The Pros And Cons Of Same Sex Couples Before Stonewall

On the morning of June 26, 2015, the United States awoke to a new and more equal country. The United States Supreme Court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriages, in any state, was unconstitutional and therefore, made legitimate the marriages and the hopes of millions of Americans. Certainly, this was something to celebrate, and even if America should have led the way in this and all forms of equality instead of showing up fashionably late to the party, it was still something that all Americans and all people should be proud of having achieved. But that is present tense-fourteen years into the 21st century-and the past is still remembered as a time when these joyous revelries are few and far between, if ever. For the longest time, same sex couples

1982). Unlike the Civil Rights Movement before it, which had leaders and groups wholly dedicated to nothing but protests and boycotts, gay rights had none of these things. Furthermore, homosexuals themselves were not well liked outside of their own company. In the Civil Rights Movement, even some people of other ethnic backgrounds believed in it or at least opposed the most violent extremes of which some challengers of desegregation would adhere to. In gay rights, virtually nobody outside of the LGBT community stood with them. This meant they were alone in the fight. After June of 1969, following the frustrations of seemingly targeted gay clubs of New York and the anger at being besieged, they fought back, and the rest of the country saw the fighting. The strength that must have flowed from men like Martin Luther King Jr. into his non-violent protests was seen when people began to stand up for their rights, for the ability to congregate, and for the ability to be citizens of a country founded on the freedom and equality of all. Seeing these men and women sparked a furnace that became a

Most Americans cared little for the plight of homosexuals and transgender individuals, and continued in the mindset for a very long time, despite the news stories of teen suicides and homelessness brought on by kids being kicked out of their homes by their intolerant parents just for being who they were born to be. Inch by inch the mindset of a nation was changed through political action, through protests, and even through television shows that like Will and Grace that brought home to many the fact that gays and lesbians are around every community in America, all the time; furthermore, they are neighbors and coworkers and friends and family, not some little thought of sect of society that are nearly subhuman. Some do not refer to it as a riot, rather they refer to it as an uprising, a line drawn in the sand, because it was the start of something, something soon became bigger than any of the participants at what was initially retaliatory anger at the mistreatment of a people and soon became a movement (Garance, F. 2013). From that night until another June morning, sunny and warm, when the dream of millions was realized by the decision of the highest court in the land, one that came from those nights of violence and strife and bore today's America, where the dream of perfect equality has beaten down another barrier in its