What it was like being gay in 1965

[Torie]

It was hell. And the shrinks thought we were mentally ill, and sodomy was a crime everywhere, discrimination obviously was the norm, and SCOTUS upheld it all as comporting with the Constitution. I was made aware of the video on a Freakonomics radio show, about incrementalism, and one section was how the LGBT movement tore that particular fetid house of bigotry down, brick by brick, one step at a time, culminating in SSM. But in many states it is still legal to discriminate against LGBT's, and SCOTUS has upheld that. All such states should be boycotted.

[MarkD]

It was hell. And the shrinks thought we were mentally ill, and sodomy was a crime everywhere¹, discrimination obviously was the norm, and SCOTUS upheld it all as comporting with the Constitution². I was made aware of the video on a Freakonomics radio show, about incrementalism, and one section was how the LGBT movement tore that particular fetid house of bigotry down, brick by brick, one step at a time, culminating in SSM. But in many states it is still legal to discriminate against LGBT's, and SCOTUS has upheld that³. All such states should be boycotted.

1: Except Illinois. But 49 out of 50 was still hellish.
2: The only SCOTUS decision I'm aware of was in 1967, when it ruled that it was legal and constitutionally permissible for the Immigration & Naturalization Service to deport immigrants because they're gay. Can you tell me about any other decisions in 1965 or prior?
3: Which decision said that? Romer v. Evans said that no state could repeal all of the laws/ordinances that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation, but are you saying that there's been some SCOTUS ruling that if a state simply does not have any laws/ordinances about it, then the Constitution allows that (as if some gay resident of such a state sued the state and argued that it is unconstitutional to not have such laws/ordinances)?

[Torie]

Not sure. It is just my impression that SCOTUS has never ruled that it is unconstitutional to discriminate against gays in employment. It is not a suspect class. But I could be wrong. It does not come up much, because most states do ban such discrimination. Certainly the two states that I have lived in, CA and NY, do -obviously!  And I don't have a list of states that lack anti discrimination laws on their books when it comes to the LGBT community.

Anyway, I googled, and found this. It comports with what you said.