And then the patrons of a mob-owned bar in New York decided to handle things a bit differently, much to his chagrin. Even more to his chagrin, they turned out to be extremely effective.

[–] scops@reddthat.com 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I wouldn't downplay the achievements of the Mattachine Society of DC. They engaged with the government over and over in court and challenged the belief that gay men were open to blackmail and therefore unsafe to employ in government. Kameny created the Gay is Good slogan and argued that government workers who were open about their sexuality had no risk of blackmail, and were only at risk of unfair prejudice from the government itself.

Kameny was far from perfect, but there's a reason he was standing over Obama's shoulder when Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed.

[–] Jesus_666@feddit.de 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I wasn't trying to make the point that he or the Mattachine Society didn't matter. I merely find it very amusing that after a long and meticulously crafted campaign to make gay people as inoffensive and nonthreatening as possible, the thing that accelerated gay acceptance was when the exact opposite happened and people started showing that they didn't have to be nonthreatening.

The combination of a quiet composed voice and a loud angry one was more effective than either would've been on their own.

[–] flicker@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Women got the right to vote when they started making bombs.

I think this is the most effective way to do it. The upstanding, professional, clean way first and then...