large part because they were afraid to identify themselves. By the 1970's, however, the nationwide gay and lesbian movement had arisen--followed by fundamentalist Christian opposition to it--and reporting about gays and lesbians has steadily increased ever since. Time and Newsweek ran 62 articles on the subject in the 1970's, 95 in the 1980's and 151 in the 1990's (through 1997). Most of these articles focused on controversies over the increased visibility of gays and lesbians and their quest for civil rights, including freedom from discrimination in housing and employment, the right to serve openly in the U.S. military, and more recently the right to marry. Articles about Gays and Lesbians in Time and Newsweek, 1947 to 1997 Decade Time Newsweek Total1940's 0 2 21950's 13 8 211960's 12 13 251970's 35 27 621980's 32 63 951990's 41 110 151 Note: the 1940's includes only 1947-49; the 1990's includes 1990-97. Sources: Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (and Lexis-Nexis for 1997 only) The findings reveal that the trend has been going in the right direction, as the presence of prejudicial--or unsupported and unbalanced--allegations have steadily declined during the past fifty years. Yet it also finds that prejudicial allegations have continued to appear well into the 1990's--distorting coverage of gays and lesbians in the military, anti-discrimination measures, and the more recent issue of gay and lesbian marriage. Among the most significant and consistent findings in this regard have been the implicit assumptions that homosexuality is inherently negati...
