry Laine and Jerry Tobin founded the country's oldest professional gay theater company, The Glines . In 1977 the Theater Rhinoceros was built in San Francisco .

    The film and media festival Outfest has been held in Los Angeles every year since 1982 . Approx. 1988 followed New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Film Festival , 1995, the North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and the 1996 Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival . In Tampa , Florida hosts the annual Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival instead.

    Also in 1982, the Gay Games based on the Olympic Games were held for the first time in San Francisco .

    The only museum in the USA with exhibitions on a gay and lesbian theme ( leather scene ) is the Leather Archives and Museum in Chicago . The facility unites both one of the largest archives and one of the largest museums on the subject worldwide and is internationally unique in its conception.

    The Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project in Seattle , founded in 1994, does not yet have any exhibition space.

    The Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco is the annual highlight of the US leather and fetish scene. Every year around 400,000 people attend Folsom , including many BDSM fans and gay leather fans from all over the world.

    Centers of homosexual culture

    Row of shops in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco

    The Castro neighborhood in San Francisco , also known as the Eureka Valley , has the largest concentration of homosexuals in America. Many gays also live in the South of Market (SoMa) district , in Guerneville, north of San Francisco, and in The Alameda , a district of San José . The Mission District and Noe Valley districts immediately adjacent to Castro form the cultural center of the lesbian population of San Francisco.

    An internationally known symbol of Gay Pride is Christopher Street in New York 's Greenwich Village . The New York district with the highest proportion of homosexual residents is Chelsea . The Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn has had a high proportion of lesbian residents since the 1970s.

    Other gay villages are located in the cities:

    See also

    Web links (in English )

    Commons : Homosexuality in the United States  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files

    Individual evidence and further information

    1. ^ Sodomy Laws: Kansas ( February 9, 2009 memento in the Internet Archive ); Imprisoned Teen Challenges Kansas 'Romeo and Juliet' Law ( February 9, 2009 memento on the Internet Archive )
    2. ↑ Queer.de: Utah: Homo-Sex officially illegal , March 6, 2007
    3. ↑ Queer.de: Congress advises on military homosexual ban , February 23, 2007
    4. ↑ Advocate: Congress Moves to End DADT ( Memento of the original dated May 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 27, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.advocate.com
    5. ↑ Queer.de: Obama signs: “Don't ask, don't tell” abolished , December 22, 2010
    6. ↑ Arizona passes law allowing shopkeepers to refuse to serve gay people
    7. ↑ Violation of US Constitution: Governor stops controversial religious law against homosexuals
    8. ↑ zeit.de : President Obama forbids discrimination of sexual orientation among homosexual employees
    9. ^ Arkansas passes homophobic law
    10. ↑ Männer.de: 60 Large Companies for Equality , March 10, 2016
    11. ^ Supreme Court strengthens rights of the LGBT community in the workplace. In: zeit.de. June 15, 2020, accessed June 16, 2020 .
    12. ↑ Margot Sanger-Katz, Erica L. Green: Supreme Court Expansion of Transgender Rights Undercuts Trump Restrictions. In: The New York Times . June 15, 2020, accessed on July 18, 2020 .
    13. ↑ Zeit Online: The highest US court declares gay marriage nationwide permissible : http://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2015-06/hoechstes-us-gericht-erklaert-homo-ehe-landesweit-fuer- permissible
    14. ^ Pew Global Attitudes Project Survey 2003 ; The Field Poll (PDF; 21 kB); The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 2007 ( Memento from March 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
    15. ↑ Veit Medick, Marc Pitzke, DER SPIEGEL: Orlando: Massacre in the "Pulse" nightclub shocked the USA - DER SPIEGEL - politics. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
    16. ↑ UCLA and Urban Institute, Washington DC: Adoption and Foster Care by Gay and Lesbian Parents in the United States , March 2007 (PDF document, English; 560 kB)
    17. ↑ CNN: Presbyterians vote to allow same-sex marriage
    18. ↑ NBCNews: Episcopalians Vote to Allow Gay Marriage in Churches
    19. ↑ Atlanta News: Same-sex unions accepted by Evangelical Lutherans ( Memento of the original from August 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ajc.com
    20. ↑ Article Susan Stanton in the English language Wikipedia
    21. ↑ editorandpublisher.com: Gallup: Americans Say They Will Vote for a Black or Woman - But a Mormon? A 72-year-old? ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. February 20, 2007; For comparison: a colored candidate: 94%, a Jewish candidate: 92%, a woman: 88%, a Hispanic: 87%, a Mormon: 72%, a three-time married: 67%, a 72-year-old: 57 %, an atheist: 45%. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.editorandpublisher.com
    22. ↑ Marc Gunther: ExxonMobil's gay problem , money.cnn.com, May 11, 2006
    23. ↑ Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti, Dr. Katherine Pieper, Ariana Case, Angel Choi: n lesbi Inequality in 1,100 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race / Ethnicity, LGBT & Disability from 2007 to 2017 (PDF file)
    24. ↑ Leather Archives & Museum ; Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project