Homosexuals As "Others"

Homosexual's have been continually frowned upon over the years all other the world. So it is legitimate to class homosexuals as "others" as they have not always been treated with the same respect as the majorities.

The history of homosexuality is a short history. It was during the 1860's and 70's when European administrators began noticing that some people were organising their lives not around family, household and reproduction but around various forms of sexual pleasure. Capitalism can be seen as the stimulus of this change, as capitalism tended to draw people off the land into cities away from families and parishes. Officials began to study this, and homosexuals quickly became the target of medical, legal and psychiatric intervention. During the Nazi's reign, hundreds of thousands of homosexuals were killed in concentration camps. In the US, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco were the best-known communities as most migrated for jobs (often army based) and once there they were forced to live outside traditional family structures for long periods of time. After World War Two, thousands of homosexuals were dishonorably discharged from the armed services, showing that there is segregation in the army. The first known homosexual political organisation in the U.S was Mattachine Society founded in 1950 in L.A. Police constantly brutalised gay people, and public disclosure of homosexuality was enough to get most people fired from their jobs. Once again this shows complete segregation in America. Homosexuality was one of many minority groups that treated in this way. It wasn't until 1973 that homosexuality was taken off the medical illness list, showing that some Americans were too naive to accept it as a way of life.

The websites that I used were very helpful. Both of them gave me a great insight of the history and the struggle that homosexuals had to go through in order to be seen as "equal" in the USA. Lists of specific dates are given, and this helps show just how must progress was made during different events and situations. The fact that gay-marriage was only recently made legal tells me that Americans are still quite unsure about homosexuality, and for many decades, saw homosexuality as a disadvantage to people.

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:k3azZ2_8zMEJ:safezone.slu.edu/downloads/reading.homosexuality%2520america.pdf+a+brief+history+of+homosexuality+in+america

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,835069,00.html