In response to a growing GLBT rights movement in North America, conservative, mostly Christian groups organized into a wave of antigay and antilesbian political activism in Canada and the United States. The wave has continued into the twenty-first century, nearly unabated.
In the early 1970’s, groups fighting for the civil rights of gays and lesbians saw the Christian Right develop antigay and antilesbian groups in response. One such organization in Canada, the Halton Renaissance Committee,
By 1978, Campbell had organized Renaissance International (now called Renaissance Canada),
By the 1980’s, these evolving groups went beyond antigay activities to promote what they described as a “pro-family” agenda: Through mainstream organizations such as the Christian Coalition
This evolving network of organizations made broad media appeals and overt forays into the political realm, but with mixed results. In 1989, Campbell described Renaissance International as a bankrupt religious charity and stopped his fight with Canada’s revenue department over the organization’s tax-exempt status and questionable participation in various election campaigns against progay candidates. The matter went all the way to Canada’s Court of Appeal. In 1991, Campbell registered as a candidate in the Toronto mayoral election, to assist, he said, an antigay candidate in the defeat of two other candidates he classified as progay. In the United States, evangelicals are politically well organized. The late 1970’s and early 1980’s saw a significant increase in commercial religious broadcasting from these groups as well as involvement in various local and state antigay initiatives.
By the late 1990’s, Campbell became director of Canada’s Civilized Majority,
In 1999, Campbell publicly expressed support for the group Homosexuals Opposed to Pride Extremism (HOPE) and their participation in the 2000 Halton GLBT pride celebration. In the United States in 2004, various religious-right organizations, as well as President George W. Bush, clamored for a vote before the presidential election for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would define “marriage” as being between a woman and a man. While the vote did not transpire, the issue did prompt the passing of eleven state initiatives in November of 2004, banning lesbian and gay marriages, civil unions, or both.
The Halton Renaissance Committee continues to have a local, regional, and national impact as well as a relationship to the broader GLBT rights movement. In addition to continued involvement and intervention in local “morality” issues, the committee’s successor organization represents a trend in social movement dynamics that typifies liberation struggles. For instance, in 1996, Renaissance Canada—successor to Renaissance International—protested the decision of Milton District High School in Ontario, Canada, to use Joyce Carol Oates’s novel Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang (1993) because of what opponents viewed as explicit sexual content. Campbell has claimed to have influenced book decisions in a number of cases involving several Canadian schools. In addition, the organization—and Campbell—had ties to a variety of other conservative pro-family organizations.
For the broader GLBT rights movement, the formation of groups such as Renaissance Canada may be a mixed blessing. On the one hand, they represent a conservative response to progressive reforms. On the other hand, they provide an opportunity for the revitalization of GLBT organizations and the potential for wider media exposure of pivotal GLBT rights issues. Extreme organizations such as those of Phelps and vitriolic rhetoric such as that produced by Campbell, often have the effect of mobilizing politically on behalf of GLBT rights. However, the emergence of these groups has also shifted the battle for GLBT rights from federal venues to venues at the local and state level, where regional cultural differences have made many battles difficult.
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1950: Mattachine Society Is Founded
1952: ONE, Inc., Is Founded
1955: Daughters of Bilitis Founded as First National Lesbian Group in United States
May 27-30, 1960: First National Lesbian Conference Convenes
February 19-20, 1966: First North American Conference of Homophile Organizations Convenes
April 19, 1967: First Student Homophile League Is Formed
August 11-18, 1968: NACHO Formally Becomes the First Gay Political Coalition
July 31, 1969: Gay Liberation Front Is Formed
June 28, 1970: First Lesbian and Gay Pride March in the United States
November 28, 1970: Del Martin Quits Gay Liberation Movement
1973: National Gay Task Force Is Formed
October 18, 1973: Lambda Legal Authorized to Practice Law
1977: Anita Bryant Campaigns Against Gay and Lesbian Rights
November 7, 1978: Antigay and Antilesbian Briggs Initiative Is Defeated
1979: Moral Majority Is Founded
April 22, 1980: Human Rights Campaign Fund Is Founded
November, 1986: Californians Reject LaRouche’s Quarantine Initiative
March, 1987: Radical AIDS Activist Group ACT UP Is Founded
March-April, 1993: Battelle Sex Study Prompts Conservative Backlash