Thirteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

This inquiry investigates the third wave of the modern social movement for LGBTQ+ rights and suggests the global implications this phase of activism has had. To do so, this examination focuses on the final statement (“Warrenton Declaration”) of the “War Conference” held by U.S. gay leaders in Warrenton, Virginia in 1988. This study uses the tools of historical and sociological analysis to gain a better understanding of the content and subsequent influence of the Warrenton Declaration. While the Declaration highlighted the threat of HIV-AIDS and the “callous and criminal response” of the U.S. government to that threat, it also outlined a movement agenda that underscored organizational logistics (especially mass-media strategies) and the need for greater public visibility among those who identified as gay or lesbian. This inquiry concludes that the implications of the Warrenton Declaration are at least twofold. 1) It did not, perhaps could not, envision the LGBTQ+ rights movement’s shift from prioritizing the HIV-AIDS epidemic to emphasizing legal campaigns to repeal sodomy laws and to promote marriage equality. 2) On the other hand, by successfully advocating for a national Coming Out Day–a powerful tactic for enhancing individual affirmation and communal solidarity–it represented the importance that “new social movements” placed, and continue to place, on collective identities and emotional expression (Jasper, 1997; Melucci, 1996). Indeed, Coming Out Day has become an international phenomenon, illustrating an older conception of “globalization” that stresses the ability of cultural change and social movements to transcend increasingly permeable national boundaries.