Definition Essay: The Gay Lifestyle

In “For better, for worse: Marriage means something different now,” Stephanie Coontz reveals the worldwide changes in people’s attitudes and behaviors towards marriage. According to Coontz, education and the social norms are the reasons why marriage has become nonessential. Being single and going through a divorce are more acceptable now. The motivations of marriage have turned from economic dependence into personal willingness. In fact, Coontz’s words make me wonder the true meaning of marriage. Even though the meaning has changed over times, I believed that I still hope to get married.

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

Twenty percent, about 320,000, of America’s homeless teens identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (Leuween, 2006, para. 5). So many LGBT teenagers become homeless because they don’t receive support or acceptance from their family, community and friends. Homelessness doesn’t only occur because of runaways (Cochran, et al. 2002, para.3). Teenagers can find themselves homeless because their parents lost their jobs and are not able to support them anymore.

Every day in the United States, a young person, under the age of eighteen faces homelessness, and most often it’s because of others. In a report by The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, it was noted that 26% of LGBTQ youth were kicked out of their homes when they came out (Ray, 2006). The Urban Justice League reports numbers as high as 78% of LGBTQ youth that “were removed from or left their foster care placements because they were un-welcoming or hostile towards their sexual orientation and/or gender identity ” (Feinstein, Greenblatt, Hass, Kohn, & Rana, 2001). The United States is an independent, individualistic country; we prize the freedom of expression, but do we really? One of the most significant, if not the most important, social structures is the family. Gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals who are aware of their sexuality, must create an alternative self to present to family and friends, especially if there is an understanding, verbalized or implicit, that homosexuality is not tolerated, or simply wrong. Many gay, lesbian and bisexual men and women would rather go with the flow, assimilate, not make waves, rather than to express their own gay identity, and risk ostracism.

There is an inaccurate count of the number of homeless youth individuals are currently in America. They only account for those who are in the shelter’s system, which is a small portion of the total population of homeless youth. One report estimated that only one in twelve homeless youth ever come into contact with the shelter system (Somllar, 1999). The main focus is on “street youth” who are still on the streets with no home, and no adult guidance. The downfall of the system is that it is based on coming in contact with homeless youth, instead of building a rapport with them, and getting an understanding of why they leave home. The causes for the youth to become homeless are as follows; neglect, physical, sexual, and substance abuse, dysfunctional families, as well as family violence. These are often results of suicide, poor coping skills, lack of education, criminal background, and mental health problems. Homeless youth who are homosexual have been found to have a greater and more severe incidence such as depression and suicide than other homeless youth population. In one study of homeless street youth, 53 percent of homosexual adolescents had attempted suicide, compared to 32 percent of a cohort that did not differentiate individuals by sexual orientation (Somllar, 1999).

Within the 1990s there is a persistent problem of Gay culture. Early in the 1990s it was hard to come out and let the world know that you are gay. Within the early 1990s The Wedding Banquet (1993), although it approached the issue of Wei-Tung Gao trying to tell his parents that he is gay and still accepting as who he is. Contrastingly within the late 1990s it becomes more acceptable to society by having celebrities coming out like Ellen Degeneres during her tv show Ellen. The two kinds of media contrast as a form of whether or not to come out as a gay or not during a time when AIDs was prominent and new.

Unfortunately, these teens are abandoned and feel unwanted beyond comprehension. Since the LGBT adolescents are coming out at younger ages, it means that more children will be forced to leave their homes and live out on the streets. There is a national shortage of facilities to house LGBT youth. LGBT teens need a safe environment were they can be themselves and feel safe and secure. Even though efforts have been made to help these teens, in order to prevent the homelessness of the LGBT teens the community, families, and schools need to create more efforts to include them and help

The Palette Fund, True Colors Fund, and the Williams Institute joined forces in conducting a web-based survey from October 2011 through March 2012 designed to assess the experiences of homeless youth organizations in providing services to LGBT youth. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Homeless Youth Provider Survey also assessed the prevalence of LGBT youth within the homeless populations being served by these organizations. According to their findings, as many as 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBT. The most common reason found to have caused homelessness amongst LGBT youth was family rejection after coming out. The next most common reason for LGBT youth homelessness was being forced out of their homes by their family as a result of coming out. It is often difficult for parents that are just learning that their child identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender to process the news and adjust smoothly. If more parents sought guidance in how to adjust to their son or daughter coming out, then perhaps the number of homeless LGBT youth would plummet.

About a year ago one of my best friends and I bought some glow-in-the-dark stars to paste on my ceiling. After about four hours of neck-straining work, we shut off all the lights in my room, closed the door, jumped onto my bed and looked up to admire the green glowing wonders above us. After a few minutes of quiet talking, my friend said something that totally blew me away. It might have been that he was tired from the day's work, or maybe a little light-headed from all the dust and stucco we inhaled while placing those stars on my ceiling. Or maybe it was the darkness that made him feel as if he had some kind of security. But something about the situation made him say one of the most serious things he

some time during elementary school i first heard the word “gay.” i had no idea what it meant but people said i would figure it out someday.

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

Gay. What does it mean to be gay? It means you are a homosexual, being sexually attracted to people of your own sex. Why should we legalize gay marriage? This is what I am here to talk about today. Why is this illegal? If Australia is such a free country, people of the same- sex should be able to marry. It is discriminative. It- is- discriminative. Why is there this expectation that the opposite sex are meant to marry.

Nearly 26 per cent of GLBT youth are forced to leave their homes due to disputes concerning sexual orientation. This leaves the youth feeling isolated and unaccepted by the family. Often, teens believe running away is the only option. It makes teens feel like they have some control of their situation (Quinn, 2002). If GLBT teens seek refuge in a shelter will they meet the same discrimination and rejection they initially were trying to escape? Counselors at shelters need to be prepared to protect, and not perpetuate, these GLBT teens from further victimization.

Getting married is a very important occasion that may happen in a person’s life. Many people believe that marrying the one that he or she loves is the natural course of the relationship. However, there is a question of what happens when one is not legally or socially able to get married. There are numerous opinions and views on these marriages, where the couples are not viewed as what others believe as the traditional couple or that they are undermining the institution of marriage. The argument regarding these marriages is extremely controversial but perhaps it is irrelevant. In this essay, the writer will discuss many viewpoints regarding the institution of marriage; some may agree with the points provided here and others may object wholeheartedly; yet, that is his or her right and no one should be able to force their beliefs on another. In addition, a survey was polled in October 2017 on the views of marriage (see Appendix A for more on this survey) with twenty respondents, which consists of 6 male and 14 female. The results show that……

In India, homosexuality is termed as an “unnatural” practice and hence liable to punishments and penalties. It’s not legal for gay people to marry in India. Section 377 of the Indian penal code (IPC) penalizes homosexuality. The penalty for engaging in homosexual activities can extend to life imprisonment in India. Homosexuals hence, can’t marry in India, hence most of them choose to have a live in relationship.