Understanding Advances Toward Full LGBT Equality (and What It Means for You)
Public Programs and Performances WKS 106 1.00
The movement for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people is one of the most successful in recent history. In the United States, even though LGBT people and same-sex couple families experience inequality and exclusion in a wide range of state and federal policy arenas, significant policy advances have occurred. These include the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”; the adoption of transgender nondiscrimination laws in 16 states; the extension of marriage equality in 13 states; and support for same-sex marriage by President Obama, the Democratic Party, a growing minority of Republicans, and the U.S. Supreme Court. This workshop examines the history of urban LGBT communities in the United States since the 1920s, and the pro- and anti-gay political forces that coalesced in the late 1940s and emerged onto the national stage in the 1960s and early 1970s. We will look at the incredible successes of LGBT rights activism in the United States and globally, and the treatment of LGBT people in several policy areas, including family recognition, elder issues, youth policy, and health policy. Group projects will grapple with key policy discussions currently under way, such as how to increase collection of sexual orientation and gender identity data in clinical settings and on health and demographic surveys, and how to implement pre-exposure chemoprophylaxis for HIV prevention with gay and bisexual men and transgender women. We will also examine debates within the United States, look at LGBT movement between progressives/liberals and conservatives, look at gay voting behavior, analyze trends in public opinion toward LGBT issues, and examine the status of LGBT people around the world and in global policy and funding bodies.
