Stonewall Riots 40 Years Ago And 40 Years On

[Hissyspit]

President Barack Obama has declared June 2009 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the event known as the Stonewall Riots (Frank Rich's column on the anniversary can be found here). While researching information online concerning the event, I came across the following information offered as context on Wikipedia in the entry on the riot. Rich apparently read the same page and paraphrased it in his article. It is not included in synopsis in n2doc's OP, so I wanted to place the information into its own post (emphasis here is mine):

Except for Illinois, which decriminalized sodomy in 1961, homosexual acts, even between consenting adults acting in private homes, were a criminal offense in every U.S. state at the time the Stonewall Riots occurred: "An adult convicted of the crime of having sex with another consenting adult in the privacy of his or her home could get anywhere from a light fine to five, ten, or twenty years—or even life—in prison. In 1971, twenty states had 'sex psychopath' laws that permitted the detaining of homosexuals for that reason alone. In Pennsylvania and California sex offenders could be locked in a mental institution for life, and in] seven states they could be castrated." (Carter, p. 15) Castration, emetics, hypnosis, electroshock therapy and lobotomies were used by psychiatrists to attempt to cure homosexuals through the 1950s and 1960s. (Katz, pp. 181–197.) (Adam, p. 60.)

Here are the books that are referenced as sources for this information:

Adam, Barry (1987). The Rise of a Gay and Lesbian Movement, G. K. Hall & Co. ISBN 0805797149
Carter, David (2004). Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution, St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312342691
Katz, Jonathan (1976). Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. ISBN 0690011652

In 2009, the Matthew Shepard Act, after having been submitted as a bill in various incarnations since 2001, has passed the House and is in committee in the Senate.

40 years later many things have changed and many more things have not.

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[EFerrari]

2. K&R

[babylonsister]

3. Rec'd, but I insist Obama match his words with deeds. I know

he will, but the sooner, the better.