From the history book

The Stonewall Riots gave birth to modern-day Gay Pride celebrations in the U.S, featuring parades and festivals in a growing number of cities around the country. Also growing from this black-mark on American acceptance of diversity, has come a solid movement in support of equal rights for Gays and Lesbians, not only in America, but in Europe as well. Around the world, the political and economic clout of Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals, has grown to the extent that this group is no longer considered to be a fringe element. Homosexuals have been instrumental in electing candidates to office and openly Gay and Lesbian individuals have, themselves, been elected to serve in just about every capacity from local government to positions of national and international prominence.

Today, being homosexual does not necessarily have attached to it the stigma that once was. Younger gays and lesbians find it easier to live while openly expressing their sexual orientation. In some countries, homosexual and heterosexual relations are judicially equal. Some countries, such as Denmark, Sweden and Norway, recognize homosexual unions with the same validity as heterosexual marriages.

In some states in America, specific laws have been passed to protect openly homosexual individuals from discrimination in housing, on the job, and in public. But this is only the beginning. Worldwide acceptance of homosexuality as a valid lifestyle is not commonplace. Many countries do not permit gay marriages. Adoption of children by homosexual couples is prohibited in far more places than it is accepted.

In some places in the world, the practice of homosexuality is still treated as it was in the Dark Ages. Gays and Lesbians are subjected to the rule of the State and the death penalty is still the final solution to the "problem of the queers." In many ways, Gays and Lesbians are not always equal, even in the most advanced and accepting societies such as Switzerland. To this end, it is necessary for young people of today to take up the banner of their forebears and continue to fight for equality. Strong civic-organizations need to be continued. Groups such as Pink Cross and LOS need support. They are in the forefront of the gay rights movement.

There is still much to do. It is up to you to do it!!!!

Later, in the 19^th century, the homosexual lifestyle was actually protected in some European states such as France (Civil Code 1804) and in Bavaria. By the 20^th Century, views of homosexuality had changed from foundations in biblical terms (sin) to those of a medical nature. With the advent of psychoanalysis, those who were homosexual were not thought of as being afflicted with a "sickness." At his Institute of Sexual science, Doctor Magnus Hirschfeld tried to justify homosexuality as a "third gender." This teaching emphasized that given its prevalence (and in many cases acceptance) throughout the history of man, homosexuality could or should be construed as a common way of life for some people.

By the 1920s in Berlin, Germany, (and in Basel and Zurich) there was a blossoming gay subculture.

When the National Socialists took power in 1933, the previous freedoms that were commonplace came to an abrupt and brutal end.

The Middle Ages came back to Germany. Gays and Lesbians were seen as threats to the State. They were persecuted; placed in concentration camps, where they suffered dreadfully, not only at the hands of their Nazi captors, but fellow inmates as well. Often they were simply executed.

During this time, a magazine called Der Kreis circulated throughout Europe. For a long time, this was the only gay booklet (printed in Zurich) that provided that area of the world with gay information.

The beginning of the modern gay movement came on the 27^th of June, 1969 in New York City in America. In what has come to be called the "Stonewall Riots," self-indulgent New York Police conducted unprovoked raids on a gay bar, The Stonewall. Patrons of the establishment, gay and non-gay alike, suffered insults and were arrested without grounds. Many were injured in the two-day melee, but the most important significance of Stonewall was that for the first time in America, gays and lesbians successfully fought back against persecution and unjust treatment.