My openly gay uncle turned 18 in 1952 he was dead by 1970

The fact is being openly gay in that time frame likely killed him. He died of complications of alcohol and drug abuse. My dad told me stories of this era from his military service (he was in Airborne out of NC). He befriended an African American who was from his part of PA and they would travel home together on leave. His friend would lay under a blanket in the backseat of the car until they reached PA for fear that cops would target them for mistreatment. Even the drive ins were segregated.

There aren't mere social issues that are some how unworthy of our discussion until economic issues are solved. They were, and still often are, issues of literal life and death. For people like me life is much better than it was for my uncle. For many of my students, life is much better than it was for their ancestors.