HIS 315G 1st Edition Lecture 19Outline of Last Lecture I. DiscoII. StonewallIII. HomosexualityIV. Sexual revolutionOutline of Current Lecture I. Disco SucksII. Gay Rights BacklashIII. End of Disco EraIV. Moral MajorityV. Equal Rights Amendment VI. Ronald ReaganCurrent LectureYMCA: double entendre Interpreting the "Disco Sucks" backlash-Too capitalistic-Too pop-ish? Too simplistic?-Too effeminateDisco Demolition Night July 1979, Comiskey Park Chicago Gay Rights BacklashAnita Bryant: begins "Save Our Children" campaign in 1977 to ban anti-gay discrimination, starts in MiamiHarvey Milk is a gay senator in California; first openly gay senator-Dan White assassinates Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone-Gets little consequence The last days of disco-Disco's demise comes with the arrival of AIDS; "Disco Sucks" traumatizes many careers -> gets transmuted into House, Rave and Hip Hop-Spurred debate about the future of the American FamilySylvester ends up dying of AIDS From the 1970's to the 1980'sThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.-The 1980's "Moral Majority" backlash-Deindustrialization, the economy and the working classoShifting from a manufacturing economy to a service economy: knowledge based industry, need skills to advance -Morals trump wages and benefits Equal rights amendment: Affirmation that everyone should have equal rights including women, proposed originally in the 1920's, polls showed that support for the ERA is never below 50% STOP ERA: anti-ERA campaign; (Stop Taking Our Privileges) women don't want to be drafted, prohibit sex-separated restrooms, fearful of sanctioning homosexual marriage, generally threatens "the family" -30 states ratify; 38 needed NEVER RATIFIED; Amendment killed in 1982Three objectives: Reagan administration "Moral Majority"; started in 1979, Christian fundamentalist group, one of the most effective lobby groups in the US over the course of the 1980's-Against legal abortion-Against homosexuality "AIDS is the wrath of God on homosexuals" -For Traditional family values President Reagan's "Policy of Silence" 1980-1987Regarding the AIDS epidemic; didn't respond, advisers say that "they are getting what they deserve", has a dark association but not all people who have the virus got it doing illicit or homosexual activities -Worried about offending supporters if he were to act on the AIDS epidemic Vito Russo: wrote the Cellulitis Closet (?) -Diagnosed HIV +; "so if I'm dying from anything, I'm dying from homophobia.. Racism, indifference, red tape.. President of the United States More on Reagan: Examining Reagan's appeal to the working class: elected in 1980 and reelected in 1984 with support of working class and evangelicals "Family Values" and "Born in the USA"-High unemployment during Reagan Administration -At this time corporations are seeking cheaper workers elsewhere-"Born in the USA" is a very working class song, talks about poor treatment of Vietnam war veterans, coming home to a dead town, working in a refinery -> Reagan administrationpicks this song up as an anthem for their reelection campaignReagan's New Economy: Deregulation and Deindustrialization-Deregulates airlines, trucking and banking: free from government regulation, push to be competitive for saddled industries-Move manufacturing abroad, loss of jobs, plant closings, layoffs, rise of imports, death ofmany small towns, labor's loss of negotiating power-Maquiladora Program