The Fight for Gay Rights
Restrictions have been put in place on homosexuals’ basic human rights because of individuals’ opinions and lack of tolerance. America is a country where all people should have the same rights, regardless of sexual preference. Gay marriage is illegal in more than thirty states even yet today (ProQuest). Homosexual people have been struggling with their rights for over a hundred years now, but the issue still hasn’t been resolved.
Gay marriage and rights didn’t become a main focus for attention until the late 90’s and early 2000’s. In fact throughout the twentieth century it was illegal for two people originating from the same sexual orientation to speak or proceed with sexual acts together (Eskridge). Gay couples began requesting marriage licenses and the states in which they resided had no choice but to react. Most of the states amended their constitutions and laws to be against gay marriage, and that is where the battle began (Rauch). People began to become paranoid about gay people because of the strict laws that America had put in place against them. This stereotype, created decades ago, still affects gay people today, usually negatively (Eskridge). For example, it was actually illegal for openly gay members to participate in the United States Military for many years.
America was following Clinton’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy. It wasn’t until 2011, by the doings of Barack Obama, that the policy was lifted and homosexuals were allowed to be in the Military (Dunham). Why would gay individuals even want to fight in a country where they were told they weren’t good enough to protect America’s rights, rights that they themselves didn’t even posses? I feel it takes a big person to look past the hateful d...
... middle of paper ...
.... n.p. Thomas Nelson Inc, 2009. Web
“LGBT Adoption.” Lifelong Adoptions. N.P., 2014. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
Parker-Pope, Tara. “How Hospitals Treat Same-Sex couples.” Nytimes.com. Well, 12 May. 2009. Web. 31 March. 2014.
Price, Michael. “Nolo: Law for All.” Na, 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
ProQuest Staff. “At Issue: Same-Sex Marriage.” ProQuest LLC. 2014: n.pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
Rauch, Jonathan. Gay Marriage. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2004. Web.
“The Bill of Rights: A Transcription.” National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Wiersma, Alisa. “High-Profile Politicians Who changed Their Positions on Gay Marriage.” ABC News, 15 March, 2013. Web. 1 April, 2014.
Worsnop, Richard L. “Gay Rights.” CQ Researcher .05 Mar. 1993: 195+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Government. "The Bill of Rights: A Transcription." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, 15 Jan. 2007. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
The United States of America, as a whole, has pushed for rights and equality for any and all people. Gay rights and racial equality have received an ample amount of support as well as opposition. Even bringing up the other side’s argument may cause a debate in almost any environment. Today, Americans are easily offended by things that don’t agree with what they believe. America is full of passionate people who always have a cause to fight for or against. Gay marriage has been opposed countless times on local, state, and national levels. “Almost two- thirds of Republicans oppose the Supreme Court’s backing of gay marriage, according to Reuters/Ipsos Poll ” (Reuters). Even though another online survey stated that “more than half of Americans support it,” they still
Although the conclusion of the Civil War during the mid-1860s demolished the official practice of slavery, the oppression and exploitation of African Americans has continued. Although the rights and opportunities of African Americans were greatly improved during Reconstruction, cases such a 1896’s Plessy v. Ferguson, which served as the legal basis for segregation, continue to diminish the recognized humanity of African Americans as equal people. Furthermore, the practice of the sharecropping system impoverished unemployed African Americans, recreating slavery. As economic and social conditions worsened, the civil rights movement began to emerge as the oppressed responded to their conditions, searching for equality and protected citizenship.With such goals in mind, associations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which came to the legal defense of African Americans and aided the march for civil rights reforms, emerged. By working against the laws restricting African Americans, the NAACP saw progress with the winning of cases like Brown v. Board of Education, which allowed the integration of public schools after its passing in 1954 and 1955. In the years following the reform instituted by the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, the fervor of the civil rights movement increased; mass nonviolent protests against the unfair treatment of blacks became more frequent. New leaders, such as Martin Luther King, manifested themselves. The civil rights activists thus found themselves searching for the “noble dream” unconsciously conceived by the democratic ideals of the Founding Fathers to be instilled.
the National Digital Library. “The Bill of Rights.” The Library of Congress. 16 Oct. 1996. 2 Nov. 2003. http://www.memory.loc.gov/const/bor.html.
Prior to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy the United States and its citizens were not very tolerant to openly gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals. Prior to World War II gays were not specifically targeted for exclusion from the military, although sodomy was considered a criminal offense as early as the Revolutionary War. However by the beginning of World War II, the military had shifted focus from excluding acts that were considered homosexual to focusing on members that were considered homosexual. In 1942, the military issued its first regulation that contained a paragraph defining the difference between a homosexual and a normal person. In fact, this regulation also described procedures for rejecting gay draftees. (Martinez, Hebl, & Law, 2012). The military based these procedures on medical rationale and psychiatric screening to...
Sanchez, Ray, and Miguel Marquez. "Arizona Lawmakers Pass Controversial Anti-Gay Bill." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 21 Feb. 2014. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.
The background of homosexuality in the 1940’s and 50’s was harsh, but people started to be opened toward the rights. There were criticisms toward homosexuality in the early days of Milk. Gay men carried the labels of mentally ill or psychopathic. Often times, gay men committed suicide from harsh judgement and criticism that always followed them. Even though population of homosexuality grew and had jobs, they were harassed and beaten by the police. There were a lot of disapproval and hostility of homosexuality. Anita Bryant, a singer, made a campaign to oppose the rights of homosexuals. Christian forces and activists withdrew gay-right legislation which lead to Proposition 6. The harshness from background of homosexuality back in the 1940’s and 50’s took the freedom away from the homosexuals. After the harshness, there came a little bit of hope for the homosexuals in San Francisco. Castro, a city in San Francisco, became the center of gay neighborhood. In 1964, gay men formed Society of Individual Right (SIR), and 1,200 members joined. Homosexuals started having good views when Sipple who was gay saved the president from a gunshot. Finally in 1972, Board of Supervisor banned the discrimination law for homosexuals. Even though in 1940...
"Bill of Rights and Later Amendments." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
Newton, D. E. (2010). Same-sex Marriage : A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group.
The history of the gay rights movement goes as far back as the late 19th century. More accurately, the quest by gays to search out others like themselves and foster a feeling of identity has been around since then. It is an innovative movement that seeks to change existing norms and gain acceptance within our culture. By 1915, one gay person said that the gay world was a "community, distinctly organized" (Milestones 1991), but kept mostly out of view because of social hostility. According to the Milestones article, after World War II, around 1940, many cities saw their first gay bars open as many homosexuals began to start a networking system. However, their newfound visibility only backfired on them, as in the 1950's president Eisenhower banned gays from holding federal jobs and many state institutions did the same. The lead taken by the federal government encouraged local police forces to harass gay citizens. "Vice officers regularly raided gay bars, sometimes arresting dozens of men and women on a single night" (Milestones). In spite of the adversity, out of the 1950s also came the first organized groups of gays, including leaders. The movement was small at first, but grew exponentially in short periods of time. Spurred on by the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the "homophile" (Milestones) movement took on more visibility, picketing government agencies and discriminatory policies. By 1969, around 50 gay organizations existed in the United States. The most crucial moment in blowing the gay rights movement wide open was on the evening of July 27, 1969, when a group of police raided a gay bar in New York City. This act prompted three days of rioting in the area called the Stonewall Rio...
"The Bill of Rights: A Transcription." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html
Rauch, Jonathan. "The Government Should Sanction Gay Marriage, Not Domestic Partnerships." Homosexuality. Ed. Paul Connors. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Current Controversies. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 16 Apr. 2011.
Stoddard, T, Fein, B, (Jan. 1990) Gay Marriage, Personal relationships, Marriage, Legislation, Homosexuality, American Bar Association, (Pages 42, 42)
Somerville, Siobhan. "Scientific Racism and the Invention of the Homosexual Body." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 284-99. Print.
The treatment of the LGBT community in American Society is a social injustice. What most people think is that they just want to be able to marry one another and be happy but that’s not it. They want to be treated like humans and not some weird creatures that no one has ever seen before. They want to be accepted for who them are and not what people want them to be and they deserve the right to be who they are just the same as any other human being. After all the discrimination they have endured they should be allowed to be who they are and be accepted as equals just like people of different skin color did in the times of segregation. We have a long way to go as a country but being the greatest country in the world in the eyes of many great America will make big steps to make things fair.