Homosexuality，Family，and Society：Historical Perspectives from the United States

George Chauncey

Sexuality has a history，as much as cities，nations，and families do.Change in sexual life is one of the most characteristic features of modernity，and，historically，such change has taken place especially quickly in socially and economically dynamic societies such as China and the United States.

The relative tolerance of homosexuality in the United States today is often taken for granted，for instance，but in fact it is a recent historical development.Indeed，the dramatic growth in the openness of gay Americans and their acceptance by their fellow citizens is one of the more striking developments in American history in the last half-century.This essay provides a short analysis of some of the historical changes and debates that resulted in that openness and acceptance，as well as the continuing American debates over same-sex marriage and other gay issues.

Since the early twentieth century，most major American cities have had restaurants，bars，cabarets，and other commercial facilities serving as meeting places for lesbians and gay men，and gay Americans have also organized social clubs，dances，festivals，and other events.Since the 1960s they have organized an even richer communal life，including gay choirs，sports teams，theaters，bookstores，and so forth.They have become a significant presence in American culture.

While the social organization of gay life has changed over time，the attitudes of other Americans toward gay people have changed even more. Gay life was a subject of fascination for many Americans in the 1920s，a period of cultural experimentation in many parts of the world.Heterosexual Americans visited lesbian-run cafes and attended huge dances organized by gay men and transgender people in the larger cities.Although Americans had varied reactions to homosexuals，they often saw them in their neighborhoods，in the movies，and in their places of employment.

But hostility toward gay people grew during the Great Depression of the 1930s and in the wake of the Second World War.This growing hostility had many sources.It resulted in part from the growing social instability and social disharmony caused when millions of men lost their jobs and their role as family providers during the Depression and then were taken away from their families by military service during the Second World War.Both developments put family life under special pressure.At a time when most people still depended on the support of their families to survive and American society depended on families to provide stability，many Americans became more hostile toward homosexuals because they perceived them to be isolated individuals who stood outside of the family and rejected familial responsibilities.The belief that gay people had an antagonistic relationship to the family and contributed to social disharmony was reinforced by the perception that gay people did not conform to the gender ideals of a masculine man or feminine woman，ideals that had also been put under stress by the Depression and the War.

Government leaders began to attack gay people as a threat to American society and to claim that they were unreliable or even untrustworthy，especially as civil servants.In 1950，a committee of the United States Senate cited such reasons when it recommended that homosexuals be banned from government employment，civilian as well as military，and thousands of gay people and people suspected of being gay lost their government jobs as a result.The government also passed laws prohibiting restaurants，bars，and cabarets from serving homosexuals，and in many cities，the police began arresting large numbers of gay people and shutting down the places where they gathered.

The new wave of discriminatory laws and regulations put gay people in a difficult position.Antigay government policies forced gay people to hide their homosexuality in order to protect their livelihoods and social respect，but the fact that they concealed something so important about themselves made them seem secretive，untrustworthy，and dangerous to outsiders.

The legal persecution of gay people also disrupted social harmony because it helped foster a broader pattern of hostility toward this minority group.Many private employers fired valuable workers simply because they discovered they were gay.Some landlords refused to rent them a place to live.And，there were many acts of violence against lesbians and gay men.Perhaps most tragic was the way this hostility led to the alienation of gay people from their families.Many families rejected their gay children.Others accepted them，but only so long as the children were careful not to discuss their homosexuality with them，even when everyone knew about it.Most gay people kept their gay life hidden from their parents，which meant they could not fully participate in family life，because they could not incorporate their partners into familial bonds of mutual support，love，and respect，or even bring their home to family dinners or celebrations.Many gay people felt so much social pressure that they decided to pass as heterosexual and get married.

By the 1950s，then，gay people were portrayed as threats to social harmony and subjected to considerable discrimination.The dramatic growth in the acceptance of gay people in the last fifty years is therefore all the more remarkable.Most of the discriminatory policies put in place between the 1930s and 1950s were ended between the 1960s and 1990s，and more positive ideas about gay people developed.The government no longer mistrusts or discriminates against its gay employees，for instance. In fact，since the 1990s the federal government has forbidden its agencies from discriminating against lesbians and gay men in employment，and many state governments now prohibit discrimination in private employment and housing as well.Public support for gay people has grown so much in many cities and regions of the country that voters have elected openly gay candidates to office.There are hundreds of openly gay elected officials in city governments and state legislatures across the country，and at the highest level of government there are even several openly gay Congressmen and women.

How did this dramatic change in the status of gay people take place？ Changes in gay life have always been linked to broader processes of social change.Three changes are especially important to mention here.

First，the growing equality of women and the black civil rights revolution in the 1950s and 1960s had direct consequences for gay people.The postwar struggle of black Americans to achieve full citizenship，full equality，and full human dignity had a profound effect on every aspect of American society after the Second World War，and it affected every American，including gay Americans.By advocating the equality of racial minorities，the black movement led some people to start thinking of gay people as a sexual minority，which had the same right to equality and dignity that racial minorities did.In the courts，many of the legal victories won by black Americans established important legal precedents for gay people.In 2004，for instance，when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned laws that prohibited gay couples from getting married，it based its decision in part on the United States Supreme Court decision forty years earlier that overturned laws prohibiting black and white people from getting married.The court was explicit about the importance of this precedent，and reasoned that someone’s sexual orientation should not bar them from the right to marry any more than race or skin color did.

Second，and just as important，the black movement and women’s movement inspired a generation of lesbians and gay men to seek equality and dignity for themselves.Their efforts took many forms.Ultimately，perhaps the most influential way gay people changed the attitudes of heterosexuals was by refusing to hide their homosexuality from them anymore.This marked a major break with the customary practice of the past，when almost all American lesbians and gay men kept their homosexuality a secret from heterosexuals and disclosed it only to their circle of gay friends.It is easy to understand why they kept their homosexuality hidden.It was an enormous risk for gay people to come out to heterosexuals. They risked losing their jobs as well as the respect and support of their families and friends.The decision of many gay people to come out to heterosexuals in the 1970s therefore produced a huge debate among other gay people about the wisdom of taking such a risky step.

But growing numbers of gay people took this risk because they found it to be an unbearable affront to their human dignity and integrity to conceal this important part of their lives from other people.They were also determined to have their gay relationships treated equally and to see them respected in the same way that a marriage or other heterosexual relationship would be.As a historical matter，their decision to come out was reinforced and even inspired by broader cultural changes in ideas about the boundary between public and private life，and the emergence of a new morality of personal honesty that was embraced by many people of their generation，not just gay people.

By 1985，one in four Americans had a friend or acquaintance who had told them they were gay，although more than half of Americans still believed they did not know anyone gay.Over the next fifteen years，however，many more gay people started talking with their heterosexual friends，and by the year 2000，fully three-quarters of Americans realized they knew someone gay.

This had a profound effect on the debate over gay rights in the United States.Gay people’s commitment to educating their relatives and friends about homosexuality and their willingness to confront them about their bigotry and misconceptions resulted in countless moments of struggle and debate in families，workplaces，and student dormitories across the country.Cumulatively，gay people’s success in changing the attitudes of the people closest to them played a decisive role in shifting public opinion toward support for gay rights.Surveys show that people who know gay people are twice as likely to support their equality as people who do not know gay people.

A third major cause of the increasing acceptance of gay people resulted directly from their growing openness.Fifty years ago，one reason many Americans feared homosexuals was that they believed gay people stood outside of the family and threatened its stability.Gay people’s growing openness led many heterosexuals to learn that their own sons and daughters were gay，and it made all Americans more familiar with the realities of gay life.Many heterosexuals have recognized how many gay people establish stable，loving relationships，how many gay couples are raising children，and how deeply they want to provide security and stability to their partners and children.

Most of the debates over homosexuality in the United States in recent years have resulted from gay people’s quest to gain legal recognition of their relationships.Many gay couples have even asked for the right to get married because they wish to secure the rights，benefits，stability，and protections for their families that marriage and marriage alone conveys.Gay people’s campaign to win the right to marry and protect their families has produced a major debate in the United States.But from a historical perspective，one of that debate’s most important consequences is that it has shown Americans how committed many gay people are to their families.

The growing recognition of the rights of sexual as well as racial minorities，the growing openness of gay people，and the growing recognition that gay people are a part of families，not a threat to them，has resulted in a dramatic growth in American support for gay equality in the last 20 years.Many more families have embraced their gay children；workers and students have become more sensitive to the needs of their gay friends；and most of the major corporations in the United States have instituted policies to prohibit discrimination against their gay employees. Most major corporations also now treat the relationships of their gay employees with equality and dignity，by providing them with the same financial benefits they provide heterosexual married couples.This change has restored harmony to many families，schools，and workplaces，by increasing the honesty and trust between people and their ability to work together for common goals.

The place of gay people in American society remains a subject of debate，especially the question of gay marriage.But many of the major institutions that once demonized gay people，including the government，the media，and the medical profession，now support gay people.In courts of law，lawyers representing gay people usually have the support of scientific authorities，including social workers，family experts，and legal scholars.

Most of the remaining hostility to gay people in the United States is inspired by conservative religious beliefs，especially Christian fundamentalism.In fact，the recent debate over gay marriage reflects a more profound and wide-ranging debate-or division-in American society between people holding modern scientific views of human nature and those holding fundamentalist religious views.Modernists tend to express tolerance for gay people，while religious fundamentalists continue to regard homosexual behavior as a sin and to oppose it on a religious basis.The continuing influence of conservative religion on American politics makes the United States almost unique among the major industrialized nations，and this influence is the main reason the United States has been slower than many other industrialized nations，such as Canada，Belgium，Spain，and other European countries，to extend marriage rights or other civil protections to gay couples.South Africa’s recent decision to legalize gay marriages reflects that country’s recognition that the embrace of gay rights is the wave of the future and contributes to social harmony and stability.

Although there continue to be debates in the United States over gay rights，as a historian I am most struck by how quickly public opinion in the United States has shifted in support of full equality and dignity of gay people.As even some Christian fundamentalists realize，the tide of history is running in favor of gay equality.