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Gay And Trans Rights Movement Essay

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Gay and Trans Rights: The Movement to Understanding The 20th century was a period of mass change, from technology to the ideals that people put forth to the reformation movements that occurred. A major, but not well known movement that took place was the gay and trans rights movement. This centered around the idea of those of the queer (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender+, or LGBT+) community that sought to be understood during a time of extreme prejudice against them. This led to incidents like the Stonewall Inn riots led by Marsha P. Johnson and to political figures like José Sarria and Harvey Milk, who worked tirelessly to help reform social views to make America a safer place. Even now America is not truly a safe place for the queer community - over 100,000 hate crimes have been reported since 1991 (Crimes) - but there has been progress, as it is safer and more acceptable than it was in the 20th century. Unfortunately, the statistics prior to 1990 and the passage of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act are scant and likely inaccurate (Crimes), but there are numerous documents of hate crimes despite this. Some of the most notable ones are the raids on Mafia-owned gay bars, which led to the Stonewall riots. This and other incidents came at a time when homosexuality was prohibited in public and private, supportive businesses were “regularly raided and shut down” (Hate). Such crimes, generated by hatred to individuals sexual orientations and gender identities, also tended to be

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