LGBTQ+ Rights: Navigating Society's Challenges
An essay about lgbtq community and its rights. When it comes to the LGBT community, life isn't so easy. You’re constantly judged and harassed for your lifestyle. It’s 2019 and the harassment has been going on for years. I feel that judgment should not be a thing. The LGBT community has been judged for years and they are still a never ending procession. The LGBT community is no different than any other person. They are being bashed for loving someone they shouldn't. Why would you let someone's love for someone else become your own anger? The LGBT community has strived to be treated normal and still continue to do so. So the question for lgbt acceptance essay is, is it okay to love someone of the same gender and be considered as part of the LGBT community?
Over the past years being gay was not a topic. Many people didn't agree with the fact of man with man and women with women. Many people believe in god and speak only god's word, whereas in the bible it says “man shall lie with women and women shall lay with man,” anything other than that saying was against their beliefs. People would even give the gays a saying of “it's just a stage, you'll come out of it.” The only “stage” it is, is love. Is it wrong to love the same gender as you? I believe not. People are pushing it upon gays that they are not wanted. Many families have disowned their own children for them liking the same gender as. People who are gay tend to be more depressed and have worse anxiety due to the discrimination they receive.
The LGBT community has been through many attempts to settle their rights. In 1924, Henry Gerber created the first gay rights organization. This organization was created to get “friendship and freedom,” according to the article from. It made the newsletter making it the first ever one about gay rights. The organization only lasted a year due to police raids causing the organization to shut down.
In 1950, Harry Hay creates the Mattachine Society. It is one of the first sustained gay rights groups in the United States. The group focused specifically on social acceptance and other support for gays. The group was created by a small group of gay men. Not long after this group was created, a group of lesbian couples created “The Daighters Of Bilitis.” They created there group bases off an obsucure of 1874 poems. In April of 1952, The American Psychiatric Association Diagnistic labeled homosexuality as a “sociopathic personality disturbance”. People thought gays had mental problems. They diagnosed them with crazy disorders. They came up with every reason they could completely take away gays again and they tried to “fix” them. People wanted to make them “normal” again and get them to follow in God's words. On December 15, 1973 by a vote of 5,854 to 3,810 the American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in the DSM-II Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Around 1953, they started to place bans on homosexuals working for the federal government. They banned same sex marriage not long after. In 1974, Elaine Noble was the first openly gay candidate elected to a state office. Being elected into the state office caused many problems. People did not like the fact of an openly gay person being part of their office. After the pressing matter of a gay person being elected into office, many more people started to come out. In march of 1975, Sergeant Leonard P. Matlovich reals to his commanding officer his sexual orientation. His commanding officer later made him forcibly discharge from the air force less than six months after telling him. Maylovich fought for his rights and was later rewarded with his back pay and retroactive promotion.
In 1977-1981, Billy Crysta became the first even openly gay character on a prime time television show. This was a milestone for the LGBT community. A gay person was actually aired on the television. This was a big deal to the community. They were able to show that there is actual gay people and they can be treated equally and be shown on tv as a normal person. On January 9, 1978, Harvey Milk was elected San Francisco City supervisor. He was the first openly gay man to be elected to a political office in California. Milk was awarded a medal of freedom in 2009 from President Barack Obama. Milk inspired Gilbert Baker to design the first rainbow flag used to symbolize gay rights. On October 14, 1979, the first march for lesbian and gay rights took place. This march estimated 75,000 to 125,000 individuals marching for LGBT rights!
In 1980, The Democratic National Convention support gay rights. Many of the leaders of this convention were standing behind Ronald Reagan in his 1980 election. Many of the Democratic leaders had more to gain rather than lose by supporting gay rights. The leaders inserted a new plank into the party platform saying “All groups must be protected from discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, language, age, sex, or sexual orientation. Not long after this plank, Gary Hart became the first presidential candidate to address an LGBT organization.
Getting into closer years, we come to realize that LGBT community has come a long way. Many things have changed in the community. LGBT people are becoming more known and there has been less violence towards them. In 1996, Hawii recognized that gay and lesbian couple should have the same privileges as heterosexual married couples. On April 30, 1997, Ellen Morgan created her own television series of “Ellen.” This show is still aired on television today. Although the community has come a long way, there are still many problems they face.
On October 6, 1998 Matthew Shepard was tied to a fence and beaten near Laramie, Wyoming. Shepard was later found by a cyclist, the cyclist mistook him for a scarecrow causing Shepherd to later die from the injuries. Shepherd's death inspired people to create plays, musicals and poetry. Elton John created a song called “American triangle,” comparing the death of Shepard to a deer being run down my two coyotes. He wanted to raise awareness to his death. After Shepard's death, his parents worked to set up the Matthew Shepard Foundation. In 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act. James Byrd Jr, a black man, was murdered in Texas in June 1998 by three white supremacists who dragged him behind a pick-up truck.
There have been many cases of violence towards people who are gay. Usually we talk about this issue in different gbt community essay. This violence needs to end. It has already killed people and put some people in pretty bad shape. There was even a mass shooting that took place at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Forty-nine individuals were killed for being in this night club. Another fifty people were injured. The shooting occurred during the LGBT pride weekend. This horrific event is being called the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. All because it had to do with gays. Innocent people were killed by a man named Omar Man Teen because he was against gay lifestyles. There are so many attacks very similar to this! This is a horrible hate crime that needs to be stopped! No one deserves to be treated with such anger. The LGBT community will one day be free of all of this hate.
Around the 2000’s is when same-sex marriage started to become legalized. It was first legalized in Massachusetts and has recently covered all 50 states. The first bill passed allowing same-sex marriage took place in California. A ban that had been placed on gays from joining the military was repealed in 2011. In 2012, the Democratic party becomes the first major political party in history to support same-sex marriage.
To conclude essay about lgbt, this community has been through a lot. There has been such a riot for years over the way people feel about one another. The topic of gays it brings up so much anger from many people. In today’s world, the LGBT community is well known and not as judged as before. Many of the elders now are the ones who typically still have something horrible to say about being gay. Mostly, because they were raised in an era that tortured gays. Throughout all the trouble of fighting to become equal, it has now been mostly solved. Today gay marriage is allowed in all 50 states. The LGBT community has become fairly equal and to the normal society. Many years of hard work have finally started to come together. Every year they have a pride festival that takes place in Louisville, Kentucky. This festival is always a big hit and many people who are not gay still like to attend it.
