Gay Travelers Magazine: We Must Never Forget that Being Gay was a Crime
This article is reprinted with permission from Gay Travelers Magazine.
By Steven Skelley
Gay Travelers Magazine
We must never forget that, until very recently, just being gay was a serious crime that was punishable in horrific ways. It has only been eighteen years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that being homosexual was not a crime. It has only been six years since the U.S. Supreme Court barely decided by one vote that homosexuals must be allowed the same marriage laws as heterosexuals. How easily people forget.
Here are some things to remember:
* In early Virginia, homosexuality was punishable by execution. Thomas Jefferson attempted to change the punishment to castration but his idea was rejected by the legislature.
* By 1962, sodomy / homosexuality was a felony in every state. Punishments included imprisonment and hard labor.
* Idaho’s sodomy / homosexuality convictions earned a life sentence.
* Michigan’s sodomy / homosexuality convictions earned 15 years imprisonment. A second conviction earned a life sentence.
* As late as the 1960’s and 1970’s, New York and California laws made it illegal for bars to serve alcohol to a gay person.
* In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5 to 4 decision that a consensual sex between same-sex adults was still illegal and punishable by imprisonment.
* It wasn’t until 2005 that Puerto Rico repealed its sodomy laws.
* It wasn’t until 2006 that Missouri repealed its law against homosexuality.
* It wasn’t until 2013, that Montana removed sexual contact or sexual intercourse between two persons of the same sex from its definition of deviate sexual conduct.
Millions of people throughout human history have been born gay like me. Some societies valued us. Cave drawings and art from the Mesolithic period in on Sicily, Bethlehem, Zimbabwe, Czech Republic, Egypt and more depict LGBTQ members of society.
Three hundred years before Christ, the Sacred Band of Thebes is documented. The Sacred Band was an elite fighting force made up of 150 gay couples. They were so fierce, though outnumbered, they defeated the mighty Spartans. They finally fell to Philip of Macedonia.
Native American / Indigenous communities welcomed and honored LGBTQ people for centuries before conquering Europeans forced bigotry and religious persecution upon them. These Two Spirit people were considered valuable assets who were able to view both the male and female perspective.
We must never forget.
Steven Skelley
www.GayTravelersMagazine.com
Gay Travelers Magazine: We Must Never Forget that Being Gay was a Crime
This article is reprinted with permission from Gay Travelers Magazine.
By Steven Skelley
Gay Travelers Magazine
We must never forget that, until very recently, just being gay was a serious crime that was punishable in horrific ways. It has only been eighteen years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that being homosexual was not a crime. It has only been six years since the U.S. Supreme Court barely decided by one vote that homosexuals must be allowed the same marriage laws as heterosexuals. How easily people forget.