Gay Rights Movement

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Gay Rights Movement
Have you ever thought how much progress the LGBT community has made and how it affects other people? The gay rights movement was and is currently a movement that “strives to end all discrimination towards the LGBT community” (Redlingshafer). As early as 1924, the Society for Human Rights in Chicago becomes United States’ earliest known gay rights organization (“Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement”). However, most people recognize the Stonewall riot in 1969 as being the beginning of the gay rights movement. Almost ninety years later, society and the government have progressed over time and are still growing. Harvey Milk, author of “The Hope Speech”, was a politician who led a portion of the gay rights movement. Also, a more recent and well known leader of the movement is Dan Savage, the creator of the “It Gets Better Project”. The followers of the gay rights movement are not just homosexual. There are followers and supporters of every gender, race, and sexual orientation. The gay rights movement and its issues are represented in “The Hope Speech” by Harvey Milk.

The Hope Speech was a speech written and delivered by Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person to be elected in public office, in 1978. The main theme of the speech was to express the idea of why it is generous to have gay leaders because it lets a person know that they can look up to someone who is similar to them. The Hope Speech gave everyone, everywhere, hope and inspiration. The speech was mostly written in favor to inspire and to give hope to the gay community. The Hope Speech was a speech that delivers quite a few messages and discussed a few issues within and outside the gay community. Issues like discrimination, leading and leader...

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...ovement was very successful and is still being improved. The movement affects people today because homosexuals have more rights than before and society has become more open minded.

Works Cited

Bernard, Tara Siegel. "A Family with Two Moms, except in the Eyes of the Law." New York Times 26 July 2012: n. pag. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
"Gay-rights Movement." Infoplease. Pearson Education, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.
"Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement." PBS. WBGH Educational Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Milk, Harvey. "Hope Speech." California Faith for Equality. California Faith for Equality, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.
Redlingshafer, JoEllen. "The LGBT Movement Must Look Past Gay Marriage." Policymic. Policymic, 2013. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.
Weinberg, George. "The End Goal of the LGBT Movement." Huffington Post. Huffington Post, 9 July 2013. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.

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