this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2024
101 points (93.2% liked)

Asklemmy

42521 readers
2245 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] TheFriar@lemm.ee 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

But…like…aren’t we still dealing with homophobia from the olds? It definitely died down and has morphed into mostly transphobia now, but it’s not like everyone is cool with it these days.

[–] pingveno@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 months ago

Sure, and it will be a factor for a long time. But it should be considered in comparison with similar historical processes. Think civil rights for Black people in the US. I'll pluck a few dates:

  • First slaver ship, 1619
  • Abolitionist movement starting in 1688
  • Dred Scott decision 1857
  • American Civil War 1861-1865
  • Jim Crow laws beginning in 1870's
  • Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
  • Brown v. Board, 1954
  • Montgomery bus boycott, 1955
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965
  • Crack epidemic and subsequent mass incarceration, 1980's and 1990's
  • George Floyd murder, 2020

And after all that time, Black people are still disadvantaged as a whole relative to white people. Compare that to the modern LGBTQ movement. The modern movement really began in earnest with the Stonewall riots in 1969, but it has roots dating back to Berlin in 1897. Gallup has poll numbers going back to 1977 for various questions. Around 70% of Americans believe same sex marriage should be allowed. Attitudes towards equal job opportunities are nearly unanimous in favor, 95%. That said, it's notable that most of these questions are about policy, so they may treat gay people poorly in their personal life. So whether you're measuring by Stonewall or by Berlin in 1897, progress has been relatively rapid. Not that it's ever rapid enough for people suffering under oppression, but progress runs on a generous dose of hope.