November 18: Important Date in LGBTQ History

 

November 18 is an important date in LGBTQ History! Early in the week we discussed the landmark case of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health in class (see lecture notes). Goodridge is famous for being the first time a state supreme court (in this case the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court) ruled that laws preventing same-sex couples from accessing the rights and responsibilities are unconstitutional. In a 4-3 decision issued on November 18, 2003, the court said that "The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals. It forbids the creation of second-class citizens." In a ``baller" move the Court issued a stay on their decision for 180 days, having it go into effect on May 17, 2004, which is easily recognized as the 50th anniversary of the day that Brown v Board of Education was issued by the United States Supreme Court. Brown was a unanimous decision ruling that "separate but unequal" is unconstitutional, thus signaling the end of the period of "Jim Crow" and legally sanctioned explicit racial discrimination in the united States. So even though May 17 2004 gets more attention as the first day that same-sex couples could get legally married in the United States, none of that would have been possible without the events of November 18 2003.

Another significant event happened on  that same day: November 18, 2003 but thousands of miles away in the United Kingdom. This was the day that the repeal of the infamous "Clause 28" went into effect in England and Wales (it had been repealed in Scotland a few years before). Clause 28 (or sometimes Section 28) was an anti-gay measure championed and enacted by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party. in the late 1980s The actual text said that local governments "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" and that they could not "promote the teaching [...] of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship." Section 28 was in effect from 1988 through 2003 through most of the United Kingdom and its effects were cultural as well as legislative. Multiple LGBT groups were founded in the UK to fight the measure, including Stonewall and OutRage! For more info about the history of LGBTQ rights in the U.K., read this.

Tip of the hat to lesbian activist Dana Rudolph, who has been blogging at Mombian since 2005!