While the LGBT community's struggle for marriage equality began long before California's Proposition 8, this week's ruling overturning the ban on same-sex marriage in California marks an historic turning point in this ongoing struggle. Although the decision will likely be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, its historic nature cannot be overlooked.
ONE National & Gay Lesbian Archives ( ONE Archives ) , North America's oldest LGBT organization, serves as the repository for decades of LGBT historic materials, including those that chronicle the struggle for marriage equality over the past 60 years. For instance, ONE magazine ( which was among the first U.S. gay magazines ) , for which ONE Archives is named, introduced the topic of marriage in an early issue.
When ONE magazine introduced the topic of marriage in the 1950s in an opinion piece, the author opined, " [ P ] erhaps most important is the fact that the concept of homosexual marriage cannot come into being without the companion idea: homosexual adultery… [ e ] qual rights mean equal responsibility; equal freedoms mean equal limitations." For many of the readers of ONE and for the LGBT community in the 1950s more generally, marriage was a moral issue that reflected the strong impetus at the time for the LGBT community to assimilate itself to heterosexual marital standards.
In the June 1963 issue of ONE magazine, Randy Lloyd, a frequent contributor, railed against those singles. "There are many homophiles who, like me, find the homophile married life so much more preferable, ethically superior, enjoyable, exciting, less-responsibility-ridden ( contrary to a lot of propaganda from the single set ) , and just plain more fun—well there's no beating around the bush—the truth is, many of us married homophiles regard our life as much, much superior and as a consequence, mainly stick to ourselves and look down our noses at the trouble-causing, time-wasting, money-scattering, frantically promiscuous, bar-cruising, tearoom peeping, street crotch-watching, bathhouse-towel-twitching, and moviehouse-nervous-knee single set."
If the mid-century issues were about morality and assimilation, the liberation ideology of the 1970s began to convince many that the time was ripe for a new kind of open activism in favor of gay marriage that was less about morality and more about legal equality. By the early 1970s magazines like the Advocate began to examine various test cases brought against the government like the couple who tested a case with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and were simply told that, "You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots."
By the 1980s the community was facing a more serious threat than moral campaigns and legal struggles, that of the AIDS pandemic, which largely shoved the discussion of marriage aside in most publications. Although there was coverage inside the publications few spoke of it on their covers. Survival was the central issue.
The 1990s was a decade of mainstreaming in the LGBT community. No longer was the topic of same sex marriage exclusive to the covers of publications for the gay audience. Magazines like the Economist, The Nation and Newsweek all displayed covers about the marriage issue. Some in the LGBT community seemed to question the need for marriage at all, while others saw it as a pivotal and burning issue. And then, when Hawaii considered marriage, it made the cover of the Advocate.
From early "Boston Marriages" popularized in historical literature to the cover of the August 1953 issue of ONE magazine, the topic of marriage was frequently debated in the LGBT community. In recent decades, that debate has widened to a nation-wide focus by political, social, educational and religious organizations as public opinion in favor of marriage equality grew. The recent court ruling invalidating California's Proposition 8 is a critical historic milestone along the path toward LGBT civil rights. By understanding this historic moment in the context of our community's history, we can be much better equipped to advance the cause of equality for all.
Incorporated in 1952, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives is the oldest ongoing LGBT organization in North America. See www.onearchives.org .
