Claire S. answered • 12/19/19
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Whenever you're studying and trying to understand how oppressed peoples have been hurt and attacked by privileged or powerful groups, it is very important to remember that the oppression different marginalized groups face is never exactly the same between groups. Sometimes, there are similar, terrible things that happen. But even when there are similarities, there are always important differences to take note of.
The most striking similarity between what the US government did to Native Americans (I believe that's who you're referencing) and people trying to force members of the gay community to be heterosexual, is that both groups were being forced to assimilate into "main stream culture" and give up their identities and communities. "Main stream culture" was not actually the "main" culture, it was just the culture of a group of powerful people who feared that they would lose power and control if their culture was not seen as the law. Forced assimilation actually falls under a form of cultural genocide, according to the United Nations. The groups of people who were oppressing and attacking Native Americans and Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer individuals were bigots, plain and simple.
There have been a large number of laws throughout American history, at all levels of government, that have attempted to criminalize being a member of the LGBTQ community, and an absence of laws that protect LGBTQ people from abuse--because that's what trying to force a non-heterosexual individual into being heterosexual is: it's abuse. Conversion camps and programs have been shown to be incredibly destructive and traumatizing for LGBTQ individuals who have been forced to go through them.
What happened to Native American nations across the United States was expansive, and the US undertook so many different ways of trying to destroy Native American culture. The propaganda that was shared among bigoted, biased, non-Native people was that Native individuals needed to assimilate in order to succeed. The reality and truth was that the US government had an easier time taking land, taking resources, and taking away people's rights if they didn't maintain a sense of community, culture, or nationality. It is incredibly important, as a student of US history, to research what the United States has done to Native American nations. The US government has frequently broken legally binding treaties with Native American nations, in order to weaken and destroy those nations. The US, up until the late 1970s, would take Native children away from their families and send them to boarding schools where they would be beaten, assaulted, and punished in the extreme if they attempted to speak their languages, practice their cultural traditions and spirituality, or even go by the names their families had given them. The US forced entire families to leave their home territories, breaking up entire people groups, in order to weaken the claims of Native nations to certain areas--so that commericial and government developers could move in and take the land. The history of the US in regards to Native people--who have survived and persisted in spite of everything the United States government has done--is a history of the US trying to undermine and destroy Native communities. It can be overwhelming to learn about it, but it's necessary. There are several hundred Native American communities in the United States, and they are still fighting for their rights, the preservation of their culture, and their lands. The things that have happened that I've listed above is not everything that has been done--I encourage you, look up whose land you're on! See if there is anything you can do to support your local tribe!
