I'm a former Fox International Fellow (Yale University, 2002) and currently a Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Leeds. I'm the author of Peace and Freedom: The Civil Rights and Anti-war Movements in the 1960s (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004) 
simonhall@thecommentfactory.com
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While history seldom provides us with easy or straightforward lessons, it does suggest that the Boston gay rights protesters had the right idea – and that those working for progressive change in America today could do a lot worse than get hold of some tea bags of their own
The dramatic events of June 1969 are widely seen as marking the birth of the gay liberation movement, and they continue to inspire admiration and respect today. In the United States the aftermath of the riot saw an explosion of gay organizing
As the biopic of gay-rights campaigner Harvey Milk comes to British cinemas, it is worth remembering that his patriotic fight against bigotry is still alive after Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, was passed in California in November.
Simon Hall takes a look at inauguration speeches through history and hopes this time around Barack Obama will be relaunching American progressivism.
