Diversity and prejudice goes beyond our ethnic backgrounds and religious beliefs. Constellations of family types are abundant in our country and social change is slow. As educators we need to be aware of the impact this has on our students and their families. As Henderson, Mapp, Johnson, and Davies noted, “All families, no matter what their income, race, education, language, or culture, want their children to do well in school-and can make an important contribution to their child’s learning,” (2007, p. 115). After reading this week, I think we need to include all family types on that list. My discussion involves Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) families, which I do not have any experience with, and Special Education parents of which I am more familiar. Challenges faced by sexual-minority families are multi-faceted. Many choose not to disclose their orientation, and some go out of their way to pretend they are a traditional family. Fear influences countless decisions. According to http://mic.com/articles/121496/one-map-shows-where-you-can-still-be-fired-for-being-gay-in-2015#.UOuQNPKjQ, “Thanks to the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges on Friday, (June 29, 2015), Americans have gained the constitutional right to marry someone of the same sex in each of the 50 states. But in 28 states, they can still be fired for it.” Prior to this recent decision, people were afraid they would lose their jobs if their employers found out they were lesbian, gay,
The LGBT community in the United States has always had massive difficulty fitting into our society. For many years they put up with constant mistreatment and other forms of abuse coming from the those who do not agree with their lifestyle. They have for long advocated for the acceptance of their existence and punishment for crimes committed against them. One of the hardest battles the community has had to face was the right to marry in a society that still holds the values of a traditional relationship which is between a male and female. The struggle was quite harsh but it all paid off by 2015 when the supreme court granted gay couples the right to marry. This historical decision did not go without outcry and criticisms. Most of the dissatisfaction came from those who hold very religious values and beliefs that claims homosexuality is a sin. Religion has always been a part of the American way of life since the nation's founding and with that homosexuality has been demonized throughout our society. Now that gay couple possess the legal rights to have a marriage license, religious companies and/or stores are now denying service to LGBT couples as they believe it sinful on their behalf to even take part. Many people gay or straight who fought for gay rights believe these is pure discrimination and that stores should not have the right to deny service for any customer for any reason. However, this belief is unconstitutional and goes
All families face challenges in their everyday life. For some, the challenges are easier to handle while for others, surmounting those challenges can be more difficult. Over the years, the LGBT community in the US has faced many hurdles. Whether it’s the legalization of same-sex marriage to adoption rights to alimony, child support and child custody in case of divorce, legislation specific to gay and lesbian couples still has a long way to go.
According to the Center for American Progress, “studies show that anywhere from 15% to 43% of gay people have experienced some form of discrimination and harassment at the workplace. Moreover, a staggering 90 percent of transgender workers report some form of harassment or mistreatment on the job.” (Burns & Krehely, 2011) This doesn’t just affect the individual, it affects the worker’s productivity and confidence on the job, in some cases it may affect the pay which ultimately throws off the individual’s income for stability within their responsibilities, this can affect the business in a negative way. The list can go on and on of the consequences brought on by employment discrimination. According to USA Today’s Jennifer Calfas, “it is legal to fire someone based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. While there is some federal recourse through civil rights and equal employment claims, there's no national anti-discrimination law to protect LGBT workers from state whims. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits job discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion and nation of origin, but does not extend those protections to LGBT people.” (Calfas, 2015) Luckily, USA Today’s Jennifer Calfas also states that “Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have laws prohibiting employers from firing employees due to just their sexual orientation or gender
Diversity has always been a key component of American society. From its beginnings, the United States has struggled with deciding who establishes the norms and values of society, given that we are a nation built primarily through immigration (Bessett, 1997). Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) people have been a part of society throughout history. There is evidence of same sex relationships at least as far back as ancient Greece (Crompton, 2003). Over time, negative societal attitudes in the western world developed and led to active oppression of LGBT community. These attitudes were then exported around the world. From approximately the 1930’s until the 1970’s, the vast majority of LGBT people lived their lives hiding
“Discrimination and inequality faced by gays and lesbians in the United States are widespread, and the social movement to end such with the principles of equality and fairness.”( Blackwell, C. W., Ricks, J. L., & Dziegielewski, S. F. (2004). I do feel that we as society has come a long way since the Stonewall Riots of 1969 when it comes to obtaining equal rights for the GLBTQ community. However, there are still segments of today's population that hold personal prejudices against gays and lesbians. With these prejudices, it’s important to understand that there is a direct correlation between discriminatory practices within the state and federal systems and public policy drafting. As I have mentioned, we have come a long way in regards to changing policy and practices with our Country. However, there is still much work to be done regarding issues that affect the gay and lesbian population when it comes addressing lifestyles and equal rights. Here are just some examples of rights that many take for granted. However they are not always afforded to the gay and lesbian population and their
There are many religions and many differences. Everybody has different beliefs and today I’m here to inform you on three religions which include Judaism, Buddhism, and Roman Catholicism. The information I will give you may help you better understand different cultures.
LGBT people continue to face real discrimination and there is no federal law preventing them fro being fired or denied work based on their sexual orientation. The military is notorious for their public discrimination of gays and lesbians They can lose their children for being gay or lesbian, and are even denied the right to marry in some states. In 1992 Colorado executed Amendment 2, which opposed the current state laws and blocked future laws protecting lesbians, gay men and bisexuals from discrimination. The U. S. Supreme Court case 1996 Romer v. Evans decision. We must conclude that Amendment 2 classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else. Which Colorado could not do. A state cannot deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws. (Justice Anthony Kennedy, Majority Opinion in Romer v, Evans I)
Representative Jared Polis “In 31 states, it is still legal to fire an employee because they’re gay or transgender.” It’s shocking to know a nation considered one of the leading nations in the world has not granted its basic human rights to the people residing on their land––people who have devoted their lives to thrive in this country. Through research, there was one study I found that stood out to me titled “INJUSTICE AT EVERY TURN:
Living in the 21t century, diversity is seen all aspects of life, majorly in the workplace. A rising issue in America has been making headlines; discrimination in the workplace due to sexual orientation. Sexual orientation refers to “a person’s sexual identity in relation to the gender to which they are attracted” (Google). There has been a disturbing and substantial growing rate in the discrimination and harassment of gay and transgender individuals in the workplace as well as throughout the hiring process with limited attention being brought upon the issue. Individuals are being denied the same benefits, opportunities, and job titles due to their sexual orientation.
The legalization of gay marriage has been a controversial issue in many state courts since the mid 1970s. Gay marriage scares many people because it strays from the norms of heterosexual relationships. Traditional American ideals have become a part of culture and society that everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, or race, or gender, expect to have as a basic human rights. Several times in history these have been identified as inalienable rights. One of the expected rights of many American citizens is the right to choose who they love, who they marry, and how they live their day to day life. When heterosexual Americans were introduced to the idea of same sex marriage, they became afraid that it would “taint the minds of the young members of the community,” since homosexualty was and still is frowned upon in the community. Thus, the homosexual community’s opportunity to freely choose how to live their life is taken
In the last few years the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community have made major strides in a positive direction toward equal rights within the legal system, including the recent Supreme Court decision ruling that same-sex marriages will be recognized in all 50 states. Sixteen of those states and the District of Columbia have full anti-discrimination laws that include protecting gender identity and expression. This leaves roughly 70% of the country’s population living in states without comprehensive anti-discrimination laws (Cobos & Jones, 2009). The work has just begun, as the LGBT population continue to face discrimination regarding education, employment, housing, and healthcare.
For 29 States in the US, it is legal to fire an employee for being gay, lesbian or bisexual. 38 States in the Union have no laws on record preventing discrimination against gender identity or expression—commonly known as transgender. While these statistics may be disheartening for many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) individuals, it is not all doom and gloom. Employment protections and rights for GLBTs have grown exponentially in the past two decades.
First and foremost, the American dream of earning an income through hard work has repeatedly proven itself to be a challenging task for those in the LGBT community. This is due to the lack of acceptance shown to LGBT members struggling to attain a fair paying while openly expressing their sexual orientations, which conservative individuals continue to view as unorthodox. One example of is seen in the case of Brooke Waits. Waits, along with thousands others, was wrongfully denied the right to work towards achieving the American Dream by being employed due to bias workplace discrimination. Waits recounts the day her American right of opportunity was wrongfully denied simply because of her sexual orientation, “ when my boss discovered I am a lesbian... In a single afternoon, I went from being a highly praised employee, to out of a job” ( Burns). Sadly, the story of Brooke Waits is not an unusual a story, it is a real life experience that prevented one individual from completing the American Dream,
Extensive research in the past has studied the relationship between prejudice and religiosity, however it has not been expanded to include nonprejudice. In addition, much of the research has relied on samples of individuals high in religiosity, and not those who self-identify as atheist, agnostic, or having no religious affiliation. In the current study, it was hypothesized that individuals higher in religiosity would display higher levels of homonegativity towards gay men, and higher levels of benevolent sexism towards women. In addition, a scale of nonprejudice was administered to assess possible correlations with measures of prejudice in relation to the self-identified religious affiliation of the participant. The sample of
There are four blind men who discover an elephant. Since the men have never encountered an elephant, they analyze, seeking to understand and describe this new anomaly. One man grasps at the trunk and concludes it is a snake. Another one examines the elephant 's tail and announces that it’s a rope. A third finds one of the elephant 's legs and describes it as a tree. And the fourth blind man, after exploring the elephant 's side, concludes that it is, after all, a wall. Each in his blindness is describing the same thing: an elephant. Yet each interprets the same thing in a radically different way. In comparison to Eboo Patel’s text, “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation,” Patel focuses on living in a diverse faction full of religious prejudice in a world full of materialistic outlooks. He believes religions should be able to coexist without feeling that one religion is superior than the other. Patel’s intentions of pluralism in this text is to provide insight on how all religions should coexist, in that manner, I believe that Patel uses logos in the form of his experiences and also the things that he conveys for his argumentative claim of pluralism. His use of logos, in a way that others can relate, makes his claim more effective for those that are reading his book.