LGBTQ+ Americans: History Is on Our Side
Florida’s “don’t say gay” law, passed this March, has inspired more than a dozen other states to consider similar restrictive legislation, banning LGBTQ+ content from school curricula and placing queer and questioning students in peril.
Furthermore, Clarence Thomas’s audacious concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization specifically questions the legitimacy of the Lawrence and Obergefell decisions and puts LGBTQ+ relationships in the crosshairs.Given that political climate, it’s no surprise that Pride organizers across the nation are worried about opposition protestors and even violence at events meant to celebrate their communities’ vibrancy and accomplishments.But this is not the first time that gains in LGBTQ+ rights have triggered a legislative backlash, nor that “protecting” schools and children has been used as a strategy to justify homophobic legislation.
Across the 1970s, dozens of cities and states repealed laws criminalizing same-sex intimacy and passed laws protecting LGBTQ+ Americans.
In response, in 1978, California state senator John Briggs sponsored a proposition that would have prohibited queer teachers from working in public schools.
