Heather Alexander
Dr. Kelly Hall Strayer University November 30, 2012
The History of the Gay Rights Movement at “The Gay Rights Movement, also referred to as homosexual rights movement or gay liberation movement, is a civil rights movement that advocates equal rights for gay men, lesbians, bi-sexual, and transsexuals. The organization seeks to eliminate sodomy laws barring homosexual acts between consenting adults and calls for an end to discrimination against gay men and lesbians in employment, credit lending, housing, public accommodations and other areas of life.” Gay rights movement. (2012). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved fromhttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/766382/gay-rights-movement The Gay Rights Movement is a civil social issue that not only exists here in the United States but all over the world
“Homosexuality” has not always been legally acceptable and to this day it is still far from morally acceptable. The Buggery Act passed into law in the 1530’s, during the Henry VIII reign, and stated that any sexual relationship between men was a criminal act punishable by death. It remained a capital offence until 1861 In 1865 Parliament passed an amendment which created the “gross indecency” for same sex male sexual relations to be prosecuted, but not receive the death penalty. Germany passed a similar law called Paragraph 175. It stated that a same sex male relation was punishable by imprisonment and loss of civil rights.
There was not an actual voice for the homosexual community until 1897 when the founding of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitares Komitee; WHK) in Berlin. They drafted a petition to repeal Paragraph 175. The committee published ligature, sponsored rallies and campaigned for legal change Thru out Germany The Netherlands and Austria. By 1922 they