Welcome to the museum. Were at the prologue. Tonewall an uprising at a gay bar in new york city that propelled forward the modernday lgbtq movement. This is where they used the freedom of speech, the press, peat, assembly, religion, to really change society. Were going to washington around the corner and look at some artifacts from two of the earliest lgbt rights oarizati s organizations that rose up. Gay people could be arrested for showing affection in public, police prowled parks to arrest people seeking assignations there. This is when you saw social groups, when people are meeting in secret in their homes, largely, to talk about what its like to be a gale mass or a less by yay woman. Here you see some artifacts from the mattachine society, a matchbook passed on to people in Public Places people they thought were likeminded. Are you gale . I am, too. Lets talk about it. This is a legal book published. It gave them advice about what their rights were when dealing with the police. Over here you see some early pioneers, such as the matt. A achine movement. They won a case when the post office refused to distribute it. Ultimately the Supreme Court said they did are have the right to publish that magazine. Right now were in the area before the main gallery of rise up. And we decided that Popular Culture was a good place to start for many penal. Popular culture early on in 1961, the first images that you see of homosexuals, because thats what gay people were called back this is in a pbs documentary called the rejected. Suddenly you see more being represented in sports, on television and movies, and you heres martinas tennis racket. She comes out as being gay. Rock hudson, a famous celebrity, who reveals he is dies of aids, a huge earthquake in Popular Culture. Then you saw in philadelphia tom hanks portraying a man with aids in an academy awardminutes movie. We have the script signed by all the cast members. And of course Ellen Degeneres who comes out on the cover of time, the repercussions. Her show was canceled after that, she was seen an death threats, but that was a powerful forward movement. And then you have more shows like will grace. Even Vice President joe biden talked about how will grace got more americans used to the idea of samesex relationships. We have movies like brokeback mountain, modern family, and then Caitlyn Jenner coming out on the cover of vanity fair as a transgender woman. It brought it understanding to the issues that the community was facing. Next we walk into the main gallery and see what happened at the stonewall inn. Well go back to a hot summer night in june of 1969 to greenwich village, the stonewall inn. It wasnt a particularly nice bar. The drinks were watered down. It was run by the mafia, but gay people could come together and socialize and dance together. The stonewall in actually preyed on the gay wall street workers who socialized there. There was sort of a blackmailing ring there, so not the nicest place, but a place they could call their own. There was a police crackdown, and when police started raiding the bar, tossing people out of it, they were rough with a lesbian. They threw her out onto the streets and the crowd went wild. It was a pentup kneeling by the people there at the stonewall. Please had been harassing gay people for a long time, arresting them for showing feats exin public. We have all kinds of movements, counterculture, sexual revolution is happening, and people are just not going to take it anymoor. Theyre just fed up. So this starts six nights of on and off rioting, brick throwing, interactions with police. Out of this moment springs forth what we call the modern lgbtq Rights Movement. Here was the headline in the Mainstream Media. You see how dismissive they are. Really insulting, really derogatory terminology. The Mainstream Media didnt even cover this for a couple days. Several days of fights and riots until theyre actually paying attention. In this case we have some historic publications from the museums collection of how the Gay Rights Movement was covered by other publications. You have the advocate based in l. A. You have the ladder a lesbian publication that he reported on uprising at a bar in a california region. Then you have mainstream publications starting to pay attention, whats going on . Time magazine has a cover the homosexual in america where theyre saying never before have homosecuals have been in the forefront of the conversation of whats going on in the united states. Out of this moment springs forth what we call the modern lgbtq Rights Movement. Next thing we come to is fighting for the right to work and to sink. And to serve. Frank is a harvard educated ph. D. , fired from his job because of the an arrest for solicitation. That was a charge that was commonly used. Oftentimes they wouldnt fight back because of the repercussions of fighting back from such a crime. You cant lose your job, your neighbors would probably distance yourself. If you were a parent, you could lose your children. To be gay was to live a life of fear and secrecy, so frank decided he was going to fight back against government rules. Indeed president eisenhower signed a law into effect that homosexuals could not be hired by the federal government. Frank decided theres no reason to have such a law, so he organized a series of protests as earl,as 1965, where people who were gay would picket, going picket with signs such as this. America, the land of opportunity for homosexuals, too. The Civil Service commission, of course is the organization that controls who gets hired by the federal government. Kennedy is considered the father of the lgbtq movement, and he pops up throughout the exhibit. She was diagnosed as being homosexual and various horrible things could happen to herself, so she took on the American Psychiatric association. In 1972, she appeared after that convention and spoke on a panel with a gay psychiatrist, who was so fearful of the repercussions that he wore this mask. Impart bra had an information booth that gave positive images of and a year later, they took away the diagnosis. Frank kamens wrote a letter to his friend that its a miracle, weve been cured. Harvey milk was eye electriced in 1977. Milk proceeded to get various laws passed. And he served for about a year before he was brutally cut down. He was assassinated by a former policeman and former commissioner himself. In this case, you can see an envelope that was found in milks jacket. You can see the bullet holes left in that card he had written to somebody. The light sentence that the person who shot harvey milk and mayor George Moscone received, they were furious at the lack of attention toward the death of this pioneering figure in lgbtq history. This case we have artifacts from Tammy Baldwin and barney frank. Tammy baldwin was the first openly gay woman to congress. This is the red suit she wore when elected for the wisconsin legislature, and barney frank had served before he came out as a gay person. The citizens of massachusetts elected him several more times, and after he left office he married his longterm partner. Around the corner its the story for the right to serve in the military. He had served three tours of duty, in fact he had the bronze star. He decided to challenge the militarys ban on gays serving. And working with frank kameny, he decides to push back against the air force. They offered him a settlement realty than changing policy, but you see his brave stance saying, i am a homosexual, the first gay person to appear on the cover of time magazine. These stories started to chip away from attitude that prevented people from serving. You can see the repeal of dont ask dont tell. It allowed gay people to serve in the military as long as they were quiet about who they were and their sexual orientation. This is the gavel that nancy pelosi used to announce the repeal of dont ask dont tell in 2010. A new erazz era of zaps, it was you had groups like the gay raiders out of philadelphia, who actually got themselves into the cbs evening news with walter cronkite, got on the stage with a protest sign that appeared as americans watched their evening news broadcast. The protesters said walter talked to them after the broadcast, and he helped to change the way these issues we are covered. Here you see gay activists, the lesbian tide, many, many other publications rose up. And then you see the incorrect flag thats iconic. Gill better baker called himself the gay betsy ross when he was encouraged to come up with a flag that had symbolize the movement. It has two more stripes than they do now. Two colors were hard to produces, but that flag was made by gilbert. This is the sewing machine on which he created the original flag. This isnt the original, but it is one of the first of that flag, that template. Next well talk about the aids crisis and how that mobilized activists. In every movement you see signs of progress and then pushback. After this incredible spirit of openness, gay people being public about their sexuality, who they were, their sexual orientation, protesting in the streets, quickly comes the aids crisis. In the earl 1980s, stories about aids, this Mysterious Illness thats striking gay men in los angeles and new york, comes to the forefront. Quickly the Mainstream Press catches up, but the early headlines, because no one knows what causes aids, are really more fearmongering more than anything else. So here you see two journalists part of the Mainstream Press. Again in the early 80s it wasnt incredibly welcoming to be a gay member of a staff on a major newspaper. Both of them reported about the aids crisis and both suck coupled to aids as well. It wasnt until 1992 that drugs were found that actually made aids not a death isnt, but a disease that people could live with. Here you saw activists using protests. Protests outside the fda, where they were advocating for drugs to come to market quicker, for more research and for more port of people with aids. The Gay Community was providing meals, support, information about drug trials and organizations like act up and other organizations are really advocating for people with aids and for the community as a whole. More than 362,000 americans died of aids before treatment became widespread. To illustrate that story we have a section of the aids quilt. The project in 1987 laid patches of a acquisition across the National Maul here. This is evidence white aids is a treatable disease, the aids crisis is really not over. This is the piece of a quilt that tells the story of a transgender woman in atlanta who died in 2016. Her name was sheryl courtney evans. Next were going to go to a section that talks about the battle for samesex marriage and the role that faith and religion played in that. Some faith communities welcomed members of the Gay Community, but not all. In 1977, dade county florida joined about a dozen other communities in passing legislation aimed to prevent discrimination against gay people and housing and other areas. Anita bryant was a christian singer and a spokeswoman for the florida orange jute industice i. She thought this law would have children corrupted by the Gay Community. She fought back against it with her save the children campaign. You see the create activity of the activists who fought back against anita bryant. In this case you see an album put out by olivia labels, and theres several pushing back. Bartenders stopped selling sc w screwdrivers. Orange juice plummeted as a result. Bartenders started serving an anita bryant, which was apple juice and vodka. You see them pushing back against people trying to erode their essential rights. Then you so faith people like jerry falwell, billy graham, powerful leaders blaming gay people for the aids crisis. Again a setback for the community, because the powerful spokesmen of faith are pushing back against the community and their essential rights. Next were going to come that led to samesex marriage. The First Amendment gives every american to power to petition the government. Jim obergefell had been planning to marry john ar thush. They flew to an airport tarmac in maryland. Mr. Arthur was dying of a neurological disease at the time. He died a few months later, but jim wanted him to be listed as a surviving spouse on john arthurs death certificate. He joined 14 couples and a few widowers in a case that made samesex marriage legal across the country. You can see the jacket he worry on his wedding day, the bowtie on announcement day, and the fused wedding rings. He had them fused together with some of john arthurs ashes after he died. These were the first artifacts we got on loan for the exhibit. Its a powerful statement. At its essence, this whole exhibit is about who do you love and who do you have the right to love. These are powerful exhibits that tell the story of how Everyday Americans petition the government for change. The struggle for samesex marriage was a decadeslong process, you sigh the pea nearing publication puts on its cover. Its not until decades later that that Supreme Court ruling in 2015 makes samesex marriage legal across the skin. There were many players that played the role at chipping away at attitude that prevented it edie windsor was one of those people. She was with her longtime partner for emyear. When thea died, edith was stuck with a large inheritance tax bill. She was going to challenge the i. R. S. That she was denied the same rights as heterosexual couples did. Years later the Supreme Court decided in her favor. This is the copy of the check she got from the i. R. S. For back payments of of the inheritance taxes plus the interest. Here you seize posters of the used by up protesters heralding the decision that Edith Windsor took part in. Across the wall you see some iconic figures who 50 years ago would never have been open about that i sexuality. We call this once rejected, now embraced. Now you see how lgbt americans, influencer, politician, actor, journalists, people who are much admired for who they are and what they do. Here at the newseum, our mission is to promote understanding of the importance of the free press and we hope that more people will come visit because the events at stonewall and the lgbtq Rights Movement really tells the story of how Everyday Americans use their First Amendment freedoms to rise up, push back and advocate for change and that is what were here about here, explaining to people the story of the First Amendment. This movement, the story of the lgbtq Rights Movement really embodies everything whey ies ai First Amendment and we hope that people will come experience it. You can watch this or other american artifacts programs at anytime by visiting our website, cspan. Org history. First ladies, influence and image, on American History tv. Examines the private lives and the public roles of the nations first ladies through interviews with top historians. Tonight, we look at the first two first ladies, Martha Washington and an abigail adams, watch it tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on americann abigail ad watch it tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv o abigail adams, watch it tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv oabigail adams, watch it tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. Now on a look at the history of gay rights in the united states, the pioneering gafiy fis of lilli vincenz and a guy rights group founded in 1950. A portion of the 1968 film the second largest minority by producer and director lilli vincenz
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