The Out at the CHM (Chicago History Museum) series of talks, held at the museum's Rubloff Auditorium, concluded its eighth year of discussions April 14 with the topic "LGBT History Goes to Court: From Anita Bryant to Prop 8." George Chauncey, a Yale historian and author, was the featured speaker on why history matters to the courts.
Speaking to an almost packed house, Chauncey discussed various anti-gay tactics that have been used throughout the past 100 years to foster discrimination and how those tactics have played into court cases dealing with LGBT issues around the country.
During his opening remarks, Chauncey said it never occurred to him that any court would listen to him on LGBT issues. However, he has been in demand for the last 18 years as a witness for over a dozen gay-rights cases. The most notable were Romer v. Evans (1996), Lawrence v. Texas (2003) and Perry v. Schwarzenegger (2008 to present). His expertise has also been called upon as an historical consultant on numerous public history projects including this lecture series which began in 2003.
Weaving between significant LGBT court cases and the work of anti-gay forces, Chauncey told the audience that both knowledge and ignorance of LGBT history have played roles in the pro and con arguments regarding the marriage issue, equal protection and sodomy laws.
He said that passage of anti-discrimination laws was slow in the beginning, with certain cities passing them in the 1970s and 1980s and states only coming on-board in the last 20 years. Part of that slow pace was due in part because of conservatives such as Anita Bryant and organizations like Focus on the Family, the American Family Foundation, the Moral Majority and the Family Research Council which were formed in the 1970s and early 1980s. Chauncey showed the audience newspaper headlines and video clips that these organizations used to demonize LGBT people and sway the public against LGBT rights.
Chauncey also reminded everyone that there has been a longer history of LGBT censorship that dates to before the 1970s. It began, Chauncey said, with theater censorship. In 1927, New York passed the "padlock law" banning lesbian and gay content in theater productions. Then it moved to the movie industry with the production code in 1930 that the Catholic Church spearheaded. This code essentially took depictions of LGBT people out of the movies for years. Not only did censorship exist in theater and the movies—the post office also got involved in the 1950s when they confiscated materials with pro-gay images.
LGBT people were also prevented from living full lives, Chauncey explained. Beginning in 1934, they were refused service at bars and, later, employment in various fields, including the military, government and education. Chauncey added that immigration enforcement has always penalized same-sex binational couples, and anti-gay legislation and policing brought the movement to a new level. This is when the courts got involved, with mixed results for the LGBT community on all fronts.
Chauncey reminded everyone that history is forgotten and in some cases—like with the LGBT community—systematically erased from classes, making it easier for people to argue anti-gay agendas, both in the courtroom and in the court of public opinion. He added that, for all the historical exaggeration of anti-gay agendas, they have only been 20th-century (and, now, 21st-century) issues, Chauncey said.
During a question-and-answer session, when asked if the court of law or the court of public opinion was more effective in confronting discrimination, Chauncey said that both were equally important. He also said that we should look to the '60s civil-rights movement as an example to keep the movement going forward towards full LGBT equality.
To find out more about what the Chicago History Museum, visit www.chicagohistory.org and for the upcoming Out in Chicago exhibit that will open May 21, visit http://www.chicagohistory.org/planavisit/exhibitions/out-in-chicago.
See more photos from the event online at www.WindyCityMediaGroup.com .
