Out of the closet and into the streets : on the flamboyance and fervor of the gay liberation movement

Abstract

Ironically enough, mere moments after bemoaning today's young generation of LGBT men and women for being uneducated on the history of LGBT rights, drag performer Derrick Barry erroneously asserted that "people were killed" at the Stonewall Inn in 1969. Amusing attempt to appear well-versed aside, Barry's dismay at the state of LGBT education is widely shared throughout the LGBT community. There is a sense that modern LGBT Americans are out of touch with their history, complacent in the advent of a post-Obergefell v. Hodges society where the most visible battleground for LGBT rights, same-sex marriage, is no longer in the public consciousness. With that in mind, young LGBT people are increasingly turning to formal institutions to educate them, but one particular chapter is all too often overlooked. As a result, this chapter, called the gay liberation movement, deserves a renewed consideration. What chiefly differentiated the gay liberation movement of the late sixties to late seventies from earlier iterations of gay rights efforts was the adoption of rhetoric and action that emphasized a proud embrace of the LGBT identity, which brought with it a new set of accomplishments as well as challenges.