This project takes a close look at the ways in which our advancements within society had quite the detrimental effect of the LGBTQIA+ community. Our timeline follows colonization, the study of psychology, the AIDS crisis, the fight for same sex marriage, and so much more. It is our hope that this platform can be useful to those who wish to learn more about the plights of the LGBTQIA+ community within this ever-changing world. If such a history can be understood, it will be much easier for this community and its allies to make strides in the future. Within this timeline, we strove to include the biggest and most important events that shaped the history of the LGBTQIA+ community in order to create a diverse understanding of what this community means and what it has been through.
Found in many Indigenous cultures such as Native American, North African, and Pacific Islander, Two-Spirit Individuals were held to great esteem. That is, until European invaders came to their land and destroyed their culture and lifestyle.
With the thirst for knowledge in society growing, many scientists flocked to study something quite elusive, the human brain. These scientists wanted to see why people do what they do, or why different people are attracted to different things.
In the early 1930's, research into the sexual sciences became quite popular and was starting to provide a level of understanding of those who fell on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. One such researcher, Magnus Hirschfield of Germany, founded Berlin's Insititute of the Sexual Sciences, which included one of the best libraries at the time for gay cultural history. With the institute, came great strides for the gay community. However, things took a great turn for the worse when Nazi Germany came into power.
Once the United States entered World War II, gone were the days of underground spaces for LGBTQIA+ people, which included blues performances regarding lesbian desire, drag shows, and more. Once the war started, the men were sent of to war and the women went off to work in the factories, starting the work the men could no longer do. This caused a new space for queer men and women to meet, albeit under strange circumstances.
In 1973 homosexuality was removed from the American Psychiatric Association as an "illness" from their diagnostic manual.
The AIDS epidemic began in 1981, when five homosexual men were diagnosed with the disease, and two of them died. From there, it became classified as a "gay disease" and was ignored by the US government under Reagan's presidency. It was only acknowledged by Reagan once over 12,000 Americans had died. Although it was not only gay people who were being diagnosed with the disease, the victims were largely annoyed because it was thought of by many as a "punishment by God" for those who were gay. This caused anger within the gay community and would be the driving force behind the march on Washington that took place six years later.
The LGBTQIA+ movement experienced a delay during the 1980s. The gay male community lost many loved ones due to the AIDS epidemic. Organizations like the AIDS Coalition, Unleash Power (ACT UP), and Queer Nation brought their anger to the streets to demand compassion and medical funding.
A big change came in the 21st Century for Gay and Lesbian couples. Same-sex unions were recognized in Vermont in 2000 and same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in 2004.
Words like Transphobia and cissexism become more mainstream with more trans youth and adult characters being porhhtrayed on TV.
Facial recognition software is developed to only see two genders, male and female. This causes an issue in the Trans and non-binary community due to the fact that it constricts to a binary that these people do not fall under. This technological advancement is just another way that society continues to ostracize the trans and non-binary community. It tries to force all people to fit into strict forms, which is simply not a reality for many within the community. This is a key example of the fact that there is still a lot of work to be done.
Software that is assumed to be used in 2020 as a security screening precaution at airports warrants an issue for the trans and non-binary people who will inevitably be boarding the flights. Airport security has often been an issue for trans people, and this new facial recognition software can only intensify that struggle. Due to the software's very binary understanding of the human features, trans and non-binary individuals will most definitely be caught in the crossfire of this technological advancement
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