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People all over the world have been fighting for civil rights for centuries, without cease. Sometimes, the issues seem to come to ahead (ahem) and the battle line is pushed forward, just a bit, where it inches along until the next giant push.
In the late 1970s, in Sweden of all places, being gay was still defined as a mental disorder, and people had enough of that crap.
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A group of Swedes decided to make their point by taking advantage of the system, and they called in “gay” to work. If homosexuality was a sickness, well, they’d better stay home and get paid for it.
One woman even managed to have disability benefits approved for being gay.
This smaller protest was part of a larger movement by the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights (RFSL). Homosexuality had been decriminalized in Sweden in 1944, but according to their National Board of Health and Welfare, it remained a “disease.” It had only been removed as a mental disorder in America as of 1973, though people did continue to be diagnosed with a “sexual orientation disturbance.”
Image Credit: RFSL
In August of 1979, the RFSL staged a sit in during “Homosexual Liberation Week” (now known as Stockholm Pride). They gathered to block the stairs of the National Board building, where they were eventually joined by the Board’s director.
In October of that year, homosexuality was declassified as a disease, making Sweden the first country in Europe to make the change.
Image Credit: Wikipedia
There are still countries around the world that haven’t caught up, even though the WHO (in 2014, ffs) has concluded that there is no scientific basis for LGBTQ individuals to be diagnosed with mental disorders.
Basically, if you think the fight for LGBTQ rights is over because of the giant strides we’ve taken over the past several years, it’s not – so let’s keep being good allies and pushing the barrier forward, yeah?
