Events and Policies Impacting the Economic Progress of LGBTQ+ Individuals

During the height of 1950s Cold War fears of subversive infiltrators in government and United States society, attention was turned to gay and lesbian individuals. Similar to the Red Scare’s purge of alleged Communists, the Lavender Scare purged individuals from employment in the federal government through the Executive Order 10450, Security Requirements for Government Employment. The Lavender Scare pervaded into other areas of employment—like public education—resulting in the termination of individuals suspected of homosexual activity.

One: The Homosexual Magazine was first published in 1953 by One, Inc. The magazine was primarily written from a scientific, historical, and socio-political perspective and considered educational by the publisher. “Declaring the October 1954 issue to be obscene, Los Angeles Postmaster, Otto Olesen, invoked the 1873 Comstock Act which prohibited sending ‘obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious’ material through the U.S. Mail. ONE’s principal editors and publishers—Martin Block, Dale Jennings, Don Slater and Donald Webster Cory—sued Olesen and his office in federal district court asserting the magazine was educational and not pornographic. The district court sided with the Postmaster declaring that the magazine was obscene.” “Undaunted, ONE took its case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Much to everyone’s surprise, the Court issued a one-sentence decision on January 13, 1958 which not only overturned the two lower courts, but expanded press freedoms by effectively limiting the power of the Comstock Act to interfere with the written word. As a result, gay and lesbian publications could be mailed without legal repercussions.” One, Inc. v Olesen is often considered the first “pro-gay” Supreme Court ruling.

“When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City, on June 28, 1969, the street erupted into violent protests that lasted for the next six days. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.”

The decision held that civil servants may not be terminated from employment solely on the basis of homosexuality.

The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the DSM based on scientific studies. Previously, homosexuality was medically regarded as a mental illness.

The Equality Act was introduced to the House of Representatives in 1974, but never received a vote. Had the act passed, it would have “prohibit[ed], under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discrimination on account of sex, marital status or sexual orientation in places of public accommodation, and under color of State law.”

“The Briggs Initiative (1978) was a failed California ballot proposition (Proposition 6) which would have banned gay and lesbian people from working in California schools.”

“In 1993, when President Bill Clinton signed the policy known as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ into law, it represented a compromise between those who wanted to end the longstanding ban on gays serving in the U.S. military and those who felt having openly gay troops would hurt morale and cause problems within military ranks. Under the new policy, gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans could serve their country, as long as they kept their sexual identity under wraps.”

Signed into law by President Bill Clinton, DOMA legally defined marriage as between one man and one woman and allowed states to not recognize same-sex marriages from other states.

“Joseph Oncale, a male, filed a complaint against his employer, Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., alleging that he was sexually harassed by co-workers, in their workplace, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” “In a unanimous opinion, the Court held that while Title VII does not prohibit all verbal or physical harassment in the workplace, it does bar all forms of discrimination ‘because of’ sex. Such discrimination, whether motivated by sexual desire or not, is actionable so long at it places its victim in an objectively disadvantageous working condition, regardless of the victim's gender.”

“On June 26, 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in Lawrence v. Texas that the constitutional right to privacy protects consensual, adult sexual intimacy in the home. In declaring the Texas ‘homosexual conduct’ law unconstitutional, the court overturned the 1986 Supreme Court decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, which upheld state laws making homosexual sex a criminal offense.”

This act ended the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the armed forces, allowing lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals to serve in the military.

“On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that section three of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) is unconstitutional and that the federal government cannot discriminate against married lesbian and gay couples for the purposes of determining federal benefits and protections.”

“On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court overturned the 6th Circuit decision, and ruled that state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional.”

“On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its landmark decision in the case Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that the prohibition against sex discrimination in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) includes employment discrimination against an individual on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status.”

Federal agencies must fully enforce all federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity of sexual orientation.

The Equality Act of 2021 is an updated version of the 1974 Equality Act. The act passed the House in February 2021, but has not been voted on in the Senate. If signed into law, the act will prohibit “discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system. Specifically, the bill defines and includes sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation.”

In Florida, “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through third grade or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” On May 17, 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis expanded the law by prohibiting instruction from prekindergarten through eighth grade.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into Florida law legislation barring transgender people from using public facilities and domestic violence centers that align with their gender identities.