Homosexuals as Second Class Citizens in 20th Century America and Today

According to John D'Emilio, the expansion of capital and the spread of wage labor profoundly affected traditional structures. Free market labor, as a person's means of income, questioned the viability of the nuclear family, the ideology of family relations, and the meaning of procreation.[1] As George Chauncey asserted in Gay New York, the growth of population in the cities during early 20th century facilitated the emergence of homosexual identity. The inequalities of industrial labor ran hand and hand with social inequalities in a period when gender inversion defined same sex male desire (1900-1930).[2] Mostly working class gays pursued an open desire to be with other men, dressing in feminine ways to increase their visibility to other men who may want a sexual encounter. If men dressed feminine, some employers denied middle class employment opportunities.

During the 1930's, conceptualizations of sexuality changed as a heterosexual/homosexual dichotomy emerged. By distinguishing men who engage in sexual activities with other men as homosexual, the labeling of one category created an opposite category for those who engage in sexual relations with the opposite sex. Medical doctors, psychologists, and anti-vice squads stigmatized homosexuals as diseased, mentally ill, and unnatural.[3] In reaction to the professionalized response, society repressed, outlawed, and discriminated against homosexuals.[4] The negative labels placed upon homosexuals by society remained through the 20th century and persist even today. Tracing the rights of homosexuals during this century, they attained the distinction of second class citizenship in the . By discussing the after effects of World War II, 1950's conservative culture, the 1960's and the push towards Gay Liberation, the AIDS epidemic, and gay family formation all shed light as to how homosexuals received little to or no access to standard citizenship that heterosexuals enjoy.