The legalization of gay marriage in the U.S. bears the same stigma as have prior civil rights issues, and as such should be proposed as one of utmost importance, and careful consideration. If our government, as it claims, is secular in nature, then it would be wrong for it to base its treatment of individuals outside the boundaries of what is naturally understood as the right of every man, woman, and child, to pursue a lifestyle that is fulfilling. By the same token, white people, black people, homosexual people, etc., are not to infringe on the same rights of others who may describe their differences as depraved, based, or dishonorable, based on a separate set of religious, or cultural standards. If we therefore, legitimately acknowledge gay marriage as a secular belief of our political culture, we may begin to realize the negative effect such pompous ignorance has on a group of people based predominately on their sexual preference.
Acceptable ideologies that become laws, and, or freedoms are sometimes founded on a less popular opinion that enlists widespread exposure in an effort to show how some injustice is affecting a particular subculture. Often, such ideals have been oppressed by those who boldly support the American value of equality, simultaneously promoting laws that gouge the inalienable rights of other humans. It can’t be hidden that in the past the U.S. government has deemed illicit the participation of some vast minority in certain common liberties, while the favored minority profits from the freedom to practice the same activity.
As hindsight becomes foresight, we may develop understanding and acceptance where once we trod spitefully, bridled by a fear of the unknown. These fears in the case of gay mar...
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...ous precept. Even Jesus may have warned against the natural deficiency of immorality, but did he stone the sinner, or tell them what they were doing was wrong? No, he said “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (Quoted in John 8:11, NKJV).
Gays with righteous motives and proven character within our afflicted society are being robbed of their equal rights and relative abilities to be legally married, and raise children, based on unconstitutional grounds for discrimination, and it is having a devastating effect. We are openly inciting bigotry and pharasitical propaganda while smothering another’s right to embody their own sense of self-worth. We involve ourselves with a false and dangerous claim to infallibility, designating homosexuals as less than human, standing proudly, if only for a moment, on shaky ground that we have seen collapse in our history.
Historically, the United States has prided itself as the most egalitarian and autonomous nation in the world. Political figures and institutions have attempted to uphold the theoretical ideals of the nation, while in practice often fail to fulfill their promises to the people. This gap between our fundamental values as delineated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and our discriminatory practices such as slavery and gender discrimination can be found in competing political ideologies which purposefully exclude marginalized peoples. The framers built the United States for the white man; every other person’s rights came, and continue to come afterwards. Once one people’s freedom is postponed, the same oppressive strategies
Friedman, L. S. (2010). What Is the State of Civil Liberties in the United States?. Civil liberties (pp. 11-49). Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press.
In the past decades, the struggle for gay rights in the Unites States has taken many forms. Previously, homosexuality was viewed as immoral. Many people also viewed it as pathologic because the American Psychiatric Association classified it as a psychiatric disorder. As a result, many people remained in ‘the closet’ because they were afraid of losing their jobs or being discriminated against in the society. According to David Allyn, though most gays could pass in the heterosexual world, they tended to live in fear and lies because they could not look towards their families for support. At the same time, openly gay establishments were often shut down to keep openly gay people under close scrutiny (Allyn 146). But since the 1960s, people have dedicated themselves in fighting for
According to the Tenth Amendment in the Bill of Rights: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Though last in the Bill of Rights, it is one of the most powerful and ever changing in interpretation over the course of America’s history. Some historical events that altered its meaning include the Civil War, The Civil Right’s Movement, and even modern event’s like the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. In this paper I will discuss how the Tenth amendment has a large effect in both America’s history, but also how it is now portrayed America’s present.
America is one word that brings the hope of freedom to many people around the world. Since the United States’ humble beginnings freedom has remained at the core of its ideologies and philosophies. People of all races, nations, and tongues have found refuge in America. The National Anthem proclaims, “…land of the free, and home of the brave” (Key, 1814). But has America been consistently a land of the free? Unfortunately freedom has not always reigned. There is a constant struggle to overcome fear and prejudice in order to provide a true land of freedom. In times of heightened tension, the masses of common people seek to find a scapegoat. Often, this scapegoat is a minority with ties to current negative events. As fear uncontrollably grows, it can cause people to allow and commit unspeakable atrocities.
The first inception of individual rights began with the founding fathers of the United States, who had a vision in which all citizens would have the right to live in this country without being discriminated based on race, gender, religion, or sexual preference (US Constitution, 2010). These are basic human rights for which many people lost their lives to protect as this country was formed. Nonetheless, today one lives in a society in which one must fight to continue to posses those rights once again. Similar to the rest of history, when there have many examples of individual rights were not protected.
Homosexuality has existed since the beginning of recorded human history and yet, attitudes towards gay and lesbian individuals vary extensively. Some societies tolerate them; others openly welcome and encourage them; and most blatantly condemn them (Bates, 46). Throughout our country’s history, homosexuals have been misunderstood and discriminated against, leading many to acquire an irrational fear of gays and lesbians. Known as homophobia, this fear has prompted heterosexual individuals with a feeling a superiority and authority when using the word “homosexual” interchangeably with the words pervert, faggot, sodomite, and so on. Homophobes typically perceive homosexuality as a threat to society. Nonetheless, the Gay Rights Movement has achieved impressive progress since 1973 when the American Psychological Association (APA) eradi...
Throughout history people who manifested an attraction for others of the same sex usually have gone through a lot of maltreatments, discrimination, and have often been regarded as “sexual deviants.” Relationships between people of the same sex have been present since the beginning of history. Their lives have not always been easy, because they have been persecuted and sometimes even forced to go through a psychiatric evaluation. At the same time, in order to gain their rights and dignity, they had to take their fight to the legal system because as George Chauncey, a professor of history at Yale University mentioned, “although most people recognize that gay life was difficult before growth of the gay movement in the 1970s, they often have only the vaguest sense of why: that gay people were scorned and ridiculed, made to feel ashamed, afraid, and alone” (290). However, discrimination and maltreatment were not the only reasons homosexuals had to take their struggle to the courts. An American professor of history at Yale University, who has testified in a number of gay rights cases, has exposed the ins and outs of the legal system in the second half of the twentieth century. During this time, a great number of states had created laws, which authorized the indefinite detention of homosexuals in mental institutions, and conditioned their release upon proving that they were cured from homosexuality (Chauncey 294). This past history, together with studies conducted by some prestigious institutions have lead society to understand that the right to homosexual marriage is economically, ethically, and morally correct, because it would benefit the economy and society by increasing the federal budget and creating a legal status for homosexual c...
Schultz, David, and John R. Vile. The Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America. 710-712. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale Virtual Reference Library, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2010. .
Humans have established their own rights in society for many, many years now. However, because some humans differ from the norms that are built in society, they are shunned and denied their rights until they conform to society’s norms. There have been numerous groups of people who have been denied their rights in America. African Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, and gays have been isolated simply because that is the way they were born into this world and others do not find them “normal”. There is another group that has also been mistreated though: people who identify themselves as transgender.
As a United States citizen who was born in the new millennium, I was brought up with the idea that, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This statement was one of the main sources of fuel for the Civil Rights Movements in the mid 1950’s/60’s in the United States. Minority groups have often been mistreated in the United States culminating in movements much like that of the women’s suffrage movement, civil rights movements and now a movement toward equality for the LGBTQIA. In the last few decades a new minority group, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex and allies, and their struggle to attain their right to the pursuit of happiness. This small makes up roughly 4 percent of the US population. Though many say that gay marriage will weaken the moral foundation of our country, it should be legalized, not only because banning it is unconstitutional, but also because strips people of their human rights
American political culture emphasizes the values of liberty, equality, and democracy. Most of America’s debating is not over whether these issues are important, but how to best go about achieving these ideas. American’s define liberty as freedom, but America believes that liberty should be contained on some levels so they can create a stable society. The definition of freedom is that we can do whatever we want, as long as we do not affect another person’s freedom. American’s want to be able to do what they want, while not affecting someone else. So some rules are set to protect people and create a stable society.
An issue that has, in recent years, begun to increase in arguments, is the acceptability of homosexuality in society. Until recently, homosexuality was considered strictly taboo. If an individual was homosexual, it was considered a secret to be kept from all family, friends, and society. However, it seems that society has begun to accept this lifestyle by allowing same sex couples. The idea of coming out of the closet has moved to the head of homosexual individuals when it used to be the exception.
The homosexual community faced, and still faces many hardships. Homosexuals are constantly being judged based on their feelings and beliefs. Many homosexuals and supporters believe this is not fair, especially the ones in Ame...
When one hears the words “LGBT” and “Homosexuality” it often conjures up a mental picture of people fighting for their rights, which were unjustly taken away or even the social emergence of gay culture in the world in the1980s and the discovery of AIDS. However, many people do not know that the history of LGBT people stretches as far back in humanity’s history, and continues in this day and age. Nevertheless, the LGBT community today faces much discrimination and adversity. Many think the problem lies within society itself, and often enough that may be the case. Society holds preconceptions and prejudice of the LGBT community, though not always due to actual hatred of the LGBT community, but rather through lack of knowledge and poor media portrayal.