For as long as their has been society, there have been lesbians. It is just that we were an invisible part of society until the not so distant past. The reason for that was because, as late as the 1940's, lesbians were considered to be mentally ill. Women who dared to aknowledge their sexuality to others risked being committed to a mental institution. That may very well be the "worst case scenario", but the simple truth was that they risked the very real danger of being ostracized by family & friends, losing their jobs and their reputations.
Things began to change in the 1950s. In 1955, the Daughters of Bilitis was founded in San Francisco. This was the first national organization for lesbians in the United States. The founders were eight women who were tired of hiding who they were. Now, this is not to say they came right out and proclaimed it to the world. They were careful. The early newsletters they sent out were penned and edited by the founders using "pen names". It didn't seem like much at the time, but it was a start.
In the summer of 1969, the gay rights movement really got underway with the now famous Stonewall incident. There are few gays or lesbians who don't know what happened that Friday night at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York. The police raided the Stonewall where the gay clientele were doing nothing more than your average straight citizen does at a bar. As the patrons were being escorted outside, a riot exploded which left 4 policemen injured. It was the dawning of a new era. The gay community would not lie down and be harrassed any more.
In the 1970s, a gentleman by the name of Harvey Milk took San Francisco by storm. He was affectionately known as the "Mayor of Castro Street" and he played a key role in the emergence of the gay community in the Castro District. He was a visionary and his vision was equal rights for gay people everywhere. Time Magazine chose him as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. In November of 1978, he and Mayor George Moscone were gunned down by another member of the Board of Supervisors, Dan White. For those who are not gay, the only thing that may be remembered about this man was that he used "the Twinkie Defense" and got off with 7 years for voluntary manslaughter. The community lost one of it's leaders, but his dream lives on.
The 1980's saw a time of recognition. Prominent people began to come out of the proverbial closet. In 1983, a democratic member of Congress, Rep. Gerry Studds of Massachusettes, announced his homosexuality. In 1984, he was re-elected, thus proving that times were indeed a changing. In 1985, Rock Hudson died of homosexually transmitted AIDS and the nation had to rethink it's idea of what "gay" was. The world was different, more open minded, but the war had just really started.
The gay and lesbian community started winning battles in the 1990s. In 1991, two widely publicized scientific studies support the position that homosexuality has as much to do with nature as nurture and is not a choice. For the first time, the world knew that we didn't choose to be who we are, it just IS who we are. Gay charecters began appearing on prime time television shows like Roseanne, L.A. Law & Northern Exposure. In 1997, television & comedic star Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian herself and, in a small victory for lesbians, had her charecter also come out at the same time. The Jerry Falwells of the world were up in arms, but overall, it was well received.
Today, you can see lesbians everywhere. We have Pride Marches and "Gay Days" at theme parks like Disney World. We are on television shows and in movies. We teach at the local schools and we work as executives in prestigious companies. We are local government officials and we sit in Congress. We're here and we aren't ashamed. "Out and Proud" is more than just a rainbow colored bumper sticker, it's a way of life.
