The Role of Confrontation in the Gay Rights Struggle

This is a repost that was originally posted here. I’ve found it handy to have this documented in one place when someone asks for citations.

The quest for equal rights for LGBTQ Americans is often cited as an example of constructive confrontation in action. In a recent discussion around accommodationism in the fight to keep creation out of public schools, I was asked to provide some documentation on the topic. I put together a list of almost entirely web-based resources for those interested.

I think is worth sharing here for those who want to address the topic in the future. So, an annotated bibliography on the role of confrontation in the U.S. fight for gay rights:

None of this suggests that there isn’t a role, particularly in the recent swell of support for gay marriage rights, for simply understanding one another as human beings. However, we did have to reduce the risks to LBGTQ populations to the extent where that was possible. That wouldn’t have happened without the changes wrought by confrontation.

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The Role of Confrontation in the Gay Rights Struggle
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3 thoughts on “The Role of Confrontation in the Gay Rights Struggle

  1. 1

    Good stuff. This one is a cinch for the “useful URLs for posting in internet arguments over the propriety of confrontational advocacy” bookmark folder.

  2. 2

    Great stuff, indeed. But one must be very careful to understand what precisely is meant by “confrontational” in each of these instances and not draw to broad conclusions from this data. For example, in the MA marriage article, the “confrontation” being talked about is simply bringing a lawsuit. In other articles it’s more direct forms of civil disobedience. Further, we have to remember that opinion columns don’t exactly count as scientific data. So, caution is advised when interpreting all this.

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