Editing LGBTQ movements (section)

== Overview ==
[[File:Kiss (19165072846).jpg|thumb|alt=Two men kissing in front of the US Supreme Court. One is wearing a t-shirt with the words, Legalize Gay|Marriage Equality Decision Day Rally in front of the US Supreme Court, Washington DC, 2015]]
[[File:Day of Kisses in Moscow.jpg|thumb|Russian LGBT activists protesting anti-gay law at the [[State Duma]] in [[Moscow]] were attacked, detained, 2013]]
{{Rights |By claimant}}

[[Sociologist]] Mary Bernstein writes: "For the lesbian and gay movement, then, cultural goals include (but are not limited to) challenging dominant constructions of [[masculinity]] and [[femininity]], [[homophobia]], and the primacy of the gendered heterosexual [[nuclear family]] ([[heteronormativity]]). Political goals include changing laws and policies to gain new rights, benefits, and protections from harm".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bernstein |first1=Mary |title=Identities and Politics: Toward a Historical Understanding of the Lesbian and Gay Movement |journal=Social Science History |date=2002 |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=531–581 |jstor=40267789 |doi=10.1017/S0145553200013080 |s2cid=151848248 }}</ref> Bernstein emphasizes that activists seek both types of goals in both the civil and political spheres.

As with other social movements, there is also conflict within and between LGBTQ movements, especially about strategies for change and debates over exactly who represents the constituency of these movements, and this also applies to changing education.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kitchen |first1=Julian |last2=Bellini |first2=Christine |title=Addressing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Issues in Teacher Education: Teacher Candidates' Perceptions |journal=Alberta Journal of Educational Research |date=2012 |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=444–460 |doi=10.55016/ojs/ajer.v58i3.55632 |url=https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ajer/article/view/55632 |archive-date=September 4, 2022 |access-date=November 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904051318/https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ajer/article/view/55632 |url-status=dead }}</ref> There is debate over the extent that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and [[intersex]] people, as well as others, share common interests and a need to work together.

Leaders of the lesbian and gay movement of the 1970s, '80s and '90s often attempted to hide masculine lesbians, feminine [[gay men]], transgender people, and bisexuals from the public eye, creating internal divisions within LGBTQ communities.<ref>Bull, C., and J. Gallagher (1996) Perfect Enemies: The Religious Right, the Gay Movement, and the Politics of the 1990s. New York: Crown.{{page needed|date=August 2020}}</ref> Roffee and Waling (2016) documented that LGBTQ people experience microaggressions, bullying and anti-social behaviors from other people within the LGBTQ community. This is due to misconceptions and conflicting views as to what entails "LGBT". For example, transgender people found that other members of the community were not understanding toward their own, individual, specific needs and would instead make ignorant assumptions, and this could cause health risks.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parker |first1=Richard G. |title=Sexuality, Health, and Human Rights |journal=American Journal of Public Health |date=June 2007 |volume=97 |issue=6 |pages=972–973 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2007.113365 |pmid=17463362 |pmc=1874191 }}</ref> 

Additionally, bisexual people found that lesbian or gay people were not understanding or appreciative of bisexual sexuality. Evidently, even though most of these people would say that they stand for the same values as the majority of the community, there are still remaining inconsistencies even within the LGBTQ community.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roffee |first1=James A. |last2=Waling |first2=Andrea |title=Rethinking microaggressions and anti-social behaviour against LGBTIQ+ youth |journal=Safer Communities |date=October 10, 2016 |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=190–201 |doi=10.1108/SC-02-2016-0004 }}</ref>

LGBTQ movements have often adopted a kind of [[identity politics]] that sees gay, bisexual, and transgender people as a fixed class of people; a [[minority group]] or groups, and this is very common among LGBTQ communities.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Balsam |first1=Kimberly F. |last2=Molina |first2=Yamile |last3=Beadnell |first3=Blair |last4=Simoni |first4=Jane |last5=Walters |first5=Karina |title=Measuring multiple minority stress: The LGBT People of Color Microaggressions Scale |journal=Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology |date=April 2011 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=163–174 |doi=10.1037/a0023244 |pmid=21604840 |pmc=4059824 }}</ref>

Those using this approach aspire to liberal political goals of freedom and [[equal opportunity]], and aim to join the political mainstream on the same level as other groups in society.<ref>One example of this approach is: [[Andrew Sullivan|Sullivan, Andrew]] (1997). ''Same-Sex Marriage: Pro and Con''. New York: Vintage.{{page needed|date=August 2020}}</ref> In arguing that [[sexual orientation]] and [[gender identity]] are innate and cannot be consciously changed, attempts to change gay, lesbian, and bisexual people into heterosexuals ("[[conversion therapy]]") are generally opposed by the LGBTQ community. Such attempts are often based on [[religious beliefs]] that perceive gay, lesbian, and bisexual activity as immoral. Religion has, however, never been univocal opposed to either homosexuality, bisexuality or being transgender, usually treating sex between men and sex between women differently.

As of today, numerous religious communities and many believers in various religions are generally accepting of LGBTQ rights.

However, others within LGBTQ movements have criticized identity politics as limited and flawed, elements of the [[queer]] movement have argued that the categories of gay and lesbian are restrictive, and attempted to [[Deconstruction|deconstruct]] those categories, which are seen to "reinforce rather than challenge a cultural system that will always mark the non heterosexual as inferior."<ref>Bernstein (2002)</ref>

After the [[French Revolution]] the anticlerical feeling in Catholic countries coupled with the liberalizing effect of the [[Napoleonic Code]] made it possible to sweep away sodomy laws. However, in [[Protestant]] countries, where the church was less severe, there was no general reaction against statutes that were religious in origin.

As a result, many of those countries retained their statutes on sodomy until late in the 20th century. However, some countries have still retained their statutes on sodomy. For example, in 2008 a case in India's High Court was judged using a 150-year-old reading that was punishing sodomy.<ref>{{cite journal |title=This Alien Legacy |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2008/12/17/alien-legacy/origins-sodomy-laws-british-colonialism |website=Human Rights Watch |date=December 17, 2008 }}</ref>