GLBT’s a “Despised Category”

During the second day of a high-profile trial on same-sex marriage, a historian told a federal court that laws and police practices throughout U.S. history show gays and lesbians have been a “despised category.” A minority that have been arrested, fired, harassed and censored because of sexual orientation.

“Gay life really was pushed underground,” New York University history professor George Chauncey testified this afternoon.

Chauncey was the second expert witness to be called by lawyers for two same-sex couples who are challenging the federal constitutionality of Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that resurrected a California ban on same-sex marriage.

Because laws and police practices forced gays and lesbians to hide their sexuality and because the entertainment industry until recent years shied away from stories about homosexuality, “many young people growing up had no idea that there [were] other people like themselves,” he said.

Similarly, many heterosexuals assumed they knew no gays or lesbians, which fostered dangerous and negative stereotypes, he said.

More at: LA Times Blog!