Approximately four weeks ago, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history occurred not to far from UCF. Patrons of Pulse nightclub, a gay nightclub in Orlando where massacred by Omar Mateen, Mateen took the lives of forty-nine individuals all because of their presence in a gay establishment. This tragic incident wasn’t the first attack on the LGBT community, but it’s massive fatalities put Congress under even more pressure to reform gun laws, gay rights, and suspected terrorist legislation. As a political Science major, I take a special interest in the reactions among legislators after the Orlando incident and believe there should be more equal protection for gay people under the law. The two articles I will be analyzing, After Orlando, a Political Divide on Gay Rights Still Stands and Gay rights and wrongs: How the Orlando massacre affects the fight for LGBT rights furthers the discourse among the divide in Congress over gay rights.
My first article, After Orlando, a Political Divide on Gay Rights still Stands, published in the New York Times focuses on the separate discourse of Democrats and Republicans in Congress. The writers show it’s time for the argument to exist using logos stating, “Gays have surpassed Jews as the minority group most often targeted in hate crimes, according to the FBI.” (Peters and Alvarez) This statement paired with the Orlando incident shows gays are in danger and need Congress to fight for them. With Democrats trying to appeal to Republicans for
In the 65-year history of LGBTQ activism in the United States, the present moment stands out on the basis of gay marriage being legalized. At no other time would an observer have imagined that the LGBTQ movement was likely to succeed in such a manner that any gender can marry any other gender with the permission by the law (Stewart-winter
Gays should be allowed to have the same rights as everyone else. They used to not be allowed to adopt children in some states. They get abused verbally, mentally, and physically by their family and friends. There are some people who disagree with the thought of gays getting married. They can’t get jobs because of their sexual orientation. Some people accept the fact that they want to love who they want to love. What’s important is that gays are mistreated wherever they go.
It was a hectic morning for one of Orlando’s top queer bars, Pulse Night Club, on June 12th 2016. An armed gunman entered the premise and shot 49 people dead, injuring several others in the process. Despite the obvious tragedy, a positive result arose. Less than 12 hours after the mass shooting ended, President Obama addressed the nation on national television about the horrific event. To many, his speech was a completely normal response from a Head of State regarding a national tragedy, but many have taken the seemingly basic response for granted. In the past, major tragedies affecting minority groups, such as queer people, would not have even made the front page of the newspaper, let alone cause the president to give a speech immediately following the devastating event. For a large portion of American history, queer individuals were seen by the majority as immoral people who needed to solve their own problems with little help from the dismissive and oppressive government that ruled over them. When the AIDS epidemic hit the homosexual male community in the 1980s, gay men across the country reached out for help and slowly received it. Given that homosexuality was a taboo topic in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan recognizing the AIDS epidemic was a notable milestone for the queer rights movement.
Aside from the rise in racial discriminative acts, hate crimes against homosexuals pose as the one of the largest problems in recent news. With the current rise of gay and lesbian marriages, many individuals are protesting that this action is not acceptable and in violent ways. Police and Congress have their hands full sending out large task forces and passing laws to put a stop to harmful protests. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force declared October 19th "National Hate Crimes Call-In Day." The
When President Clinton started to exercise his executive freedom to repeal the military’s ban on homosexuals, the religious right was ready to rally their congressional buddies to object to the president’s idea and in the end, resulted in maintaining the ban via the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue” negotiation. This extensive depth and power eclipses the funds, contacts, and the foundation of the lesbian and gay movement. Even so, this
LGBTQ rights have been a largely debated issue for many years now. Many questions about gay rights still stand. Should people who are LGBTQ have the right to marry? Do they deserve the same rights? In October 2014, only 19 states legalized LGBTQ marriage. (“By the numbers, Same-sex”) Now, in March 2015, that number has almost doubled. ("37 States with Legal") It’s no question that people are starting to open their eyes and realize that everyone deserves equal rights. As a matter of fact, in 1996, only 27% of Americans believed that LGBTQ people should have the right to marry. In 2014, this same poll gave a result of 55%. (“By the numbers, Same-sex”) While LGBTQ people are starting to get more rights, there still is plenty of work to do. 13 states, still do not allow LGBTQ marriage. ("37 States with Legal") These states make up 89 million people, or 28% of the US population. ("State & County QuickFacts") Also, many LGBTQ people are harassed regularly on the streets and at school. However, many laws and measures are being taken to protect LGBTQ rights, internationally, nationally and in specific states including New York.
Key concerns of advocates of LGBT rights are the exclusion and discrimination of LGBT people. Many people have misconceptions about homosexuality or homophobic tendencies that LGBT have to try to work against. I think that many LGBT advocates are scared of being judged because of their sexual preferences. During the dialogue, we discussed the similarities of the fight for LGBT rights and minority rights. For example, African-Americans had limited legal rights and there were restrictions on facilities they could use. Similarly, laws were passed in Mississippi discriminating against same-sex couples and gay marriage. I would identify these as key issues because I think that violating LGBT rights is going against human rights of all people. Also, I believe that people should be allowed to engage in relationships with and marry who they choose. A great concern at this time for advocates of LGBT rights is gay
The rights of the LGBTQ people have been highlighted in the United States over the past several years. The LGBTQ community is facing discrimination and a twisted portal of their character throughout the media. A more recent example of discrimination is the HB2 law that our governor Pat McCrory signed into effect in April of this year. This law created an issue that did not even exist in what feels like an attack towards the LGBTQ community. Discrimination to this community has become something that we can no longer afford to ignore. We have normalized discrimination against this group of people by allowing it to invaded our homes, schools, and workplace.
The struggle between Edward and Bella in the “Twilight Saga” can be closely related to the struggle of gay right’s in today’s society. During the whole entire saga Edward and Bella have to fight to keep their relationship with one another. This is similar to what the LGBT community has been doing for many years now. In the “Twilight Saga” some of the characters do not believe that Edward and Bella should be with one another because he is a vampire and she is a human. Similarly in today’s society some people do not believe that people of the same-sex should be in a relationship or marry one another. The biggest factor that plays into why people believe and think this way is because of the unknown factor of it all, they have it very
Furthermore, throughout the civil rights struggle that began in the mid 20th century, and which led to the drafting of significant anti-discrimination legislation in the United States, neither legislation or judicial precedent has specifically designated the LGBT community as a protected class at the federal level, in contrast to the protections of this type provided to ethnic and racial minorities as well as the disabled, amongst other minorities (Wintermute, 2002, 38-39). With this, there is no overarching federal protection for LGBT individuals suffering from discrimination in either the public sphere or the workplace. While some states, notably California, New York, Vermont, and a few others have adopted legislation protecting LGBT individuals from discrimination in the workplace, all of this legislation suffers from inconsistent enforcement (Cavico et al., 2012, 3). With this, it is apparent that the anti-LGBT sentiment that permeates the American public sphere, buttressed by the country's intense political polarization on socio-religious issues, has led to an inadequate protection of the LGBT minority from discrimination in the workplace.
In Russell Berman’s article “Will Congress Protect Gay Rights Beyond Marriage”, he claims that passing same-sex marriage is not the end of the Gay Rights Movement. In fact, the Democrats in Congress gathered to put together a proposal that would ban discrimination in education, housing, public accommodations, all laws, and employment (Berman, 2014). Across the
Is the right to refuse service to LGBT individuals an actual case of violating a person 's religious rights or is it really a case of blatant discrimination? This may seem like a complicated question that has many unable to answer but in reality, it is actually quite simple. The refusal of service to LGBT individuals is not nor has it ever been a case of religious rights but a simple one of homophobic discrimination.
Traditionalist associations that claim to uphold "conventional family values" have guaranteed to dispatch an across the country battle in 1998 to institute state-level enactment to deny reception by lesbians and gay men. These dangers of against gay and hostile to youngster enactment have come because of the expanded readiness of courts, policymakers and administrators to perceive that lesbians and gay men can be great folks and ought to be assessed on their child rearing aptitudes, instead of their sexual introduction. The late settlement of an ACLU claim in New Jersey, where the State consented to permit lesbian and gay couples to receive under the same benchmarks connected to wedded couples, has expanded the conservative 's attention on this issue.
LGBT rights are one of the most argued rights today. These rights are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. This amendment states that you cannot deny a person equal protection, and some people completely ignore this when it comes to the LGBT community. People tend to believe that if someone is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and so forth, that there is something wrong with them and that they need help. That’s not the case at all. People in the LGBT community are just like everyone else that isn’t in that category. They’re trying to be true to who they are and that is so hard when you know that so many people in this world are disgusted by gays. Everyone deserves love, whether it be from someone of the opposite sex or the same sex. Some people see two girls together and think that it’s “inappropriate” or “disgusting”, and that they should be with a man. Heterosexuality is the sexuality that most parents force upon their children whether they notice it or not. “Do you have a boyfriend?” is one way that a parent is throwing heterosexuality in their daughter’s face. It’s not that their being forceful about it, or even trying to be rude, it’s just the most common thing of what they’re used to, but it’s not always going to be that way. It’s crucial to know that there are people in this world that are gay, lesbian, and bisexual. I’m in no way trying to speak for the LGBT community, but my goal concerning this paper is to discuss Supreme Court cases on same-sex couples and to cover areas where the LGBT community
Gay rights have been of much debate the past year or so. Most had thought this debate was long over when the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 for the legalization of gay marriage. However, with the recent election of Donald Trump, LGBT rights have become, once again, a topic of discussion. A few of the LGBT rights that are “up in the air” are gay military service, adoption, discrimination policies in schools, and marriage. I hold the firm belief that LGBT individuals should have all of the same rights and privileges as every human being. According to the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (The Declaration of Independence) Homosexuals, however, seem to be overlooked in this statement. If all men are created equal, shouldn’t every human be entitled to the same rights? Specifically, same-sex couples are denied this “pursuit of happiness.” They are not allowed to attain their version of happiness when such a large multitude of restrictions are placed on them.