How Churches Defend Homosexual Rights in the U.S. in the 1960s
Abstract
It is commonly considered that churches were usually opposers to the LGBTQ+ movements. Especially in the 1960s when churches played a negative role in the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States of America. But the fact seemed not to be that simple. As a matter of fact, in cities like San Francisco, some churches had started to play an active role in defending homosexual rights and they had a positive influence on homosexual acceptance among the American people. This paper discussed how specific churches defended homosexual rights in the United States of America in the 1960s by surveying what the Glide Memorial Church did in the 1960s. Through these resources, it can be easily found that the Glide Memorial Church, as a staunch supporter of the Gay Liberation Movement, helps defend homosexual rights in multiple ways including making sermons, holding public assemblies, etc. This research may be helpful to the LGBTQ+ movements today.
References
- Heather R. White, Reforming Sodom: Protestants and the Rise of Gay Rights,( The University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill)
- Stephanie Krehbiel, Pacifist Battlegrounds: Violence, Community, and the Struggle for LGBTQ Justice in the Mennonite Church USA (University of Kansas)
- Marc Stein, Rethinking the Gay and Lesbian Movement (Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, New York And London)
- What IS CRH? Bay Area Reporter, Volume 1, Number 4, 15 May 1971
- Donovan Bess Report of First Sermon of 3-Part Series by Rev. John Moore, San Francisco Chronicle January 11, 1965
- Don Lucas Papers (GLBT Historical Society,)
- Daughters of Bilitis records, 1955-1986, Subseries 1.2 Box 2, Folder 11&Folder12& Folder13, Fourth National Convention
- Del Martin, Don’t Look at The Yellow Pages……. Yet, The Ladder Vol. 13, No. 03-04, 1968-1969 Dec-Jan. Courtesy of Megan Rohrer
- Allen White, San Francisco’s Stone Wall: Raid on Gay Dance Shoot Up the City, Bay Area Reporter, Volume 19, Number 25, 25 June 1989
- Clergy participants in the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, 1965