The United States - 1445 Words

The history of the United States tends to be understood through analysis of periods of conflict. From the Revolutionary War, to the Civil War, both World Wars, the Cold War (and its affiliate proxy incidents), and finally modern day. What this skeletal description misses are the individual struggles of people who spent their lives marginalized due to societal stereotypes and discriminatory legislation. Groups have been affected due to identities that include but are not limited to: race, religion, ethnicity, immigration status, and sexual orientation. Of course this history of identity politics is not limited to the US, but the exploration of the LGBT movement within these borders can offer an important perspective on the tumultuous†¦show more content†¦LGBT acceptance has varied greatly over time in every culture in the world. For example, while it is commonly accepted that homosexual relations were common in Ancient Greece and Rome, the same cannot be said for the Middle A ges’ Holy Roman Empire. In American culture throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, sodomy was the phrase used to describe all â€Å"deviant† sexual acts. A homosexual lifestyle was unthinkable, mainly due to the high rate of Christians who devoutly believed in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. However people such as Walt Whitman, Charlotte Cushman, Emily Dickinson, Henry James, among others all achieved greatness in literature, the arts, and other fields, while also maintaining a secretive LGBT identity (Norton, 2004). To say that the proven biological inclinations of LGBT people is a â€Å"new† occurrence that exists solely due to societal acceptance simply contradicts historical evidence. At the turn of the century, metropolitan areas began to have secretive subcultures that allowed queer citizens to socialize among each other. This largely went unnoticed by the government until the 1914 Portland Vice Scandal, when over fifty people were detained and tried for engaging in sodomy in Portland, Oregon (Boag, n.d.). This brought the issue of homosexuality to the mainstream and quickly led to nearby states enacting harsher punishments to discourage such activities, including the demand for sterilization.