176-475: The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT , LGBTQ+ , LGBTQIA+ , or queer community ) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian , gay , bisexual , transgender , and queer or questioning individuals united by a common culture and social movements . These communities generally celebrate pride , diversity , individuality , and sexuality . LGBTQ activists and sociologists see LGBTQ community-building as
352-663: A 'core' lesbian orientation." A 2001 article on differentiating lesbians for medical studies and health research suggested identifying lesbians using the three characteristics of identity only, sexual behavior only, or both combined. The article declined to include desire or attraction as it rarely has bearing on measurable health or psychosocial issues. Researchers state that there is no standard definition of lesbian because "The term has been used to describe women who have sex with women, either exclusively or in addition to sex with men (i.e., behavior ); women who self-identify as lesbian (i.e., identity ); and women whose sexual preference
528-496: A broad spectrum of non- heteronormative sexual or gender identities and politics. Academic disciplines such as queer theory and queer studies share a general opposition to binarism , normativity , and a perceived lack of intersectionality , some of them only tangentially connected to the LGBT movement. Queer arts, queer cultural groups, and queer political groups are examples of modern expressions of queer identities. Critics of
704-557: A children's magazine titled St. Nicholas , and a collection called Smith College Stories , without negative views. Enduring loyalty, devotion, and love were major components to these stories, and sexual acts beyond kissing were consistently absent. Women who had the option of a career instead of marriage labeled themselves New Women and took their new opportunities very seriously. Faderman calls this period "the last breath of innocence" before 1920 when characterizations of female affection were connected to sexuality, marking lesbians as
880-519: A club or a bar. And at home, the likelihood of LGBTQ women having children at home as non-LGBTQ women is equal. However, LGBTQ men are half as likely when compared with non-LGBTQ men to have children at home. Household incomes for sixteen percent of LGBTQ Americans range above $ 90,000 per year, in comparison with 21 percent of the overall adult population. However, a key difference is that those who identify as LGBTQ have fewer children collectively in comparison to heterosexual partners. Another factor at hand
1056-540: A common understanding without asking or stating anything outright. Women who did not enter the military were aggressively called upon to take industrial jobs left by men, in order to continue national productivity. The increased mobility, sophistication, and independence of many women during and after the war made it possible for women to live without husbands, something that would not have been feasible under different economic and social circumstances, further shaping lesbian networks and environments. Queer Queer
1232-570: A counterweight to heterosexism , homophobia , biphobia , transphobia , sexualism , and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBTQ community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBTQ community is diverse in political affiliation . Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of
1408-582: A cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk expressed in a do-it-yourself style through zines, music, writing, art and film. The term queer migration is used to describe the movement of LGBTQ people around the world often to escape discrimination or ill treatment due to their orientation or gender expression. Organizations such as the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees and Rainbow Railroad attempt to assist individuals in such relocations. A pride flag for
1584-536: A devoted friendship to Honora Sneyd , who was the subject of many of Seward's sonnets and poems. When Sneyd married despite Seward's protest, Seward's poems became angry. Seward continued to write about Sneyd long after her death, extolling Sneyd's beauty and their affection and friendship. As a young woman, writer and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft was attached to a woman named Fanny Blood . Writing to another woman by whom she had recently felt betrayed, Wollstonecraft declared, "The roses will bloom when there's peace in
1760-439: A diversity of sexuality and gender identity-based cultures. It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual or non- cisgender , instead of exclusively to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Recognize this inclusion as a popular variant that adds the letter Q for those who identify as queer or are questioning their sexual identity; LGBTQ has been recorded since 1996. Disagreement between what precise wording
1936-675: A feeling of unwellness or something that is questionable or suspicious. In the 1922 comic monologue " My Word, You Do Look Queer ", the word is taken to mean "unwell". The expression "in Queer Street " is used in the United Kingdom for someone in financial trouble. Over time, queer acquired a number of meanings related to sexuality and gender, from narrowly meaning "gay or lesbian" to referring to those who are "not heterosexual" to referring to those who are either not heterosexual or not cisgender (those who are LGBT+ ). The term
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#17327984821502112-474: A gay movement centered more on obtaining straight privilege than challenging power." Commentators such as Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore have argued that it was exactly these "revolting queers" (who were now being pushed aside) who had made it safe for the assimilationists to now have the option of assimilation. The term may be capitalized when referring to an identity or community, in a construction similar to
2288-497: A group of people based on whom they had physical relations with. As women have generally been political minorities in Western cultures, the added medical designation of homosexuality has been cause for the development of a subcultural identity. The notion that sexual activity between women is necessary to define a lesbian or lesbian relationship continues to be debated. According to feminist writer Naomi McCormick , women's sexuality
2464-682: A growing homosexual community; both Harlem and Greenwich Village provided furnished rooms for single men and women, which was a major factor in their development as centers for homosexual communities. The tenor was different in Greenwich Village than Harlem. Bohemians —intellectuals who rejected Victorian ideals—gathered in the Village. Homosexuals were predominantly male, although figures such as poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and social host Mabel Dodge were known for their affairs with women and promotion of tolerance of homosexuality. Women in
2640-629: A heated controversy called the feminist sex wars . Butch and femme roles returned, although not as strictly followed as they were in the 1950s. They became a mode of chosen sexual self-expression for some women in the 1990s. Once again, women felt safer claiming to be more sexually adventurous, and sexual flexibility became more accepted. The focus of the debate often centers on a phenomenon named by sexologist Pepper Schwartz in 1983. Schwartz found that long-term lesbian couples report having less sexual contact than heterosexual or homosexual male couples, calling this lesbian bed death . Some lesbians dispute
2816-467: A heteronormativity in medical rationales for the surgical normalization of infants and children born with atypical sex development, and Holmes and Carpenter have described intersex bodies as queer bodies . In "What Can Queer Theory Do for Intersex?" Iain Morland contrasts queer "hedonic activism" with an experience of insensate post-surgical intersex bodies to claim that "queerness is characterized by
2992-428: A key role in identity creation and self-presentation. Social networking sites allow for community building as well as anonymity, allowing people to engage as much or as little as they would like. The variety of social media platforms, including Facebook , TikTok , Tumblr , Twitter , and YouTube , have differing associated audiences, affordances and norms. These varying platforms allow for more inclusivity as members of
3168-496: A lesbian identity share experiences that form an outlook similar to an ethnic identity: as homosexuals, they are unified by the heterosexist discrimination and potential rejection they face from their families, friends, and others as a result of homophobia . As women, they face concerns separate from men. Lesbians may encounter distinct physical or mental health concerns arising from discrimination, prejudice , and minority stress . Political conditions and social attitudes also affect
3344-625: A lesbian. Researchers, including social scientists , state that often behavior and identity do not match: women may label themselves heterosexual but have sexual relations with women, self-identified lesbians may have sex with men, or women may find that what they considered an immutable sexual identity has changed over time. Research by Lisa M. Diamond et al. reported that "lesbian and fluid women were more exclusive than bisexual women in their sexual behaviors" and that "lesbian women appeared to lean toward exclusively same-sex attractions and behaviors." It reported that lesbians "appeared to demonstrate
3520-929: A lesbian. ... But this sort of evidence is not 'proof'. What our critics want is incontrovertible evidence of sexual activity between women. This is almost impossible to find. Female sexuality is often not adequately represented in texts and documents. Until very recently, much of what has been documented about women's sexuality has been written by men, in the context of male understanding, and relevant to women's associations to men—as their wives, daughters, or mothers, for example. Often artistic representations of female sexuality suggest trends or ideas on broad scales, giving historians clues as to how widespread or accepted erotic relationships between women were. Women in ancient Greece were sequestered with one another, and men were segregated likewise. In this homosocial environment, erotic and sexual relationships between males were common and recorded in literature, art, and philosophy. Very little
3696-495: A long period of time. Dating back to the 1500s, city conditions such as apprenticeship labor relations and living arrangements, abundant student and artist activity, and hegemonic norms surrounding female societal status were typical in Venice and Florence, Italy. Under these circumstances, many open minded young people were attracted to these city settings. Consequently, an abundance of same-sex interactions began to take place. Many of
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#17327984821503872-772: A more liberated way of living. For lesbians, this led to the formation of literary societies, private social clubs, and same-sex housing. The core of this community-building took place in New York City and San Francisco, but cities like St. Louis, Lafayette Park in WA, and Chicago quickly followed suit. Lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior , regardless of sexual orientation , or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexuality or same-sex attraction. The concept of "lesbian" to differentiate women with
4048-473: A neurological disease, and Ellis, who was influenced by Krafft-Ebing's writings, disagreed about whether sexual inversion was generally a lifelong condition. Ellis believed that many women who professed love for other women changed their feelings about such relationships after they had experienced marriage and a "practical life". Ellis conceded that there were "true inverts" who would spend their lives pursuing erotic relationships with women. These were members of
4224-406: A penis in some women. These sex changes were later thought to be cases of hermaphrodites , and hermaphroditism became synonymous with female same-sex desire. Medical consideration of hermaphroditism depended upon measurements of the clitoris ; a longer, engorged clitoris was thought to be used by women to penetrate other women. Penetration was the focus of concern in all sexual acts, and a woman who
4400-460: A queer theorist of color, specifically coined the term homonationalism to refer to the perceived rise of American exceptionalism , nationalism , white supremacy , and patriarchy within the gay community, catalyzed in response to the September 11 attacks . In their research on the queer movements of Indonesia and Malaysia , scholars Jón Ingvar Kjaran and Mohammad Naeimi have said that
4576-418: A relationship between the two. The team compared how 74 cisgender LGBTQ and 2,844 heterosexual respondents rated lifetime and daily experiences with discrimination such as not being hired for a job or being denied a bank loan, as well as feelings of perceived discrimination. Cisgender LGBTQ respondents reported higher rates of perceived discrimination than heterosexuals in every category related to discrimination,
4752-458: A result, little in history was documented to give an accurate description of how female homosexuality was expressed. When early sexologists in the late 19th century began to categorize and describe homosexual behavior, hampered by a lack of knowledge about homosexuality or women's sexuality, they distinguished lesbians as women who did not adhere to female gender roles . They classified them as mentally ill—a designation which has been reversed since
4928-518: A scandal in New Zealand in 1909 when she was found to be Amy Bock , who had married a woman from Port Molyneaux; newspapers argued whether it was a sign of insanity or an inherent character flaw. During the 17th through 19th centuries, a woman expressing passionate love for another woman was fashionable, accepted, and encouraged. These relationships were termed romantic friendships , Boston marriages , or "sentimental friends", and were common in
5104-545: A shared history and subculture, and similar experiences with discrimination which has caused many lesbians to reject heterosexual principles. This identity is unique from gay men and heterosexual women, and often creates tension with bisexual women. One point of contention are lesbians who have had sex with men, while lesbians who have never had sex with men may be referred to as " gold star lesbians ". Those who have had sex with men may face ridicule from other lesbians or identity challenges with regard to defining what it means to be
5280-408: A shared sexual orientation evolved in the 20th century. Throughout history, women have not had the same freedom or independence as men to pursue homosexual relationships, but neither have they met the same harsh punishment as gay men in some societies. Instead, lesbian relationships have often been regarded as harmless, unless a participant attempts to assert privileges traditionally enjoyed by men. As
5456-633: A significant impact on the formation of the LGBTQ community and culture. Algorithmic exclusion occurs when exclusionary practices are reinforced by algorithms across technological landscapes, directly resulting in excluding marginalized identities. The exclusion of these identity representations causes identity insecurity for LGBTQ people, while further perpetuating cis-heteronormative identity discourse. LGBTQ users and allies have found methods of subverting algorithms that may suppress content in order to continue to build these online communities. According to Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc. and Marketresearch.com,
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5632-412: A significant problem. In some cases, it was not acknowledged to exist. Sexologists Richard von Krafft-Ebing from Germany and Britain's Havelock Ellis wrote some of the earliest and more enduring categorizations of female same-sex attraction , approaching it as a form of insanity (Ellis' categorization of "lesbianism" as a medical problem is now discredited). Krafft-Ebing, who considered lesbianism
5808-594: A site of "collective contestation", referring to its commitment to challenging easy categories and definitions. Critics of queer theory argue that this refusal of straightforward categories can make the discipline overly abstract or detached from reality. Queer theorists such as Rod Ferguson , Jasbir Puar , Lisa Duggan , and Chong-suk Han have critiqued the mainstream gay political movement as allied with neoliberal and imperialistic agendas, including gay tourism, gay and trans military inclusion, and state- and church-sanctioned marriages for monogamous gay couples. Puar,
5984-544: A span of six months. Hall reflected the appearance of a "mannish" woman in the 1920s: short cropped hair , tailored suits (often with pants), and monocle that became widely recognized as a "uniform". When British women supported the war effort during the First World War, they became familiar with masculine clothing, and were considered patriotic for wearing uniforms and pants. Postwar masculinization of women's clothing became associated primarily with lesbianism. In
6160-429: A survey carried out in 2021, Gallup found that 7.1% of U.S. adults identify as "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than straight or heterosexual". Marketing towards the LGBTQ community was not always a strategy among advertisers. For the last three to four decades, Corporate America has created a market niche for the LGBTQ community. Three distinct phases define the marketing turnover: 1) shunning in
6336-495: A survey conducted for National Public Radio, at least one in five LGBTQ Americans have experienced discrimination in public because of their identity. This includes in housing, education, employment, and law enforcement. Furthermore, the report reveals that people of color in the LGBTQ community are twice more likely than white people in the LGBTQ community to experience discrimination, specifically in job applications and interactions with police. One-third of LGBTQ Americans believe that
6512-722: A survey conducted in 2012, younger Americans are more likely to identify as gay. Statistics continue to decrease with age, as adults between ages 18–29 are three times more likely to identify as LGBTQ than seniors older than 65. These statistics for the LGBTQ community are taken into account just as they are with other demographics to find trend patterns for specific products. Consumers who identify as LGBTQ are more likely to regularly engage in various activities as opposed to those who identify as heterosexual. According to Community Marketing, Inc., 90 percent of lesbians and 88 percent of gay men will dine out with friends regularly. And similarly, 31 percent of lesbians and 50 percent of gay men will visit
6688-582: A unique and often unflatteringly portrayed group. Specifically, Faderman connects the growth of women's independence and their beginning to reject strictly prescribed roles in the Victorian era to the scientific designation of lesbianism as a type of aberrant sexual behavior. For some women, the realization that they participated in behavior or relationships that could be categorized as lesbian caused them to deny or conceal it, such as professor Jeannette Augustus Marks at Mount Holyoke College , who lived with
6864-439: A woman who identifies herself as an invert after reading Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis , and lives within the homosexual subculture of Paris. The novel included a foreword by Havelock Ellis and was intended to be a call for tolerance for inverts by publicizing their disadvantages and accidents of being born inverted. Hall subscribed to Ellis and Krafft-Ebing's theories and rejected Freud 's theory that same-sex attraction
7040-412: A woman's reputation. In fact, these relationships were promoted as alternatives to and practice for a woman's marriage to a man. One such relationship was between Lady Mary Wortley Montagu , who wrote to Anne Wortley in 1709: "Nobody was so entirely, so faithfully yours ... I put in your lovers, for I don't allow it possible for a man to be so sincere as I am." Similarly, English poet Anna Seward had
7216-689: A year after, he became president. In 1968, he announced that the Society would be changing their name to Homosexual Law Reform Society; "Homosexuals are now willing to fly under their own colors" (Stewart, 1968). In some parts of the world, partnership rights or marriage have been extended to same-sex couples. Advocates of same-sex marriage cite a range of benefits that are denied to people who cannot marry, including immigration, health care, inheritance and property rights, and other family obligations and protections, as reasons why marriage should be extended to same-sex couples. Opponents of same-sex marriage within
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7392-458: Is also widespread in Australia, including national counselling and support service Qlife and QNews . Other social movements exist as offshoots of queer culture or combinations of queer identity with other views. Adherents of queer nationalism support the notion that the LGBT community forms a distinct people due to their unique culture and customs. Queercore (originally homocore ) is
7568-405: Is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or are not cisgender . Originally meaning ' strange ' or ' peculiar ' , queer came to be used pejoratively against LGBT people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to reclaim the word as a neutral or positive self-description. In the 21st century, queer became increasingly used to describe
7744-443: Is an innate quality in all people. When a woman realizes her romantic and sexual attraction to another woman, it may cause an "existential crisis"; many who go through this adopt the identity of a lesbian, challenging what society has offered in stereotypes about homosexuals, to learn how to function within a homosexual subculture. Lesbians in western cultures generally share an identity that parallels those built on ethnicity; they have
7920-526: Is best is still present in 2023. Some propose adding more letters to make the participation of those groups explicit. Detractors of this approach argue that adding letters implicitly excludes others or makes for worse branding. The gay community is frequently associated with certain symbols, especially the rainbow or rainbow flags. The Greek lambda symbol ("L" for liberation), triangles, ribbons, and gender symbols are also used as "gay acceptance" symbol. There are many types of flags to represent subdivisions in
8096-442: Is constructed by men, whose primary indicator of lesbian sexual orientation is sexual experience with other women. The same indicator is not necessary to identify a woman as heterosexual. McCormick states that emotional, mental, and ideological connections between women are as important or more so than the genital. Nonetheless, in the 1980s, a significant movement rejected the desexualization of lesbianism by cultural feminists, causing
8272-551: Is currently a widespread ban of references in child-related entertainment, and when references do occur, they almost invariably generate controversy. In 1997, when American comedian Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet on her popular sitcom, many sponsors, such as the Wendy's fast food chain, pulled their advertising. Also, a portion of the media has attempted to make the gay community included and publicly accepted with television shows such as Will & Grace or Queer Eye for
8448-637: Is debated and depends on the individual details of each case. If discovered, punishments ranged from death, to time in the pillory , to being ordered never to dress as a man again. Henry Fielding wrote a pamphlet titled The Female Husband in 1746, based on the life of Mary Hamilton , who was arrested after marrying a woman while masquerading as a man, and was sentenced to public whipping and six months in jail. Similar examples were procured of Catharine Linck in Prussia in 1717, executed in 1721; Swiss Anne Grandjean married and relocated with her wife to Lyons, but
8624-504: Is for the viewer or an accurate representation of life is unknown. Rabinowitz writes that the lack of interest from 19th-century historians who specialized in Greek studies regarding the daily lives and sexual inclinations of women in Greece was due to their social priorities. She postulates that this lack of interest led the field to become over male-centric and was partially responsible for
8800-445: Is for women (i.e., desire or attraction )" ... "The lack of a standard definition of lesbian and of standard questions to assess who is lesbian has made it difficult to clearly define a population of lesbian women." How and where study samples were obtained can also affect the definition. The varied meanings of lesbian since the early 20th century have prompted some historians to revisit historic relationships between women before
8976-581: Is great. It has its place. But when a lot of lesbians and gay men wake up in the morning we feel angry and disgusted, not gay. So we've chosen to call ourselves queer. Using "queer" is a way of reminding us how we are perceived by the rest of the world. Queer people, particularly queer Black and Brown people, also began to reclaim queer in response to a perceived shift in the gay community toward liberal conservatism , catalyzed by Andrew Sullivan 's 1989 piece in The New Republic , titled Here Comes
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#17327984821509152-778: Is like youres". In Georgia, Alice Baldy wrote to Josie Varner in 1870, "Do you know that if you touch me, or speak to me there is not a nerve of fibre in my body that does not respond with a thrill of delight?" Around the turn of the 20th century, the development of higher education provided opportunities for women. In all-female surroundings, a culture of romantic pursuit was fostered in women's colleges. Older students mentored younger ones, called on them socially, took them to all-women dances, and sent them flowers, cards, and poems that declared their undying love for each other. These were called "smashes" or "spoons", and they were written about quite frankly in stories for girls aspiring to attend college in publications such as Ladies Home Journal ,
9328-458: Is not necessarily the same as one's sexual orientation or sexual behavior, due to various reasons, such as the fear of identifying their sexual orientation in a homophobic setting. Portrayals of lesbians in the media suggest that society at large has been simultaneously intrigued and threatened by women who challenge feminine gender roles , as well as fascinated and appalled with women who are romantically involved with other women. Women who adopt
9504-487: Is similarly a symbol for females only to represent lesbian sisterhood. The pink and yellow triangle was used to label Jewish homosexuals. Gender symbols have a much longer list of variations of homosexual or bisexual relationships which are clearly recognizable but may not be as popularly seen as the other symbols. Other symbols that relate to the gay community or gay pride include the gay-teen suicide awareness ribbon, AIDS awareness ribbon, labrys, and purple rhinoceros. In
9680-525: Is still widely used in Hiberno-English with its original meaning as well as to provide adverbial emphasis (very, extremely). By the late 19th century, queer was beginning to gain a connotation of sexual deviance, used to refer to feminine men or men who were thought to have engaged in same-sex relationships. An early recorded usage of the word in this sense was in an 1894 letter by John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry , as read aloud at
9856-458: Is that LGBTQ populations of color continue to face income barriers along with the rest of the race issues, so they will expectedly earn less and not be as affluent as predicted. An analysis of a Gallup survey shows detailed estimates that – during the years 2012 through 2014 – the metropolitan area with the highest percentage of LGBTQ community was San Francisco, California. The next highest were Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas. A 2019 survey of
10032-407: Is the diversity within the LGBTQ community as a representation of different sexual orientations , gender identities —as well as different ethnic, language, religious groups within the LGBTQ community. At the same time as LGBTQ and multiculturalism relation, may consider the inclusion of LGBTQ community into a larger multicultural model, as for example in universities, such multicultural model includes
10208-425: Is the study of issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity, usually focusing on LGBT people and cultures. Originally centered on LGBT history and literary theory , the field has expanded to include the academic study of issues raised in biology , sociology , anthropology , history of science , philosophy , psychology , sexology , political science , ethics , and other fields by an examination of
10384-654: Is unknown, in particular their expressions of sexuality. Although men participated in pederastic relationships outside marriage, there is no clear evidence that women were allowed or encouraged to have same-sex relationships before or during marriage as long as their marital obligations were met. Women who appear on Greek pottery are depicted with affection, and in instances where women appear only with other women, their images are eroticized: bathing, touching one another, with dildos placed in and around such scenes, and sometimes with imagery also seen in depictions of heterosexual marriage or pederastic seduction. Whether this eroticism
10560-518: The Bear Pride flag . The lambda symbol was originally adopted by Gay Activists Alliance of New York in 1970 after they broke away from the larger Gay Liberation Front. Lambda was chosen because people might confuse it for a college symbol and not recognize it as a gay community symbol unless one was actually involved in the community. "Back in December of 1974, the lambda was officially declared
10736-554: The New York Gay Pride Parade in June 1990 titled " Queers Read This ". The flier included a passage explaining their adoption of the label queer: Ah, do we really have to use that word? It's trouble. Every gay person has his or her own take on it. For some it means strange and eccentric and kind of mysterious [...] And for others "queer" conjures up those awful memories of adolescent suffering [...] Well, yes, "gay"
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#173279848215010912-472: The " third sex " who rejected the roles of women to be subservient, feminine, and domestic. Invert described the opposite gender roles, and also the related attraction to women instead of men; since women in the Victorian period were considered unable to initiate sexual encounters, women who did so with other women were thought of as possessing masculine sexual desires. The work of Krafft-Ebing and Ellis
11088-747: The "Eurocentric discourse", homonationalism and homonormativity of "LGBT politics" in the global north . Several LGBT social movements around the world use the identifier queer , such as the Queer Cyprus Association in Cyprus and the Queer Youth Network in the United Kingdom. In India, pride parades include Queer Azaadi Mumbai and the Delhi Queer Pride Parade . The use of queer and Q
11264-415: The "localization of modern queer identity", rooted in local interpretations of queer theory and "Muslim modernism", has helped queer Indonesians and Malaysians to "promote their self-construction and organize a collective mobilization for their rights". They contrast this with the rhetoric of those conservative Muslim homophobes who portray "gay" or "LGBT" identities as a form of Western imperialism, as well as
11440-478: The 1930s and 1940s. As this binary became embedded into the social fabric, queer began to decline as an acceptable identity in the subculture. Similar to the earlier use of queer , gay was adopted by many U.S. assimilationist men in the mid-20th century as a means of asserting their normative status and rejecting any associations with effeminacy . The idea that queer was a pejorative term became more prevalent among younger gay men following World War II . As
11616-549: The 1930s, independent and masculine women were directly recruited by the military in the 1940s, and frailty discouraged. Some women arrived at the recruiting station in a man's suit, denied ever being in love with another woman, and were easily inducted. Sexual activity was forbidden and blue discharge was almost certain if one identified oneself as a lesbian. As women found each other, they formed into tight groups on base, socialized at service clubs, and began to use code words. Historian Allan Bérubé documented that homosexuals in
11792-427: The 1960s and 1970s, the homophile identity was gradually displaced by a more radicalized gay identity. At that time gay was generally an umbrella term including lesbians , as well as gay-identified bisexuals and transsexuals ; gender-nonconformity , which had always been an indicator of gayness, also became more open during this time. During the endonymic shifts from invert to homophile to gay , queer
11968-492: The 1980s, 2) curiosity and fear in the 1990s, and 3) pursuit in the 2000s. Just recently, marketers have picked up the LGBTQ demographic. With a spike in same-sex marriage in 2014, marketers are figuring out new ways to tie in a person's sexual orientation to a product being sold. In efforts to attract members of the LGBTQ community to their products, market researchers are developing marketing methods that reach these new families. Advertising history has shown that when marketing to
12144-471: The 1990s, the term is an adaptation of the initialism LGB , which was used to replace the term gay – when referring to the community as a whole – beginning in various forms largely in the early 1990s. While the movement had always included all LGBT people, the one-word unifying term in the 1950s through the early 1980s was gay (see Gay liberation ). Throughout the 1970s and '80s, a number of groups with lesbian members, and pro-feminist politics, preferred
12320-650: The 2006 buying power of United States gays and lesbians was approximately $ 660 billion and was then expected to exceed $ 835 billion by 2011. Gay consumers can be very loyal to specific brands, wishing to support companies that support the gay community and also provide equal rights for LGBTQ workers. In the UK, this buying power is sometimes abbreviated to "the pink pound ." According to an article by James Hipps, LGBTQ Americans are more likely to seek out companies that advertise to them and are willing to pay higher prices for premium products and services. This can be attributed to
12496-826: The 2009 Beijing Queer Film Festival after previous attempts to hold a queer film festival were shut down by the government. Multidisciplinary queer arts festivals include the Outburst Queer Arts Festival Belfast in Northern Ireland, the Queer Arts Festival in Canada, and the National Queer Arts Festival in the United States. Television shows that use queer in their titles include
12672-496: The English language in the 16th century , queer originally meant "strange", "odd", "peculiar", or "eccentric". It might refer to something suspicious or "not quite right", or to a person with mild derangement or who exhibits socially inappropriate behaviour. The Northern English expression " there's nowt so queer as folk ", meaning "there is nothing as strange as people", employs this meaning. Related meanings of queer include
12848-562: The German capital as a center of lesbian activity. Clubs varied between large establishments that became tourist attractions, to small neighborhood cafes where local women went to meet other women. The cabaret song " Das lila Lied " ("The Lavender Song") became an anthem to the lesbians of Berlin. Although it was sometimes tolerated, homosexuality was illegal in Germany and law enforcement used permitted gatherings as an opportunity to register
13024-520: The Groom: The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage . By identifying themselves as queer rather than gay, LGBT activists sought to reject causes they viewed as assimilationist , such as marriage , military inclusion and adoption. This radical stance, including the rejection of U.S. imperialism, continued the tradition of earlier lesbian and gay anti-war activism, and solidarity with a variety of leftist movements, as seen in
13200-518: The LGBTQ community have the agency to decide where to engage and how to self-present themselves. The existence of the LGBTQ community and discourse on social media platforms is essential to disrupt the reproduction of hegemonic cis-heteronormativity and represent the wide variety of identities that exist. Before its ban on adult content in 2018, Tumblr was a platform uniquely suited for sharing trans stories and building community. Mainstream social media platforms like TikTok have also been beneficial for
13376-551: The LGBTQ community include Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Mardi Gras in Sydney, Australia, as well as the various other pride parades hosted in bigger cities around the world. In the same way in which LGBTQ community used the city backdrop to join socially, they were able to join forces politically as well. This new sense of collectivity provided somewhat of a safety net for individuals when voicing their demands for equal rights. In
13552-426: The LGBTQ community is still an important segment of consumer demographics because of the spending power and loyalty to brands that they have. Witeck-Combs Communications calculated the adult LGBTQ buying power at $ 830 billion for 2013. Same-sex partnered households spend slightly more than the average home on any given shopping trip. But, they also make more shopping trips compared to the non-LGBTQ households. On average,
13728-532: The LGBTQ community together and equal representation with other large minority groups such as African Americans in the United States . The two movements have much in common politically. Both are concerned with tolerance for real differences, diversity, minority status, and the invalidity of value judgments applied to different ways of life. Researchers have identified the emergence of gay and lesbian communities during several progressive time periods across
13904-402: The LGBTQ community. Groups that may be considered part of the LGBTQ community include gay villages , LGBTQ rights organizations , LGBTQ employee groups at companies, LGBTQ student groups in schools and universities , and LGBT-affirming religious groups . LGBTQ communities may organize themselves into, or support, movements for civil rights promoting LGBTQ rights in various places around
14080-455: The LGBTQ community. When marketing towards the community, they may corner their target audience into an "alternative" lifestyle category that ultimately "others" the LGBTQ community. Sensitivity is important when marketing towards the community. When marketing towards the LGBTQ community, advertisers respect the same boundaries. Marketers also refer to LGBTQ as a single characteristic that makes an individual. Other areas can be targeted along with
14256-412: The LGBTQ segment such as race, age, culture, and income levels. Knowing the consumer gives these marketers power. Along with attempts to engage with the LGBTQ community, researchers have found gender disagreements among products with respective consumers. For instance, a gay male may want a more feminine product, whereas a lesbian female may be interested in a more masculine product. This does not hold for
14432-505: The Lesbian History Group wrote: Because of society's reluctance to admit that lesbians exist, a high degree of certainty is expected before historians or biographers are allowed to use the label. Evidence that would suffice in any other situation is inadequate here... A woman who never married, who lived with another woman, whose friends were mostly women, or who moved in known lesbian or mixed gay circles, may well have been
14608-505: The Roman male's view of himself as the exclusive giver of sexual pleasure but also the most basic foundations of Rome's male-dominated culture". No historical documentation exists of women who had other women as sex partners. Female homosexuality did not receive the same negative response from religious or criminal authorities as male homosexuality or adultery did throughout history. Whereas sodomy between men, men and women, and men and animals
14784-580: The Straight Guy . This increased publicity reflects the Coming out movement of the LGBTQ community. As more celebrities came out, more shows developed, such as the 2004 show The L Word . These depictions of the LGBTQ community have been controversial, but beneficial for the community. The increase in visibility of LGBTQ people allowed for the LGBTQ community to unite to organize and demand change, and it has also inspired many LGBTQ people to come out. In
14960-1184: The Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ population in the Canadian city of Hamilton, Ontario , called Mapping the Void: Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Experiences in Hamilton showed that out of 906 respondents, when it came to sexual orientation, 48.9% identified as bisexual/pansexual, 21.6% identified as gay, 18.3% identified as lesbian, 4.9% identified as queer, and 6.3% identified as other (a category consisting of those who indicated they were asexual, heterosexual, or questioning, and those who gave no response for their sexual orientation). A 2019 survey of trans and non-binary people in Canada called Trans PULSE Canada showed that out of 2,873 respondents. When it came to sexual orientation, 13% identified as asexual, 28% identified as bisexual, 13% identified as gay, 15% identified as lesbian, 31% identified as pansexual, 8% identified as straight or heterosexual, 4% identified as two-spirit, and 9% identified as unsure or questioning. In
15136-513: The U.S. Enigmatic poet Emily Dickinson wrote over 300 letters and poems to Susan Gilbert, who later became her sister-in-law, and engaged in another romantic correspondence with Kate Scott Anthon. Anthon broke off their relationship the same month Dickinson entered self-imposed lifelong seclusion. Nearby in Hartford, Connecticut, African American freeborn women Addie Brown and Rebecca Primus left evidence of their passion in letters: "No kisses
15312-489: The U.S. who could not visit Harlem or live in Greenwich Village for the first time were able to visit saloons in the 1920s without being considered prostitutes. The existence of a public space for women to socialize in bars that were known to cater to lesbians "became the single most important public manifestation of the subculture for many decades", according to historian Lillian Faderman . The primary component necessary to encourage lesbians to be public and seek other women
15488-470: The U.S., Europe, and especially in England. Documentation of these relationships is possible by a large volume of letters written between women. Whether the relationship included any genital component was not a matter for public discourse, but women could form strong and exclusive bonds with each other and still be considered virtuous, innocent, and chaste; a similar relationship with a man would have destroyed
15664-479: The United States specifically, several key political events have taken place in urban contexts. Some of these include, but are not limited to: During and following these events, LGBTQ community subculture began to grow and stabilize into a nationwide phenomenon. Gay bars became more and more popular in large cities. For gays particularly, increasing numbers of cruising areas, public bath houses , and YMCAs in these urban spaces continued to welcome them to experience
15840-552: The United States, World War II brought together many closeted rural men from around the nation and exposed them to more progressive attitudes in parts of Europe. Upon returning home after the war, many of these men decided to band together in cities rather than return to their small towns. Fledgling communities would soon become political in the beginning of the gay rights movement, including monumental incidents at places like Stonewall . Today, many large cities have gay and lesbian community centers. Many universities and colleges across
16016-509: The United States, gay people are frequently used as a symbol of social decadence by celebrity evangelists and by organizations such as Focus on the Family . Many LGBTQ organizations exist to represent and defend the gay community. For example, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in the United States and Stonewall in the UK work with the media to help portray fair and accurate images of
16192-507: The United States, the 1920s was a decade of social experimentation, particularly with sex. This was heavily influenced by the writings of Sigmund Freud , who theorized that sexual desire would be sated unconsciously, despite an individual's wish to ignore it. Freud's theories were much more pervasive in the U.S. than in Europe. With the well-publicized notion that sexual acts were a part of lesbianism and their relationships, sexual experimentation
16368-633: The advertisement is directed towards them, gay men and women are more likely to have an interest in the product. This is an important factor and goal for marketers because it indicates future loyalty to the product or brand. LGBTQ individuals have faced a long history of discrimination. They've been labeled as mentally ill, faced forced attempts to change who they are, and experienced hate crimes and exclusion from jobs, homes, and public places. Survey studies show that instances of personal discrimination are common among LGBTQ community. This includes things like slurring, sexual harassment, and violence. According to
16544-423: The armed forces either consciously or subconsciously refused to identify themselves as homosexual or lesbian, and also never spoke about others' orientation. The most masculine women were not necessarily common, though they were visible, so they tended to attract women interested in finding other lesbians. Women had to broach the subject about their interest in other women carefully, sometimes taking days to develop
16720-453: The balls of Magic-City . Amsterdam and London have also been recognized as leading locations for LGBTQ community establishment. By the 1950s, these urban spaces were booming with gay venues such as bars and public saunas where community members could come together. Paris and London were particularly attracting to the lesbian population as platforms for not only socialization, but education as well. A few other urban occasions that are important to
16896-549: The bigger problem is based on laws, and government policies, and the rest believe that it is based on individual prejudice. Due to the experiences of discrimination in public, many LGBTQ Americans tries to avoid situations or places out of fear of discrimination, such as bathrooms, medical care, or calling the police. A survey by CAP shows that 25.2% of LGBTQ people experienced discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and that these discriminations negatively affect their well-being and living environment. Due to
17072-568: The breast, and the prospect of living with my Fanny gladdens my heart:—You know not how I love her." Perhaps the most famous of these romantic friendships was between Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, nicknamed the Ladies of Llangollen . Butler and Ponsonby eloped in 1778, to the relief of Ponsonby's family (concerned about their reputation had she run away with a man) to live together in Wales for 51 years and be thought of as eccentrics. Their story
17248-530: The capitalized use of Deaf . The 'Q' in extended versions of the LGBT acronym, such as LGBTQIA+ , is most often considered an abbreviation of queer. It can also stand for questioning . Reclamation and use of the term queer is controversial; several people and organizations, both LGBT and non-LGBT, object to some or all uses of the word for various reasons. Some LGBT people dislike the use of queer as an umbrella term because they associate it with political and social radicalism; they say that deliberate use of
17424-529: The college president, Mary Woolley , for 36 years. Marks discouraged young women from "abnormal" friendships and insisted happiness could only be attained with a man. Other women embraced the distinction and used their uniqueness to set themselves apart from heterosexual women and gay men. From the 1890s to the 1930s, American heiress Natalie Clifford Barney held a weekly salon in Paris to which major artistic celebrities were invited and where lesbian topics were
17600-407: The connections formed then often led to the occurrence of casual romantic and sexual relationships, the prevalence of which increased quite rapidly over time until a point at which they became a subculture and community of their own. Literature and ballroom culture gradually made their way onto the scene and became integrated despite transgressive societal views. Perhaps the most well-known of these are
17776-514: The context of wedding-related services, citing religious or moral beliefs. In a 2001 study that examined possible root causes of mental disorders in lesbian , gay and bisexual people, Cochran and psychologist Vickie M. Mays , of the University of California , explored whether ongoing discrimination fuels anxiety , depression and other stress-related mental health problems among cisgender LGBTQ people. The authors found strong evidence of
17952-502: The designation of different or perverted, and used their outlaw status to form social circles in Paris and Berlin. Lesbian began to describe elements of a subculture. Lesbians in Western cultures in particular often classify themselves as having an identity that defines their individual sexuality, as well as their membership to a group that shares common traits. Women in many cultures throughout history have had sexual relations with other women, but they rarely were designated as part of
18128-545: The difference in spending with same-sex partnered home is 25 percent higher than the average United States household. According to the University of Maryland gay male partners earn $ 10,000 less on average compared to heterosexual men. However, partnered lesbians receive about $ 7,000 more a year than heterosexual married women. Hence, same-sex partners and heterosexual partners are about equal concerning consumer affluence. The LGBTQ community has been recognized for being one of
18304-496: The dominant, "normal" society. … It signaled the general perception of same-sex desire as something eccentric, strange, abnormal, and perverse. Beginning in the 1980s, the label queer began to be reclaimed from its pejorative use as a neutral or positive self-identifier by LGBT people. An early example of this usage was by an LGBT organisation called Queer Nation , which was formed in March 1990 and circulated an anonymous flier at
18480-872: The early 1990s. Modern queer film festivals include the Melbourne Queer Film Festival and Mardi Gras Film Festival (run by Queer Screen) in Australia, the Mumbai Queer Film Festival in India, the Asian Queer Film Festival in Japan, and Queersicht in Switzerland. Chinese film director Cui Zi'en titled his 2008 documentary about homosexuality in China Queer China , which premiered at
18656-405: The entire LGBTQ community, but the possibilities of these differences are far greater. In the past, gender was seen as fixed, and a congruent representation of an individual's sex. It is understood now that sex and gender are fluid separately. Researchers also noted that when evaluating products, a person's biological sex is as equal is a determinant as their self-concept. As a customer response, when
18832-518: The epithet queer by political radicals has, in their view, played a role in dividing the LGBT community by political opinion, class, gender, age, and other factors. Sociologist Joshua Gamson argues that the controversy about the word also marks a social and political divide in the LGBT community between those (including civil-rights activists) who perceive themselves as "normal" and who wish to be seen as ordinary members of society and those who see themselves as separate, confrontational and/or not part of
19008-585: The fall of 1995, the Human Rights Campaign adopted a logo (yellow equal sign on deep blue square) that has become one of the most recognizable symbols of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The logo can be spotted the world over and has become synonymous with the fight for equal rights for LGBTQ people. One of the most notable recent changes was made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 8, 2017. They added two new stripes to
19184-406: The family, it was always the wife, the husband, and the children. But today, that is not necessarily the case. There could be families of two fathers or two mothers with one child or six children. Breaking away from the traditional family setting, marketing researchers notice the need to recognize these different family configurations. One area that marketers are subject to fall under is stereotyping
19360-923: The fear of discrimination, many LGBTQ people change their lives such as hiding their relationships, delaying health care, avoid social situations, etc. In research publish by UCLA School of Law, survey data showed that 29.8% of LGBTQ employees experienced workplace discrimination such as being fired or not hired. LGBTQ employees who are people of color were much more likely to report that they didn't get hired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, compared to white LGBTQ employees. Transgender employees were more likely to face discrimination based on their LGBTQ identity compared to cisgender LGBTQ employees. Almost half (48.8%) of transgender employees experienced discrimination due to their LGBTQ identity, while only 27.8% of cisgender LGBTQ employees reported such experiences. In addition, over half (57.0%) of discriminated LGBTQ employees said their employer or co-workers indicated that
19536-588: The focus. Combining Greek influences with contemporary French eroticism, she attempted to create an updated and idealized version of Lesbos in her salon. Her contemporaries included artist Romaine Brooks , who painted others in her circle; writers Colette , Djuna Barnes , social host Gertrude Stein , and novelist Radclyffe Hall . Berlin had a vibrant homosexual culture in the 1920s, and about 50 clubs catered to lesbians. Die Freundin ( The Girlfriend ) magazine, published between 1924 and 1933, targeted lesbians. Garçonne (aka Frauenliebe ( Woman Love ))
19712-515: The formation of lesbian relationships and families in the open. The word lesbian is the demonym of the Greek island of Lesbos , home to the 6th-century BCE poet Sappho . From various ancient writings, historians gathered that a group of young women were left in Sappho's charge for their instruction or cultural edification. Little of Sappho's poetry survives, but her remaining poetry reflects
19888-421: The gay community argue that fighting to achieve these benefits by means of extending marriage rights to same-sex couples privatizes benefits (e.g., health care) that should be made available to people regardless of their relationship status. They further argue that the same-sex marriage movement within the gay community discriminates against families that are composed of three or more intimate partners. Opposition to
20064-536: The gay community, but the most commonly recognized one is the rainbow flag . According to Gilbert Baker , creator of the commonly known rainbow flag, each color represents a value in the community: Later, pink and indigo were removed from the flag, resulting in the present-day flag which was first presented at the 1979 Pride Parade. Other flags include the Victory over AIDS flag, the Leather Pride flag , and
20240-637: The gay community. As companies are advertising more and more to the gay community, LGBTQ activists are using ad slogans to promote gay community views. Subaru marketed its Forester and Outback with the slogan "It's Not a Choice. It's the Way We're Built", which was later used in eight U.S. cities on streets or in gay rights events. Social media is often used as a platform for the LGBTQ community to congregate and share resources. Search engines and social networking sites provide numerous opportunities for LGBTQ people to connect with one another; additionally, they play
20416-427: The gay identity became more widely adopted in the community, some men who preferred to identify as gay began chastising older men who still referred to themselves as queer by the late 1940s: In calling themselves gay, a new generation of men insisted on the right to name themselves, to claim their status as men, and to reject the "effeminate" styles of the older generation. [...] Younger men found it easier to forget
20592-473: The good bits, the cultural and political cachet, the clothes and the sound of gay culture, without ... the internalized homophobia of lived gay experience." Many queer people believe that "you don't have to identify as queer if you're on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, but you do have to be on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum to identify as queer." In academia, the term queer (and the related verb queering ) broadly indicate
20768-517: The growth of scholarship in women's history and sexuality in the late 20th century, the definition of lesbian broadened, leading to debate about the term's use. While research by Lisa M. Diamond identified sexual desire as the core component for defining lesbians, some women who engage in same-sex sexual activity may reject not only identifying as lesbians but as bisexual as well. Other women's self-identification as lesbian may not align with their sexual orientation or sexual behavior. Sexual identity
20944-539: The identity, lives, history, and perception of queer people. Organizations such as the Irish Queer Archive attempt to collect and preserve history related to queer studies. Queer theory is a field of post-structuralist critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of queer studies and women's studies . Applications of queer theory include queer theology and queer pedagogy . Philosopher Judith Butler has described queer theory as
21120-706: The international symbol for gay and lesbian rights by the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland." The triangle became a symbol for the gay community after the Holocaust . Not only did it represent Jews, but homosexuals who were killed because of German law. During the Holocaust, homosexuals were labeled with pink triangles to distinguish between them, Jews, regular prisoners, and political prisoners . The black triangle
21296-417: The intersex movement did not rely solely on queer identity model for its strategies. Queer is sometimes expanded to include any non-normative sexuality, including (cisgender) " queer heterosexuality ". This has been criticized by some LGBTQ people, who argue that queer can only be reclaimed by those it has been used to oppress: "A straight person identifying as queer can feel like choosing to appropriate
21472-417: The island of Lesbos, and so could be construed to mean ' from the island of Lesbos ' . In 1875, George Saintsbury , in writing about Baudelaire's poetry, refers to his "Lesbian studies" in which he includes his poem about "the passion of Delphine" which is a poem simply about love between two women which does not mention the island of Lesbos, though the other poem alluded to, entitled "Lesbos", does. Use of
21648-541: The large and visible presence of LGBT people in most urban centers. For another, activists soon realized that most intersex individuals were not interested in building intersex communities or culture; what they sought were professional psychological support to live ordinary lives as ordinary men and women and not the adoption of new, misleading identity. ... To make it worse, the word "intersex" began to attract individuals who are not necessarily intersex, but feel that they might be, because they are queer or trans. ... Fortunately,
21824-428: The largest consumers in travel. Travel includes annual trips, and sometimes even multiple annual trips. Annually, the LGBTQ community spends around $ 65 billion on travel, totaling 10 percent of the United States travel market. Many common travel factors play into LGBTQ travel decisions, but if there is a destination that is especially tailored to the LGBTQ community, then they are more likely to travel to those places. In
22000-622: The late 20th century in the global scientific community. Women in homosexual relationships in Europe and the United States responded to the discrimination and repression either by hiding their personal lives, or accepting the label of outcast and creating a subculture and identity . Following World War II , during a period of social repression when governments actively persecuted homosexuals, women developed networks to socialize with and educate each other. Gaining greater economic and social freedom allowed them to determine how they could form relationships and families. With second-wave feminism and
22176-502: The limited information available on female topics in ancient Greece. Women in ancient Rome were similarly subject to men's definitions of sexuality. Modern scholarship indicates that men viewed female homosexuality with hostility. They considered women who engaged in sexual relations with other women to be biological oddities that would attempt to penetrate women—and sometimes men—with "monstrously enlarged" clitorises . According to scholar James Butrica, lesbianism "challenged not only
22352-498: The mainstream in the 1990s as an umbrella term for use when labeling topics about sexuality and gender identity . For example, the LGBT Movement Advancement Project termed community centers, which have services specific to those members of the LGBT community, as "LGBT community centers" in comprehensive studies of such centers around the United States . The initialism LGBT is intended to emphasize
22528-659: The masquerade of one gender for another to fool an unsuspecting woman into being seduced. Such plot devices were used in Shakespeare 's Twelfth Night (1601), The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser in 1590, and James Shirley 's The Bird in a Cage (1633). Cases during the Renaissance of women taking on male personae and going undetected for years or decades have been recorded, though whether these cases would be described as transvestism by homosexual women, or in contemporary sociology characterised as transgender ,
22704-415: The median household income compared to same-sex couples to opposite-sex couples, as they are twice as likely to have graduated from college, twice as likely to have an individual income over $ 60,000 and twice as likely to have a household income of $ 250,000 or more. Although many claims that the LGBTQ community is more affluent when compared to heterosexual consumers, research has proven that false. However,
22880-478: The military in the U.S. Women's Army Corps (WACs) and U.S. Navy's Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). Unlike processes to screen out male homosexuals, which had been in place since the creation of the American military, there were no methods to identify or screen for lesbians; they were put into place gradually during World War II. Despite common attitudes regarding women's traditional roles in
23056-457: The more representative, lesbian and gay . By the early nineties, as more groups shifted to names based on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), queer was also increasingly reclaimed as a one-word alternative to the ever-lengthening string of initials, especially when used by radical political groups, some of which had been using "queer" since the '80s. The initialism, as well as common variants such as LGBTQ , have been adopted into
23232-482: The names of homosexuals for future reference. Magnus Hirschfeld's Scientific-Humanitarian Committee , which promoted tolerance for homosexuals in Germany , welcomed lesbian participation, and a surge of lesbian-themed writing and political activism in the German feminist movement became evident. In 1928, Radclyffe Hall published a novel titled The Well of Loneliness . The novel's plot centers around Stephen Gordon,
23408-514: The ordinary social order. Other LGBT people disapprove of reclaiming or using queer because they consider it offensive, in part due to its continued use as a pejorative. Some LGBT people avoid queer because they perceive it as faddish slang, or alternatively as academic jargon. Scholars and activists have proposed different ways in which queer identities apply or do not apply to intersex people. Sociologist Morgan Holmes and bioethicists Morgan Carpenter and Katrina Karkazis have documenting
23584-419: The origins of gay in the campy banter of the very queens whom they wished to reject. In other parts of the world, particularly England, queer continued to be the dominant term used by the community well into the mid-twentieth century, as noted by historical sociologist Jeffrey Weeks: By the 1950s and 1960s to say "I am queer" was to tell of who and what you were, and how you positioned yourself in relation to
23760-466: The positions taken at the first two National Marches on Washington in 1979 and 1987 , the radical direct action of groups like ACT UP , and the historical importance of events like the Stonewall riots . The radical queer groups following in this tradition of LGBT activism contrasted firmly with "the holy trinity of marriage, military service and adoption [which had] become the central preoccupation of
23936-406: The queer community was created in 2015, though it is not widely known. Its colors include blue and pink for attraction to the same gender , orange and green for non-binary people, and black and white for agender , asexual , and aromantic people. The label queer is often applied to art movements, particularly cinema. New Queer Cinema was a movement in queer-themed independent filmmaking in
24112-405: The rainbow flag, one black and one brown. These were intended to highlight members of color within the LGBTQ community. The LGBTQ community represented by a social component of the global community that is believed by many, including heterosexual allies, to be underrepresented in the area of civil rights . The current struggle of the gay community has been largely brought about by globalization. In
24288-415: The same meaning. Class distinction became linked as the fashion of female homoeroticism passed. Tribades were simultaneously considered members of the lower class trying to ruin virtuous women, and representatives of an aristocracy corrupt with debauchery. Satirical writers began to suggest that political rivals (or more often, their wives) engaged in tribadism in order to harm their reputations. Queen Anne
24464-564: The same-sex marriage movement from within the gay community should not be confused with opposition from outside that community. The contemporary lesbian and gay community has a growing and complex place in the American and Western European media. Lesbians and gay men are often portrayed inaccurately in television, films, and other media; the gay community is often portrayed as many stereotypes , such as gay men being portrayed as flamboyant and bold. Like other minority groups, these caricatures are intended to ridicule this marginalized group. There
24640-511: The sensory interrelation of pleasure and shame". Emi Koyama describes a move away from a queer identity model within the intersex movement: Such tactic [of reclaiming labels] was obviously influenced by queer identity politics of the 1980s and 90s that were embodied by such groups as Queer Nation and Lesbian Avengers. But unfortunately, intersex activists quickly discovered that the intersex movement could not succeed under this model. For one thing, there were far fewer intersex people compared to
24816-526: The soon-to-be-named Joan Crawford . Homosexuals began to draw comparisons between their newly recognized minority status and that of African Americans. Among African American residents of Harlem , lesbian relationships were common and tolerated, though not overtly embraced. Some women staged lavish wedding ceremonies, even filing licenses using masculine names with New York City. Most homosexual women were married to men and participated in affairs with women regularly. Across town, Greenwich Village also saw
24992-513: The study of literature, discourse, academic fields, and other social and cultural areas from a non- heterosexual and/or non- cisgender viewpoint. Though the fields of queer studies and queer theory are broad, such studies often focus on LGBT+ lives, and may involve challenging the assumption that being heterosexual and cisgender are the default or "normal". Queer theory, in particular, may embrace ambiguities and fluidity in traditionally "stable" categories such as gay or straight. Queer studies
25168-749: The study's definition of sexual contact, and introduced other factors such as deeper connections existing between women that make frequent sexual relations redundant, greater sexual fluidity in women causing them to move from heterosexual to bisexual to lesbian numerous times through their lives—or reject the labels entirely. Further arguments attested that the study was flawed and misrepresented accurate sexual contact between women, or sexual contact between women has increased since 1983 as many lesbians find themselves freer to sexually express themselves. More discussion on gender and sexual orientation identity has affected how many women label or view themselves. Most people in western culture are taught that heterosexuality
25344-911: The team found. However, while gay youth are considered to be at higher risk for suicide, a literature review published in the journal Adolescence states, "Being gay in-and-of-itself is not the cause of the increase in suicide." Rather the review notes that the findings of previous studies suggested the,"...suicide attempts were significantly associated with psychosocial stressors, including gender nonconformity, early awareness of being gay, victimization, lack of support, school dropout, family problems, acquaintances' suicide attempts, homelessness, substance abuse, and other psychiatric disorders. Some of these stressors are also experienced by heterosexual adolescents, but they have been shown to be more prevalent among gay adolescents." Despite recent progress in LGBTQ rights, gay men continue to experience high rates of loneliness and depression after coming out. LGBTQ multiculturalism
25520-425: The term trepesthai (to be focused on) instead of eros , which was applied to other erotic relationships between men, and between men and women. Historian Nancy Rabinowitz argues that ancient Greek red vase images which portray women with their arms around another woman's waist, or leaning on a woman's shoulders can be construed as expressions of romantic desire. Much of the daily lives of women in ancient Greece
25696-423: The term include members of the LGBT community who associate it more with its colloquial, derogatory usage; those who wish to dissociate themselves from queer radicalism ; and those who see it as too amorphous or trendy. Queer is sometimes expanded to include any non-normative sexuality, including cisgender queer heterosexuality , although some LGBT people view this use of the term as appropriation . Entering
25872-424: The terms used within the subculture, medical practitioners and police officers tended to use medicalized or pathological terms like "invert", "pervert", "degenerate", and "homosexual". None of the terms, whether inside or outside of the subculture, equated to the general concept of a homosexual identity, which only emerged with the ascension of a binary (heterosexual/homosexual) understanding of sexual orientation in
26048-420: The topics she wrote about: women's daily lives, their relationships, and rituals. She focused on the beauty of women and proclaimed her love for girls. Before the mid-19th century, the word lesbian referred to any derivative or aspect of Lesbos, including a type of wine . In Algernon Charles Swinburne 's 1866 poem "Sapphics", the term lesbian appears twice but capitalized both times after twice mentioning
26224-597: The trans community by creating spaces for folks to share resources and transition stories, normalizing trans identity. It has been found that access to LGBTQ content, peers, and community on search engines and social networking sites has allowed for identity acceptance and pride within LGBTQ community. Algorithms and evaluative criteria control what content is recommended to users on search engines and social networking site. These can reproduce stigmatizing discourses that are dominant within society, and result in negatively impacting LGBTQ self-perception. Social media algorithms have
26400-407: The trial of Oscar Wilde. Queer was used in mainstream society by the early 20th century, along with fairy and faggot , as a pejorative term to refer to men who were perceived as flamboyant. This was, as historian George Chauncey notes, "the predominant image of all queers within the straight mind". Starting in the underground gay bar scene in the 1950s, then moving more into the open in
26576-470: The unfair treatment was linked to religious beliefs. In the U.S., certain states have passed laws permitting child welfare agencies to deny services to LGBTQ community based on religious or moral beliefs. Similarly, some states allow healthcare providers to refuse certain procedures or medications for LGBTQ community on religious or moral grounds. Additionally, certain states permit businesses to decline services to LGBTQ people or same-sex couples, particularly in
26752-629: The wedding party—continued to appear for the next century. Outside Europe, women were able to dress as men and go undetected. Deborah Sampson fought in the American Revolution under the name Robert Shurtlieff, and pursued relationships with women. Edward De Lacy Evans was born female in Ireland, but took a male name during the voyage to Australia and lived as a man for 23 years in Victoria, marrying three times. Percy Redwood created
26928-496: The wide usage of the word was defined by erotic proclivities. Discussion from historians caused further questioning of what qualifies as a lesbian relationship. As lesbian-feminists asserted, a sexual component was unnecessary in declaring oneself a lesbian if the primary and closest relationships were with women. When considering past relationships within appropriate historic context, there were times when love and sex were separate and unrelated notions. In 1989, an academic cohort named
27104-429: The word lesbianism to describe erotic relationships between women had been documented in 1870. In 1890, the term lesbian was used in a medical dictionary as an adjective to describe tribadism (as "lesbian love"). The terms lesbian , invert and homosexual were interchangeable with sapphist and sapphism around the turn of the 20th century. The use of lesbian in medical literature became prominent; by 1925,
27280-424: The word was recorded as a noun to mean the female equivalent of a sodomite . The development of medical knowledge was a significant factor in further connotations of the term lesbian. In the middle of the 19th century, medical writers attempted to establish ways to identify male homosexuality, which was considered a significant social problem in most Western societies. In categorizing behavior that indicated what
27456-865: The world have support centers for LGBTQ students. The Human Rights Campaign , Lambda Legal , the Empowering Spirits Foundation , and GLAAD advocate for LGBTQ people on a wide range of issues in the United States. There is also an International Lesbian and Gay Association . In 1947, when the United Kingdom adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), LGBTQ activists clung to its concept of equal, inalienable rights for all people, regardless of their race, gender, or sexual orientation. The declaration does not specifically mention gay rights, but discusses equality and freedom from discrimination. In 1962, Clark Polak joined The Janus Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Only
27632-471: The world including: the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and modern Westernization. Depending on geographic location, some of these communities experienced more opposition to their existence than others; nonetheless, they began to permeate society both socially and politically. City spaces in Early Modern Europe were host to a wealth of gay activity; however, these scenes remained semi-secretive for
27808-446: The world. At the same time, high-profile celebrities in the broader society may offer strong support to these organizations in certain locations; for example, LGBTQ advocate and entertainer Madonna stated, "I was asked to perform at many Pride events around the world — but I would never, ever turn down New York City ". LGBT , or GLBT , is an initialism that stands for lesbian , gay , bisexual , and transgender . In use since
27984-478: Was aimed at lesbians and male transvestites . These publications were controlled by men as owners, publishers, and writers. Around 1926, Selli Engler founded Die BIF – Blätter Idealer Frauenfreundschaften ( The BIF – Papers on Ideal Women Friendships ), the first lesbian publication owned, published and written by women. In 1928, the lesbian bar and nightclub guide Berlins lesbische Frauen ( The Lesbians of Berlin ) by Ruth Margarite Röllig further popularized
28160-591: Was caused by childhood trauma and was curable. The publicity Hall received was due to unintended consequences; the novel was tried for obscenity in London, a spectacularly scandalous event described as " the crystallizing moment in the construction of a visible modern English lesbian subculture" by professor Laura Doan. Newspaper stories frankly divulged that the book's content includes "sexual relations between Lesbian women", and photographs of Hall often accompanied details about lesbians in most major print outlets within
28336-613: Was considered "the epitome of virtuous romantic friendship" and inspired poetry by Anna Seward and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . Diarist Anne Lister , captivated by Butler and Ponsonby, recorded her affairs with women between 1817 and 1840. Some of it was written in code, detailing her sexual relationships with Marianna Belcombe and Maria Barlow. Both Lister and Eleanor Butler were considered masculine by contemporary news reports, and though there were suspicions that these relationships were sapphist in nature, they were nonetheless praised in literature. Romantic friendships were also popular in
28512-468: Was demanded of nuns who "rode" each other or were discovered to have touched each other's breasts. An Italian nun named Sister Benedetta Carlini was documented to have seduced many of her sisters when possessed by a Divine spirit named "Splenditello"; to end her relationships with other women, she was placed in solitary confinement for the last 40 years of her life. Female homoeroticism was so common in English literature and theater that historians suggest it
28688-658: Was economic independence, which virtually disappeared in the 1930s with the Great Depression . Most women in the U.S. found it necessary to marry to a " front " such as a gay man where both could pursue homosexual relationships with public discretion, or to a man who expected a traditional wife. Independent women in the 1930s were generally seen as holding jobs that men should have. The social attitude made very small and close-knit communities in large cities that centered around bars, while simultaneously isolating women in other locales. Speaking of homosexuality in any context
28864-411: Was exposed by a woman with whom she had had a previous affair and sentenced to time in the stocks and prison. Queen Christina of Sweden 's tendency to dress as a man was well known during her time and excused because of her noble birth. She was brought up as a male and there was speculation at the time that she was a hermaphrodite. Even after Christina abdicated the throne in 1654 to avoid marriage, she
29040-474: Was fashionable for a period during the Renaissance . Englishwoman Mary Frith has been described as lesbian in academic study. Ideas about women's sexuality were linked to contemporary understanding of female physiology. The vagina was considered an inward version of the penis; where nature's perfection created a man, often nature was thought to be trying to right itself by prolapsing the vagina to form
29216-960: Was known to pursue romantic relationships with women. Some historians view cases of cross-dressing women to be manifestations of women seizing power they would naturally be unable to enjoy in feminine attire, or their way of making sense out of their desire for women. Lillian Faderman argues that Western society was threatened by women who rejected their feminine roles. Catharine Linck and other women who were accused of using dildos, such as two nuns in 16th century Spain executed for using "material instruments", were punished more severely than those who did not. Two marriages between women were recorded in Cheshire , England, in 1707 (between Hannah Wright and Anne Gaskill) and 1708 (between Ane Norton and Alice Pickford) with no comment about both parties being female. Reports of clergymen with lax standards who performed weddings—and wrote their suspicions about one member of
29392-667: Was punishable by death in England, acknowledgment of sexual contact between women was nonexistent in medical and legal texts. The earliest law against female homosexuality appeared in France in 1270. In Spain, Italy, and the Holy Roman Empire, sodomy between women was included in acts considered unnatural and punishable by burning to death, although few instances are recorded of this taking place. The earliest such execution occurred in Speier, Germany , in 1477. Forty days' penance
29568-476: Was recorded about homosexual activity between Greek women. There is some speculation that similar relationships existed between women and girls — the poet Alcman used the term aitis, as the feminine form of aites — which was the official term for the younger participant in a pederastic relationship. Aristophanes , in Plato 's Symposium , mentions women who are romantically attracted to other women, but uses
29744-407: Was referred to as " inversion " by German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld , researchers categorized what was normal sexual behavior for men and women, and therefore to what extent men and women varied from the "perfect male sexual type" and the "perfect female sexual type". Far less literature focused on female homosexual behavior than on male homosexuality, as medical professionals did not consider it
29920-550: Was rumored to have a passionate relationship with Sarah Churchill , Duchess of Marlborough, her closest adviser and confidante. When Churchill was ousted as the queen's favorite, she purportedly spread allegations of the queen having affairs with her bedchamberwomen. Marie Antoinette was also the subject of such speculation for some months between 1795 and 1796. Hermaphroditism appeared in medical literature enough to be considered common knowledge, although cases were rare. Homoerotic elements in literature were pervasive, specifically
30096-615: Was socially forbidden, and women rarely discussed lesbianism even amongst themselves; they referred to openly gay people as "in the Life". Freudian psychoanalytic theory was pervasive in influencing doctors to consider homosexuality as a neurosis afflicting immature women. Homosexual subculture disappeared in Germany with the rise of the Nazis in 1933. The onset of World War II caused a massive upheaval in people's lives as military mobilization engaged millions of men. Women were also accepted into
30272-404: Was thought to have uncontrollable desires because of her engorged clitoris was called a "tribade" (literally, one who rubs). Not only was an abnormally engorged clitoris thought to create lusts in some women that led them to masturbate, but pamphlets warning women about masturbation leading to such oversized organs were written as cautionary tales. For a while, masturbation and lesbian sex carried
30448-542: Was used as a within-community identity term by men who were stereotypically masculine. Many queer-identified men at the time were, according to Chauncey, "repelled by the style of the fairy and his loss of manly status, and almost all were careful to distinguish themselves from such men", especially because the dominant straight culture did not acknowledge such distinctions. Trade referred to straight men who would engage in same-sex activity; Chauncey describes trade as "the 'normal men' [queers] claimed to be." In contrast to
30624-404: Was usually pejoratively applied to men who were believed to engage in receptive or passive anal or oral sex with other men as well as those who exhibited non-normative gender expressions. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, queer , fairy , trade , and gay signified distinct social categories within the gay male subculture. In his book Gay New York , Chauncey noted that queer
30800-408: Was widely read and helped to create public consciousness of female homosexuality. The sexologists' claims that homosexuality was a congenital anomaly were generally well-accepted by homosexual men; it indicated that their behavior was not inspired by nor should be considered a criminal vice, as was widely acknowledged. In the absence of any other material to describe their emotions, homosexuals accepted
30976-664: Was widespread. Large cities that provided a nightlife were immensely popular, and women began to seek out sexual adventure. Bisexuality became chic, particularly in America's first gay neighborhoods. No location saw more visitors for its possibilities of homosexual nightlife than Harlem , the predominantly African American section of New York City . White "slummers" enjoyed jazz , nightclubs, and anything else they wished. Blues singers Ma Rainey , Bessie Smith , Ethel Waters , and Gladys Bentley sang about affairs with women to visitors such as Tallulah Bankhead , Beatrice Lillie , and
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