Human Rights / Civil Rights

Creating Change : Sexuality, Public Policy, and Civil Rights by John D'Emilio, Urvashi Vaid, William B. Turner

Creating Change tells the story behind some of the most bitterly contested and controversial public events and public policy battles in the past generation and possibly in American history. In the thirty years since the Stonewall Inn riots marked the beginning of the modern gay and lesbian movement, there has been a dramatic change in the texture of gay and lesbian life and in its relationship to American society. Despite an apparently deepening conservative hold upon national and state politics, this shift has been as extensive - over a comparable period of time - as that witnessed in race and gender relations.

Creating Change traces the work and gauges the impact of the gay and lesbian movement since Stonewall. It explores a critically significant, though often ignored, area in which change has occurred - the world of public policy making, especially at the level of the federal government - and scrutinizes the who, how, why, and what of it. A work of scholarship and a work of passion, it recounts how a specific constituency - gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans - were able to make tremendous progress despite seemingly insurmountable barriers. Creating Change is the story of the way in which the American political and cultural landscape became what it is today and how social change is brought about.

About the Author
John D'Emilio is a Guggenheim Fellow, teaches gay & lesbian studies and history at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and is the author of several books including the classic Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities.

William B. Turner teaches United States History at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and is the author of A Genealogy of Queer Theory.

Urvashi Vaid is the Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute and author of Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of the Gay and Lesbian Movement. She lives in New York City.

ACLU Lesbian & Gay Rights Project

Gay and Lesbian rights have moved to the center of the American stage.  At no time in our nation's history have gay men and lesbians been more  visible, fighting for their rights in Congress, in the courts, in  workplaces, in the community.

Gender Public Advocacy Coalition

Gender Public Advocacy Coalition is the national organization working to guarantee every American's civil right to their gender identity or expression free of stereotypes, discrimination, and violence.

Human Rights Campaign

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Justice, Inc.

Justice, Inc. is Indiana’s statewide civil rights organization for gay and lesbian issues.  Justice, Inc. is committed to the attainment of civil rights and social acceptance for gay and lesbian citizens of Indiana through legislation, political action and public awareness.

Lambda Legal Defense

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV/AIDS through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.

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National Center For Lesbian Rights

Founded in 1977, NCLR is the only national legal and advocacy organization dedicated to achieving full civil and human rights for all lesbians and their families. Each year NCLR provides litigation, legal resources, advocacy and community education to more than 1,500 lesbians, bisexuals, gay men and transgender people across the United States. From advocating to legalize lesbian and gay marriage to providing partnership protection documents to couples, NCLR leads the struggle to win equal protections and benefits for same-sex families.

National Gay Lobby

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National Journal of Sexual Orientation Law

The Journal's primary purpose is to disseminate information and ideas about law and sexual orientation in an efficient and timely manner, but without duplicating the recent inclusion of articles on sexual orientation in traditional law reviews.

National Lesbian and Gay Task Force

NGLTF is the national progressive organization working for the civil rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. NGLTF's vision and commitment to social change is building a powerful political movement in the fifty states and the District of Columbia.

National Stonewall Democrats

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PoliticalWag -- Gay Rights Forum

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