Young Writers Society

I need some info on gay rights in the early 1900s. I know that England had and Act passed that made 'gross indecencies' a punishable crime up until the 60s, I believe, I don't know whether America had something like this as well, or whether they had no laws at all pertaining to homosexual relationships.

I did a little research on my own, but I'm still not really finding anything. Pretty much I need to know if it was also illegal to be gay in America, like it was in England.

I think you've been reading too much about Oscar Wilde, Clau.

You tried Wikipedia?

-Twit

No, this has nothing to do with Oscar Wilde, I simply know the English facts because of my research into the life of Oscar Wilde, this, is for a story.

And yes, I have tried wiki, they have about a paragraph on the time period I'm looking for, and nothing on laws.

I don't know if you're still looking for help on this, but here's something that might help:

http://www.suphawut.com/gvb/gayly/gay_history7.htm

From the looks of it, it seems that homosexuality was not punishable or illegal at that time (I skimmed through the article).

"From the looks of it, it seems that homosexuality was not punishable or illegal at that time (I skimmed through the article)."

Yeah, right. Sodomy laws still exist in many states in the US.

With the help of my friend the Google Directory, I have a pretty useful site for this.
PBS: http://www.pbs.org/outofthepast/past.html (Navigate to 1900s using the frame on the right. Yay, a timeline!)

Cool, right? I think so. *Is proud of self.*

Shawn wrote:"From the looks of it, it seems that homosexuality was not punishable or illegal at that time (I skimmed through the article)."

Yeah, right. Sodomy laws still exist in many states in the US.

I'm talking about homosexuality in the 1900s, not recent times.

erm, well in any case don't argue.

Thanks everyone! I haven't gotten a change to look at any of the links, but I'm sure they'll help me out a lot.

If it helps, I remember reading somewhere that homosexuality was listed in whatever big book of mental disorders and disabilities that doctors have until around the 1970s.

If you look up that landmark case, you might find some history of gay rights. (Those guys in ... Texas? who were arrested for sodomy after a noise complaint from their neighbors, or something like that.)

Really specific, I know. It's driving me mad that I can't give you actual names and dates, but all of that is escaping me right now.

This probably isn't early enough for you, but I was talking with my history teacher about the McCarthy era, and he mentioned that in addition to a "red scare" there was also a "pink scare" - numerous people who may or may not have been homosexual were accused of things like "dispersing obscene literature" or "spreading indecent ideas" and tried alongside the supposed communists in the McCarthy hearings. I can't really tell you any more about it, because all I can find on this subject are films and documentaries (and in a small, republican Texas town, you can bet my library won't have any of them!).