HARTFORD, Conn. — It was a watershed moment in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Connecticut.
In 1990, a group of lesbians and gay men unfurled banners from the gallery of the house chamber in the state capitol, while then Gov. Bill O’Neill was giving a State of the State speech to the General Assembly.
O'Neill had a long history of opposing LGBTQ+ civil rights legislation - a position that was not uncommon at the time. It was legal to discriminate in public accommodations, housing, employment, and more if someone was or was perceived to be gay or lesbian
Since the early 1980s, HIV and AIDS had infected thousands in the state, and many had died.
“The men did a banner that said, their votes are killing us. And they threw the banner over. And they had a list of all the people who had voted against us,” Carolyn Gabel-Brett, one of the activists taking part in the event, told FOX61 News. “Then there was the second banner, which was just the women. And it was Kathleen Linares. And Pat Needham, and myself, who threw the banner. And we said we promised that we would be there every time there was some vote.
For those there at the time, it was a moment to remember. “There was people cheering it was a lot of support and that kind of I think action is so empowering,” said Leslie Gabel-Brett. “And also, you know, there are people who are on our side who are angry at us, like, how dare you? And the answer at the time was, you know, we dare because it's been too long and people have chickened out, and people have failed to support us. And now we're angry, and we're strong. That was kind of exciting. It was very exciting.”
Around the same time, Joe Grybarz, a state representative from Bridgeport, came out as gay and made national headlines.
“I was one of the first elected officials in the country to come up voluntarily, it was a time of a rise in hate similar to the time that we're living in now,” said Grybarz. “You saw hate politicians in North Carolina and Louisiana, spewing anti-gay anti-HIV rhetoric. And I felt like I needed to speak out louder. And in order to do that, I needed to show everyone who I was that I couldn't do it from the shadow of being in the closet
It was the era of ACT-UP, which did demonstrations at the FDA and in the streets of New York City. At the same time, others were inside the institutions also working for change.
“And then the people who throw banners and do civil disobedience make the insiders look very reasonable,” said Leslie Gabel-Brett.
Through the efforts of many people, Connecticut has many protections for its LGBTQ+ residents.
But there are people and organizations still fighting, like Equality Connecticut, whose mission is wide-ranging.
“So we don't take a single issue focus,” said Bilal Tajildeen, a board member. “We're not like in past movements, there was big pushes on gay marriage and marriage equality, there have been pushes in health care, we kind of take the perspective that as long as an issue affects queer people in the state of Connecticut, then it's our issue to look at and try to handle as best we can. So that's inclusive of housing, health care, education, and then what we call facilitating joy just times where we can be together and hang out and do fun things because it's life can be really stressful.
But those on the front line clearly see the struggle every day.
Doug Stewart is the Senior Digital Content Producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
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