Chapter 6: ACTIVIST!
In Chapter 6 Garbicik seems to be losing her mind as the entire chapter has the one sentence "All work and no play makes Garbickik a dull woman"..... OK maybe that didn't actually happen, don't fall asleep while reading this book while also watching The Shining!
Seriously though, this chapter is about the history of Gay and Lesbian Activism. It talks about the Mattachine Society coming about in 1950 being concerned about male homosexuality issues. Another group of the 1950's was the Daughters of Bilitis. These were women who wanted to change negative ideas about lesbianism and were concerned for homosexuals. They thought we should be sympathetic and not persecute them as well as to have lesbians assimilate and be more feminine.
Later, Garbicik talks about important events such as the lavender scare (this went along with the red scare but instead of the persecution of communists it was the persecution of homosexuals). Stonewall in 1969 was also an important issue (although it was interesting how Garbicik left out some groups when talking about the people fighting back and doing the riots, predominantly only focusing on gay individuals). This created more radical lesbian and gay activist groups.
To sum it up Garbicik talked about the homophile movement where people wanted to inform others about homosexuality, to the gay liberation movement that says "screw society" and debated gender behavior, the neuclear family, and monogamy while also looking down on assimilation. Basically this is where queer theorists are (at least from what I've read in my Queer Theory class). And then modern day activism with assimilation politics (the more formal and normal agenda).
Response
This chapter covered a lot. I thought it was interesting how the gay liberation movement sounds like what Queer Theorists want, however it is not what is happening now. It would have been interesting if Garbicik really dug deep into how and why the Gay Liberation Movement changed and talk about the impact it had on people. I also think it's interesting that most people think the "A" in LGBTQIA only stands for Ally when it also stands for Asexuality. It could have something to do with assimilation politics that many LGBT organizations use (going with the "we're just like you but gay" model and pushing for single issues that only benefit some people, like Gay marriage, when there are much more harmful issues to talk about like LGBT homelessness). It would be interesting to find out why this is, since asexuality has been a term since the early 2000's.