Background Research - Queer Youth Movement

 Before I start planning my documentary, I want to start off with what I believe is crucial background information and research. I’m going to talk about the queer youth movement.

The gay liberation and youth movements coincide; they cannot be separated. This is especially true with the event that is associated with and is deemed the start of the gay liberation movement, The Stonewall Inn uprisings. The Stonewall Inn uprisings began on June 28th, 1969 when police officers raided a gay bar in New York City; A gay bar that was seen as a community and safe space for many LGBTQ+ teenagers and adults in New York. When the police attacked, the patrons fought back and led riots that lasted for six days. No one knows how or who started it, but it marked the beginning of a new era for the LGBTQIA+ community. 

The Stonewall Uprising

The Stonewall uprising involved many young people, including Sylvia Rivera. Sylvia Rivera is a trans woman who was one of the leaders in the Stonewall riots at seventeen years old. She also created the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries or STAR with Marsha P. Johnson, a trans woman and leader of the Stonewall riots. Both STAR and Marsha P. Johnson herself aided LGBTQIA+ youth by providing aid and shelter for those in need. Their impact on the queer youth of their day was very powerful, helping so many queer kids that were left on the streets. 

Interview of Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, and other members of STAR talking about the organization and the movement

This movement and the impact it had led to the first GSA or Gay-Student Alliance in 1972 at George Washington High School in Washington Heights, New York. The high-school students, mostly students of color, created the club with a list of demands. Their demands were as follows, “The right to form gay groups of both a social and political nature (1), The right to be included and to receive fair representation in any high school course dealing with sexuality (as both sexual beings and as a political movement in a changing society with changing cultural values), and if none exists, to have them be created (2), and The right to be treated as equal human beings, which includes the removal of all textbooks and other educational material that treat homosexuality as an aberration, rather than as an integral and important part of human sexuality. (3)” Although the club was small, only consisting of twenty people (nine lesbians, six gay men, and five straight allies), it was impactful. It encouraged people to form their own idealizations and ideas about the world and the society we live in. They were also recruited and spoken to by the Gay Activist Alliance, or the GAA, in an open forum where they answered questions, and gave advice, and support to the group. This group caused many others to rise, especially teenagers, all across the country. The first GSA had a great impact on the queer youth movement of the seventies.

List of demands from George Washington High’s GSA

By the summer of 1973 however, the gay liberation movement began to fade and end. This became clear when some lesbian “feminists” became unaccepting of trans women in the community and when Sylvia Rivera was jeered on stage during the annual Liberation Days Rally (Pride today). While some queer youth groups emerged after this, they were more forgotten and less impactful than those of the decade prior. The LGBTQIA+ community also suffered in the coming decades, but the modern day would see a revival of the queer movement, especially with teens. 

The modern queer youth movement began in the mid-2010s when gay marriage was legalized in 2015. LGBTQIA+ representation is more present in pop culture and in media such as the TLC show, "I Am Jazz," which tells the story of transgender teen Jazz Jennings, as she goes through high school. The TV shows Will & Grace, where one of the main characters is gay, and Modern Family, which highlights a gay couple who adopted a daughter from Vietnam, were also on the air. When these shows were on the air, teenagers today were kids and grew up with queer representation as a normal thing in their lives. Being queer was becoming more normalized and accepted, allowing people to feel more comfortable to come out and express themselves. 

Social media was also seeing a significant rise and kids and teenagers were using it extensively. Because of this large exposure to social media, kids and teens were seeing more representation on their screens through platforms like YouTube and Instagram. Creators like Tyler Oakley, Joey Graceffa, and now famous singer Troye Sivan, got their start on YouTube making content about their life and having fun but also about being queer and educating their audiences. A lot of young people felt seen and found comfort in their videos. This representation in the media has continued and expanded today making it more and more normal in our society.

This normalcy of representation in the media has allowed more teens to feel comfortable in their identity and has allowed them to come out. According to a General Society Survey, more young people openly identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual from 2007-2017. This support has also caused more schools to create GSAs and for fewer LGBTQIA+ students to face less harassment in school. According to a GLSEN survey, 60% of schools had a GSA by 2018, and only 20% of LGBTQIA+ students reported harassment at school. Many people are more open and accepting which has allowed people to express and be themselves.

While queer teenagers are also able to express themselves more freely, many face mental health issues, don’t have support at home, or are being affected by anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation that is being passed in southern, more republican states. According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about seventy percent of high school students who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual reported persistent sadness which is twice the rate of their heterosexual peers. One in five have also attempted suicide in the last year which is nearly four times the rate of straight young people. There are also young queer people who's family aren't supportive of them and their identity, forcing them to either live in a house isolated or leave at an early age. This is extremely harmful to their mental health but there are organizations, like The Trevor Project, who provide aid to young queer people in need. There are also anti-LGBTQIA+ laws that are being passed in mostly southern states that affect transgender youth and how gender and sexuality are being taught in schools. Transgender minors are being refused gender-affirming care, teachers aren't allowed to refer to transgender students by their preferred name or pronouns, and LGBTQIA+ topics are being restricted and silenced in schools. This is extremely harmful as it restricts opposing viewpoints, limiting the knowledge of students, and causing transgender people to not get the care they need to survive. 

No matter what year, decade, or era, the LGBTQIA+ community has always been that, a community. Everyone is united by their identity and will uplift each other to uplift their community. People have discovered themselves and are living their truth because they can feel safe enough too. Community is a very strong and powerful thing and is valued for queer youth. The LGBTQIA+ movement has evolved with the times but it has always been a youth movement.  

"The movement had put me on the shelf, but they took me down and dusted me off… Still, it was beautiful. I walked down 58th Street and the young ones were calling from the sidewalk, ‘Sylvia, Sylvia, thank you, we know what you did.’"

- Sylvia Rivera

Sources:

“LGBTQ History.” The Trevor Project, The Trevor Project, www.thetrevorproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/LGBTQ-History.pdf. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024. 

Ourfamilyqueereducation. “LGBTQ History Month Week 3: Queer Youth:  Movement & Uprising " Teaching LGBTQ History.” Teaching LGBTQ History, 24 Oct. 2023, lgbtqhistory.org/lgbtq-history-week-3-youth-resistance-its-not-just-whats-trending/. 

Paris, Francesca, and Claire Cain Miller. “What It’s like to Be a Queer Teenager in America Today.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 June 2023, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/03/upshot/up-lgbtq-teens.html#:~:text=For%20L.G.B.T.Q.,bisexual%2C%20transgender%20or%20otherwise%20queer. 

“Queer Youth Cultures.” State University of New York Press, 2008, sunypress.edu/Books/Q/Queer-Youth-Cultures2. 

Rindner, Grant. “Who Were the Stonewall Riot Leaders?” Oprah Daily, www.oprahdaily.com/life/a36319161/stonewall-riot-leaders/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024. 

Ventura, Anya. “The Radical History of the First Gay-Straight Alliance.” The Nation, 24 June 2022, www.thenation.com/article/society/gay-liberation-high-school/.