Remarks at Rainbow Flag-Raising Ceremony
Boston City Hall/ June 4, 2010
Don Gorton, 2010 Grand Marshal Boston Pride
City Councilors, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen: I’d like to thank the Pride Committee for all the hard work they do every year to stage the fabulous pageant that Boston Pride has become. This 40th anniversary Pride celebration invites us to look back on our collective past. The world has changed so much since 1970, the year following the Stonewall Riots, that it is difficult to conceive what living conditions were like for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and trans people in the 1960’s. Yet it is so important that we remember; those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to relive them.
Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out; everyone who could hide in closets, often going so far as to marry persons of the opposite sex. Homosexuality was a dark secret, exposure of which could mean loss of career, friends, family, and even one’s freedom. The shame of being outed as a homosexual or transgender drove many people to suicide.
Homosexuality and transexuality were defined as mental illnesses. One could be involuntarily committed to a mental institution to undergo forced “conversion therapy,” which might include torture techniques like aversive conditioning—electric shocks administered to the genitalia at any sign of same-sex arousal. Any expression of homosexual desire entailed legal jeopardy, regardless of how private or consensual the act. Same-sex dancing, holding hands, and displays of affection were treated as crimes under overbroad and vague statutes; sex acts were felonious. If you sought out intimacy, you ran the risk of entrapment by plainclothes police officers dressed suggestively to entice sexual interest. Gay bars were illegal, which meant that they were typically owned and operated by organized crime, with unsanitary conditions and abusive employees. If you had a job and an income, you were vulnerable to blackmail; oftentimes, extortion rings operated out of gay bars. Since exposure was tantamount to ruination, victims paid up. Violence at the hands of gaybashers, police officers, or even sex partners was commonplace. There was no recourse. The images of homosexuality one encountered in the media were stereotyped and ugly. Messages about homosexuality were invariably condemning, to the point that the disease label was thought a compassionate innovation. Not even political liberals or the American Civil Liberties Union would stick up for the despised homosexual minority.
It’s a measure of how far we’ve come that this account of the way things used to be seems shocking or incredible, especially to folks under 40. We celebrate today and for the next nine days because our world has been so profoundly transformed since the time of Stonewall.
Change came fitfully. The American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental illness in 1974. Private, consensual sex between adults began to be tolerated; gay bars not owned by the Mafia began to open. Some LGBT folks began acknowledging our identities, and being a known homosexual no longer meant automatically losing your job. Police entrapment of gay men became less frequent, though it was many years after Stonewall before the practice was largely abandoned. The idea of non-discrimination laws to protect LGBT people in access to employment, housing, and public accommodations gained currency. In 1984, the City of Boston passed a non-discrimination ordinance; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed a comprehensive anti-discrimination law for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals in 1989. Gaybashing stopped being a risk-free pursuit; hate crimes laws were amended to protect the LGBT community from bigoted violence. Gays and lesbians began to be appointed and elected to high office. The needs of LGBT youth became a concern of state government in the 1990’s. And of course, Massachusetts led the way in recognizing same-sex marriage in the landmark Goodridge decision of 2003. That same year, the US Supreme Court finally invalidated the sodomy laws that have afflicted English-speaking gays and lesbians since the reign of Henry VIII.
What all of you should realize is that change was not inevitable. We have made progress only because we have fought for it, unrelentingly and with tenancity, against tremendous odds and fierce resistance. Every step forward has come at a cost; the cliché that freedom isn’t free has been borne out time and time again.
Living conditions for LGBT people are dramatically transformed because dedicated activists took initiative and confronted the status quo. Courageously, year after year, heroes have stood up at great personal risk to demand that LGBT’s be treated as human beings. Because of the unsung efforts of countless activists over the past 4 decades and more, we live in a time that the downtrodden homosexual of the 1960’s simply could not have imagined.
Getting from riots to rights was exceedingly difficult, and yet here we are. As we revel for the next nine days, let us remember that activism has been our pathway to social change. And the work is yet unfinished. I hope many of you will find inspiration in this year’s Pride festivities to get involved in the movement for full equality.
Don Gorton is a veteran grassroots LGBT activist and one of the 2010 Boston Pride Grand Marshals. Don brings a wealth of historical knowledge and experience as well as support for new activists in our movement. He is currently a board member with Join The Impact MA, and chair of the anti-violence project. He was Chair of The MA Gay and Lesbian Political Alliance and Co-Chair of the Governor’s Hate Crimes Commission. Don has dedicated his life to activism for the LGBT community. He has been instrumental in hate crimes legislation and reporting, a leader in grassroots activism, a stern advocate for police protection and accountability, and a prolific writer with countless letters to the editor and elected officials. He continues to inspire new generations, recently joining to support the local GLAAD presence, and Equality Across America.
