I'm writing a short summary of LGBTQ+ history focusing on the lead up to the Stonewall Uprising, the event itself, and the first Pride march. I understand how to respectfully discuss LGBTQ+ people today. However, this sometimes clashes with historical self-classifications.
Two examples:
As I understand it, terms like transvestite were more commonly used, even by the people themselves, in the 1960s and 1970s. Is it more appropriate to project a more modern term like transgender onto some who might have identified as transvestite in the 1960s, or should I use the language they used at the time? I know transgender and transvestite are not the same but if the latter isn’t used any more, which word do I use?
The word gay was also used more broadly to cover all LGBTQ+ people during that time as well. So while specific groups like Mattachine Society would be referred to as gay rights irrespectively, the broader movement of that time is often also called gay rights. If I’m writing about the broader movement of that time, is it okay to call it the LGBTQ+ Rights Movement?
Part of the reason I ask is one of my sources is Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution by David Carter and, while that book was published in 2010, it still uses the language of the 1960s.
