2. Cultural
Oppression
• 1960’s: a decade of American
oppression
• LGBTQ not “allowed” to openly
go to restaurants and public
spaces
• Trans-Visibility today: “The
more positive representation,
the more confidence the
community gains, which puts
us in more danger.” (Quote
from trans actor, Jen Richards,
in documentary Disclosure)
(Pictured: Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, Stonewall Riots,
courtesy Netflix)
3. Economic
Oppression
Employment Nondiscrimination Act
o Introduced to Congress in 1994 and
every legislative session since.
However, as of November 2013 there
is no federal law to protect LGBTQ
from job discrimination. It still awaits
House of Representatives
consideration.
o Economic rights of LGBTQ are up to
individual states. The majority of
states offer no specific protection in
employment practices.
4. Rise of the Right &
Modern-Day
Evangelicalism
• Goldwater: Republican frontrunner for
presidential election 1964, voted
against civil rights
• Reaganism: conservative ideologies
shaped the 1980’s, including the rise
of the religious right.
• Creation of organizations to push the
right’s homophobic agenda:
abstinence only sex education,
criminalization of HIV/AIDS,
• This movement influenced what we
see today in modern evangelical
conservative politics.
(Photo: New York Times)
5. POLITICAL
OPPRESSION
Clinton Administration:
“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”
LGBTQ stigmatized
and sexual conduct
criminalized, Sodomy
laws of the 1980’s
Trump Administration:
Efforts to erase
transgender rights,
bans transgender
people from serving in
the military.
6. LEGAL
OPPRESSION
• Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) pathologized homosexuality until
1973.
• Robert Spitzer, psychiatrist, replaced ”homosexuality” with “sexual
orientation disturbance” in updated manual, which is still disordering
sexual orientation.
• 1986 Bowers V. Hardwick: Georgia sodomy law criminalizing oral and
anal sex in private between consenting adults maintained as
constitutional.
7. Sociodemographic
Oppression
• Homelessness affects LGBTQ youth
disproportionately to any other group.
• LGBTQ in rural areas are more likely to
live in communities with religious
exemption laws, leaving them with few
alternatives, and very little mental health
support services or safe places.
• Conversion Therapy: 42% of conversion
survivors have attempted or considered
suicide in the past year.
• HIV/AIDS crisis: criminalization, stigma,
violence
8. Strategies Used to Influence
and Change Public Policy
Three strategies used to influence public policy include
social activism, political advocacy, and public
education.
These efforts have been successful by altering public
opinion and laying groundwork for new legislation.
Despite these successes, backlash and resistance
have caused the US to lag other nations in LGBTQ
equality.
9. Social Activism
New York City, 1969: The Stonewall
Riots inspired LGBTQ communities
across the US to organize in support of
gay rights. Two years later there were gay
rights groups in every city.
October 14, 1979: National March on Washington
for Lesbian and Gay Rights drew 75,000
participants pressured lawmakers for passage of
civil rights legislation.
October 11, 1987: over 100,000 participants in
the march demand Reagan address the
HIV/AIDS crisis.
California, 2008: Proposition 8 made same
sex marriages in California illegal. This was
overturned and ruled unconstitutional in 2010.
Photo: Horizons Foundation, 1987
10. Political Advocacy
Political advocacy employs lobbying efforts on legislation,
lawsuits, and state level political victories to advance the
needs of the LGBTQ community.
Lawsuits:
Lawrence v Texas (2003)
Obergefell v Hodges (2015)
Bostock v Clayton County (2020)
Legislation:
Education Amendments of 1972: Title IX
”Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” Repeal Act of 2010
Matthew Shepard Act of 2009
State Level Victories:
1962: Illinois decriminalizes homosexuality.
1977: Harvey Milk elected to San Francisco Board of
Supervisors.
2004: Massachusetts is first state to legalize gay marriage.
Photo: Liberation News, 2015
11. Public Education
Educating the public grows support for policy
change to meet LGBTQ needs in the following
ways…
Influencing Rhetoric
Proper Usage of gender identity terms and
pronouns
Reframing LGBTQ issues, demonstrating them
to be real problems that impact everyday
people
Normalizing LGBTQ relationships
Dispelling myths about LGBTQ population
12. The Role of
Social Work
in Advocacy
The Fight for
LGBTQ Rights & Areas
for Improvement
13. • In 1976, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) established The Task Force on
Gay Issues which would become the National Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues in 1982
with the words Bi and Transgender added in 1996 and 2005 respectively.
• The NASW has joined forces with organizations to improve the lives of LGBTQ individuals and
communities. Such collaboration led to the inclusion of LGBTQ protection under title VII of The
Civil Rights Act of 1964 following a supreme court decision in 2020.
• The Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Council on Sexual Orientation and Gender
Identity and Expression promotes the development of curriculum that includes issues faced by
the LGBTQ community. Read more here: CSOGIE Charge
• The social work profession has been criticized for failing to effectively advocate for the removal
of gender dysphoria, which pathologizes transgender identity, from the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition (DSM-5).
