Homosexuality and Acceptance in Society Essay

Prior to the twenty-first century, homosexuality was viewed as a mental disorder that required treatment. Both counseling and aversion therapy were exercised in attempts to “cure” individuals of their sexuality. The brutal process consisted of shock therapies, lobotomies, castrations, and drugs (Scot, 2013). A device that was commonly used was the Farrall Instrument, which functioned by showing an individual of the same sex and delivering a shock until a button was pressed to deliver another slide. The slides of the opposite sex did not deliver a shock; therefore, an association with those of the same sex would become negative and the patient receiving the treatment would become heterosexual. These practices were enacted until 1973 when the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder (Scot, 2013). From that point on, homosexuality increasingly grew in acceptance and still continues to do so in modern society. A variety of places that celebrate members of the LGBT community have been established to help welcome them into society, along with an improvement of the attitudes of others and their treatments towards the communities’ members. However, homophobia and the segregation of LGBT individuals still persists in modern society to prevent their integration into civilization.

For many years, psychologists described homosexuality as a disorder or a treatable complex. Recently, homosexuality was removed from the DSM and is no longer considered a disorder. The gay population is no longer treated as sick but accepted as a diverse set of individuals. The many distinguishing attributes and characteristics of a gay or lesbian individual are considered to be personality attributes.

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

Being gay in America is difficult. Being gay in America is even more difficult when you’re not quite gay. Being a closeted not-quite gay woman in America, surrounded by Indian immigrants is pretty difficult, too. It’s a bit like staring in a James Bond film, if all of the characters suddenly developed Bollywood accents, and marginally less homicide. Also, I may be exaggerating, because I don’t attract nearly as many Bond Girls, no matter how much I’d like to. Even understanding what “not-quite gay” means for me was and is a struggle. I suppose a common saying is true: if you can’t find the gay cousin in your family, then you are the gay cousin. And it’s true; in my jumbled mess of aunts, uncles, and third-step cousins once removed, there hasn’t been a single person to come out. Or, if there has, we certainly never talk about them.

The topic of homosexuality in religion has many sides. There are those who believe that it is a sin in God’s eyes and according to the Bible, and there are those who believe the God and the Bible are not specific to homosexuals. It is a tough debate based on whether you are a religious person, how you were raised, and where your morals and ethics stand. You cannot truly believe one way without taking into account the other side and have valid proof to back it up.

There are many issues that have arrived in our culture that may conflict with a traditional viewpoint. Day by day, I see people parting from conservative life styles to those that are flamboyant and boisterous. I can’t pin point just one group or sector of people, beliefs, or ideologies that is morally altering the future generations; but I will expound on sexual orientation and how it affect us, socially, emotionally, and politically.

The topic of homosexuality elicits many reactions. It is forever played upon in pop culture for it's shock value if nothing else. Some demonize it, holding things like religion as proving, "alternative lifestyles," to be wrong. Some have erotisied homosexuality as in many of Anne Rice's vampire novels. Some laugh at homosexuality or people who are homosexual, calling it, "weird". Some react violently, as in the case of Matthew Shepard. And yet others have gradually turned towards acceptance shown (debatably) in such movies as, " To Wong-Fu Love Julie Newmar" and " In and Out".

When Aristotle discussed the material premises of enthymemes as being important in rhetoric, he was prescient of the kind of appeals that would be tendered by opponents in the discourse over gay rights issues long after his time. Smith and Windes express the nature of this conflict accurately when they write, “symbols expressing fundamental cultural values are invoked by all sides” (1997: 28). Similarly, Sarah S. Brown describes the participants in a “struggle to stake out symbolic positions of good and to frame their side in terms of morally powerful conceptions of right and wrong” (2000: 458). Fascinatingly, she suggests, “even people with deeply conflicting opinions appeal to the same moral

The New world was of great wonders discovered by the Vikings, inhabited by the natives ,and stolen by a bitter elite, that punches the great world with an iron fist; the explorer, Columbus starting the brick of colonization, an open path for Europeans to take the land and call it their own to grasp a new life, a dream that is to be savored and fulfilled as growth and prosperity continues to emerges out of the westernmost winds, and south of the Mediterranean sea, dominating the land, free to do whatever they please.

The history of the gay rights movement has been a hard fought battle within the United States. In fact the first gay rights movement dates back to 1924 with the creation of The Society for Human Rights in Chicago, Illinois. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that gay rights started to make progress. In the year 1969 The Stonewall Riots took place when gay, lesbian, and transgender patrons of a New York bar were raided by the police. This forever changed the movement from isolated incidents to a world wide phenomenon.

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

“All men are created equal, No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words,” Harvey Milk. A homosexual, as defined by the dictionary, is someone of, relating to, or characterized by a tendency to direct sexual desire toward another of the same sex. Homosexuality is ethical, and I will provide rational arguments for, and irrational arguments against the topic. A few objections are as follows: It is forbidden in the Bible and frowned upon by God; It is unnatural; Men and women are needed to reproduce; There are no known examples in nature; and the most common argument that concerns homosexuality is whether it is a choice or human biology.

Homosexuality is not a 20th century situation but has been in history from the age of ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt, and even China. The attitude toward homosexuality always has been a variable, depending on the social, cultural and morality, or even the political development (Barnecka et al., 2005). Back in Greek history the concept of relations between two men was seen as the highest form of love, whereas the Judaic view always was against and frowned upon these relations considering it immoral and illegal. However, when the Roman rule was destroyed and the Christians took over Europe, homosexuality was seen as perverse (Woodward, 1997).

Homosexuality is genetic! How can this statement be true? It is indeed true in the precise fact that Romans 3:23 points out, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Humanity has been cursed with being genetically embedded with sin and a sinful nature. The current worldview is that homosexuality and multiple sexual orientations come from nature, and not nurture. This viewpoint is correct in that it is human nature to sin and seek out one’s own selfish desire. However, No one is prescribing a remedy for this sin. “Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 15:34) What the world has done is celebrated this sin and deceive youth through their much-wanted desire for acceptance and identity. There is a copious amount of research out there, along with world definitions of each orientation, and a call for acceptance of others’ orientations. There is also the other side of the argument and the fundamental truths that come from the word of God. Various resources are available to help youth leaders, teachers, parents and pastors to have a higher understanding of this cultural issue and the solutions and treatments available for youth struggling in this area. Spiritual leaders in the home, church, and schools ought to be prepared to teach on these topics readily, since this world, in which many youth are daily immersed, will readily present its own point of view with utter

For hundreds of years South Africa has endured a constant power struggle, oppression under the apartheid government, the AIDS epidemic and homophobia. Internationally there are currently four countries that permit same-sex marriages, which include the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Canada. Even though homosexuality remains largely taboo in South Africa, the country is taking steps towards overall equality and improved human rights allowing such unions to take place where this lifestyle was once forbidden.