Gay people used to be invisible.
Before 1948, gay people lived lonely, isolated lives. If you met another person and figured out that he, too, was gay, he became your friend for life.
Today, there is no dismissing the fact that there are literally hundreds of millions of gay people around the world who are now out of the closet.
What caused the change?
In one word, Kinsey.
The Industrial Revolution started at about the same time the United States was founded. At its inception, 98% of Americans engaged in farming. Now, two percent do. This shift allowed for large numbers of people to leave their farms and pursue many endeavors not related to agriculture. One of these was a scientist by the name of Alfred C. Kinsey.
In 1948, Kinsey published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and in 1953, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. He was the world’s first sexologist and the first person to apply the scientific method to human sexuality on a widespread basis.
His work, which included research on heterosexuality, bisexuality and homosexuality, immediately made front page headlines around the nation and the world. It jarred a Victorian society and came into heavy criticism. To be sure, some of his work did not pass scientific muster.
With respect to homosexuality, there are still those who try to discredit Kinsey’s work. This is a diversion from two important points about Kinsey’s efforts:
- Kinsey began a paradigm shift which held that sexual behavior was a matter of sexual orientation and not choice. In other words, homosexuality should be viewed as a normal variation of human sexuality. His work spawned subsequent research which would fill libraries. This research adds impetus to the paradigm shift.
- The headlines and research taught gay people that they were not alone. Slowly, they came together, realized they were not shameful human beings, and eventually came out to their families and friends and all of society. We joined the political discourse.
An invisible class of people hidden for millennia emerged right before the very eyes of heterosexuals everywhere.
In this context, the 2015 decision of the United States Supreme Court was not an isolated event and, in a Pew Research Poll, 70% Americans said they support same-sex marriage. It is still possible that the court could reverse itself but the circumstances which lead to the original decision will never go away.