THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOMOSEXUAL POLITICAL MOVEMENTS AND THE CREATION OF CIVIL UNION LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES, ARGENTINA, AND BRAZIL THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of Texas State University-San Marcos in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of ARTS by Julia C. Decker, B.A. San Marcos, Texas May 2008 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOMOSEXUAL POLITICAL MOVEMENTS AND THE CREATION OF CIVIL UNION LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES, ARGENTINA, AND BRAZIL Committee Members Approved: ____________________________ William DeSoto, Chair ____________________________ Edward Mihalkanin ____________________________ Victoria E. Bynum Approved: ______________________________ J. Michael Willoughby Dean of the Graduate College COPYRIGHT by Julia C. Decker 2008 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank and acknowledge all of the guidance and direction I received from my committee members, Dr. Bill DeSoto, Dr. Ed Mihalkanin, and Dr. Victoria Bynum. I would also like to thank the people who helped me to edit this thesis, Katrina L. Hansen, Yolanda Decker, Jessica Listi, Cyprus Walter, and Jared Walls. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Magda Hinojosa for her guidance in the areas of Latin America. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Arnold Leder, Dr. Marilyn Mote-Yale, Dr. Margaret Menninger, and Professor Sherri Mora. They have all been true friends and mentors that have guided and encouraged me throughout the years. Furthermore, I must thank all of my friends and family who have supported and encouraged me in all of my academic endeavors. These family members and friends are my parents, Oscar and Yolanda Decker, my sister Nicole Vines, my grandparents Arlin and LaVonne Coke and Joe and Olga Decker, my best friend and colleague Jilian McElyea, and all of the staff members of the Political Science department. I would like to thank my cousins Robby Coke and BobbieJo Coke who have preceded me in higher education and have shown by example that hard work and dedication can take you everywhere you want to go. In addition, I would like to especially thank Katrina L. Hansen for her support, encouragement, and patience throughout this process. Finally, I would like to thank all of my friends for their support and encouragement throughout this process and throughout my academic career and life. This manuscript was submitted on March 19, 2008. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEGEMENTS .................................................................................................. iv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................1 II. THE UNITED STATES MOVEMENT .....................................................6 III. THE ARGENTINE MOVEMENT ...........................................................59 IV. THE BRAZILIAN MOVEMENT ............................................................75 V. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................101 LITERATURE CITED ...................................................................................................109 v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Homosexuality has been a fierce topic of debate during the twentieth and early twenty-first century. Most of the debate has raged over whether homosexuality is a choice or a condition, moral or immoral, and even whether it is legal or illegal to engage in such activity. The main theoretical precepts for dealing with homosexuality follow many different and distinct arguments. The main theoretical perspective I will use to explore the correlation between homosexual social movements and the reformation and creation of laws dealing with homosexuality is the homosexual identity theory. Identity politics center around, and are defined by characteristics that make one a minority in their own culture and seeks to persuade the majority to socially respect that minority group. Identity centered political movements that can serve as examples are the civil rights movement and women’s rights movements. In the work by Button, Reinzo and Wald, identity politics are a style of political conflict that is “concerned with the political meanings of everyday life and interpersonal relations, sexuality and subjective experience, lifestyle and popular culture” (4). For people engaging in identity politics a phrase that was popularized by Simone de Beauvoir of the women’s movement captures the essence of identity politics “The personal is political.” According to Button et al. there are three essential qualities of identity politics and they are: 1 2 First identity politics represents new lines of political cleavage…Second, identity politics encompasses broad goals—not simply to secure additional economic resources for groups like women, blacks, and Latinos but to ensure that they are accorded a full measure of equality and social respect…and finally, the social movements that pursue identity politics typically embrace a wide array of political tactics (4-6). In addition to this the most essential quality of identity politics is to secure social acceptance for the group. The political ideal that is most frequently cited and encouraged by marginalized groups is equality. Button, Reinzo, and Wald argue that “ the goal of this [gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual] movement has been literal protection—to be achieved by including verbal and physical assaults on gays and lesbians among those actions known as hate crimes” (3). Furthermore one of the largest barriers to formal equality were the antisodomy laws that made all homosexual sex acts illegal. The repeal of these laws will be further discussed in the sections involving each specific country. The overall goal of all reforms initiated by the gay rights movement has been to eliminate the discrimination faced by lesbians and gays received only by their simple identity as homosexuals. However, it must be clearly stated that identity theory does not only seek to use litigation and court decisions to justify equality for homosexuals, it also claims that homosexuals must be socially accepted, and not demonized, for their status to be truly equitable. There are arguments that state that through litigation social attitudes will eventually change, however this leaves out religious sentiments and affiliations that might further increase prejudice against homosexuals. To address this specific type of discrimination litigation will not suffice and other methods must be developed for acceptance by certain religions that denounce homosexual behavior. 3 The theoretical framework of identity politics will be used to track and explain how the homosexual movement has advanced in the United States, Argentina, and Brazil. While the theoretical framework must be kept in mind this paper will let the movement speak for itself through the tracking of events that comprise the various movements. In the past two decades there has been a flurry of litigation and legislation concerning homosexual’s legal rights in the United States, Argentina, and Brazil. This paper will seek to illuminate the history of the different homosexual movements in these three countries, the political successes of the groups, the reasons for these successes, and will argue how these movements are likely to continue. While the movements in these countries have had some historical differences, they do share certain characteristics in how they form, expand, operate, and what successes and defeats they have experienced. While the movements do share similar characteristics, the legislation that has passed as a result has differed widely in context and reasons for implementation. Theories of homosexuality have greatly differed over the past two centuries and it has been attributed to many different “factors.” Sigmund Freud first articulated the notion that homosexuality was a natural phase of development that must be worked through to properly understand heterosexuality. Homosexuality was initially interpreted by the psychiatric community as a mental disorder. Sociologists and anthropologists still argue over whether it is nature or nurture. Genealogists seek to find the gay gene that could be the basis for homosexuality. For the purpose of this thesis, theory will be laid out but not argued upon for the reason that it will primarily concern itself not with the causes but the ramifications for citizens and the relationship they have with their 4 governments. This paper will examine each country individually and then formulate a conclusion based on the comparative analysis and study of all three different movements. The first country to be examined is the United States. Homosexual practices have always existed in one form or another and have either been sanctioned as legal or illegal by the state or country. In the United States homosexual sex acts were, for the most part, criminalized and it was not until the Supreme Court verdict in Lawrence V. Texas (2003) that homosexual sex acts were decriminalized. The verdict also struck down numerous laws that dealt with heterosexual conduct such as oral sex and anal sex. The fact that these laws no longer exist has been one of the most important victories for the homosexuals in the United States. The repeal of the laws marked a fundamental shift in how homosexuality was treated in the United States. It is important to note that the criminalization of homosexual activity is a fundamental difference between the homosexual movement and the civil rights and women’s rights movement. While there are many similarities between the homosexual,