Amending America: LGBTQ Human and Civil Rights
Explore selected stories about LGBTQ human and civil rights.
Account of Lt. Enslin’s court martial and sentence
On March 10, 1778, Lieutenant Frederick Gotthold Enslin became the first U.S. soldier court-martialed for “attempting to commit sodomy” with another soldier. His sentence was to be literally drummed out of the Continental Army by its regiments’ fifes and drums. Enslin was told “never to return.”
Over 230 years after Enslin’s court martial, gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people are now allowed to serve openly in the U.S. armed forces.
Approved Pension File for Lucy A. L. Slater, Widow of Private George Slater, Company G, 128th New York Infantry Regiment
Born Lucy Ann Lobdell in 1829, Lucy took the name of Joseph (Joe) Israel Lobdell and later married Marie Louise Perry.
In 1879, Lobdell was committed to the Willard Insane Asylum for not conforming to contemporary gender norms.
Historians disagree about where this person falls on the LGBTQ spectrum. Some see Lucy as a lesbian who passed as a man. Others believe that Joseph was what we today refer to as transgender.
Immigration and Naturalization Service, File Unit 54153/140 George W. McBurney
Jim South, a 24-year-old Canadian real estate agent, moved to Detroit in 1915. On a visit back to Canada, he met George McBurney, a drapery salesman.
A romantic relationship developed between the two. They exchanged numerous letters—sometimes two or three a day—and saw each other when they could. George moved to Detroit in late 1915.
Immigration and Naturalization Service, File Unit 54153/140 George W. McBurney
Immigration and Naturalization Service, File Unit 54134/212 Samuel James South
In April 1916, the U.S. Immigration Bureau issued warrants for the arrest of South and McBurney. They were charged with having committed a crime of “moral turpitude,” “an unnatural, immoral act” prior to their emigration from Canada.
Rather than be deported, both returned to Canada voluntarily.
Immigration and Naturalization Service, File Unit 54134/212 Samuel James South
Scott v. Macy
In 1956, Bruce Scott was fired from his job at the Labor Department because he was gay. Five years later he applied for another job at the same agency. Although he passed a qualifying exam, he was declared “ineligible for federal employment on the grounds of immoral conduct.”
In 1965, Scott appealed to the US District Court of Appeals for DC, which ruled in September 1968 that he must be considered eligible for federal employment.
Photograph of Bayard Rustin at meeting with Lyndon Baines Johnson
A prolific activist, Bayard Rustin was known as “an intellectual engineer behind the scenes,” and the success of the March on Washington was credited to his planning.
He was in federal prison from 1944 to 1946 for conscientiously objecting to serving in World War II. He helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Coalition to support the efforts of a then young, largely unknown minister named Martin Luther King Jr. His achievements could have made him a household name.
But his open homosexuality led organizations to keep him in the background.
Photograph of Bayard Rustin at meeting with Lyndon Baines Johnson
Photograph from LBJ Meeting with Civil Rights leaders
Barbara Jordan, the first African American woman elected to Congress from Texas, is widely remembered for her commitment to the U.S. Constitution. Her speech in favor of the impeachment of President Nixon was a key moment in the Watergate investigation. After retiring from Congress in 1979, she remained actively engaged with issues of the day. She gave a rousing speech at the 1992 Democratic National Convention.
What was not known publicly was that she shared 30 years of her life with another woman. While she was not outspoken about her sexuality during her lifetime, she remains a hero to the LGBTQ community.
Photograph from LBJ Meeting with Civil Rights leaders
Letter from San Francisco Board of Supervisor Member Harvey Milk to President Jimmy Carter - Includes copy of speech at Gay Freedom Day in San Francisco
Harvey Milk, a gay man elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, gave a rousing speech at the city’s 1978 Gay Freedom Day celebration.
In his speech, Milk emphasized that LGBTQ rights are part of the American tradition of freedom and equality.
Letter from San Francisco Board of Supervisor Member Harvey Milk to President Jimmy Carter
Harvey Milk wrote President Jimmy Carter asking him to speak out against Proposition 6, which would have banned gay men and lesbians from teaching or otherwise being employed by California school districts.
The initiative was opposed by a number of leading politicians, including former Governor Ronald Reagan, and former President Gerald Ford.
The initiative was ultimately defeated at the polls in November 1978.
Letter from San Francisco Board of Supervisor Member Harvey Milk to President Jimmy Carter
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