Jennings's Case: The One Vs. Oleson Case

Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their

Over the next two decades, half the states decriminalized homosexual behavior, and police harassment grew less frequent and obvious to the public. Also in 1975, it became legal for gays to hold federal jobs. However all this headway also made room for more opposition. In 1977, Anita Bryant was so successful at obtaining a repeal of a recent gay ordinance in her home state of Florida that by 1980, a league of anti gay clubs had come together to make a force, led in part by Jesse Helms. The AIDS scare that began in the eighties did not help the gay image either, but more citizens joined their ranks in order to combat the oppression and fund a search for the cure, so in the end it actually made the movement stronger. According to the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia (2000), by 1999, the anti-sodomy laws of 32 states had been repealed, and in 1996 Vermont granted its gay citizens the right to same sex marriages. Gay rights has come a long way as a social movement, and though it still has a long way to go, it makes a good topic to analyze the process of the social movement.

The city of Atlanta had experienced over a two year period from 1979-1981 of egregious acts of murders committed on more than twenty African American adolescent males. However, Wayne Williams, a native of Atlanta, was the center of law enforcement investigation, which implicated his involvement in at least two of the children murders around that time. Nonetheless, law enforcement linked Wayne Williams to those murders because of detailed evidence found on the victims, which was later discovered that evidence was from Williams apartment (Curriden, 1992). Furthermore, the evidence which was found was a unique fiber from the carpet of Williams apartment and the number of people having this fiber was very small in number (Curriden, 1992)). The fiber evidence was the main part of the case to associate Williams with

Stonewall: the Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, was written by David Carter in New York, and published in 2004. This book serves the purpose of identifying Stonewall as the starting point for the modern gay revolution as a whole. It argues that the riots set a spark that ignited America in favor of homosexual rights as well as political and social opportunity. This book is valuable because it not only acknowledges the riots at Stonewall as important, but shows how they transformed homosexual life and the movement entirely. Carter persuades readers to see New York as a venue for revolution, and acknowledges the challenges faced throughout the beginning of the movement,

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 were forced to stay under the shadow. They were afraid to show their own true colors. Harvey Milk was a gay activist who had encouraged people to come out of the closet and join their organization to fight for their rights. He says “Burst down those closet doors and stand up once and for all, and start to fight.” (Document G) In the the quote he explains that people who are scared and haven’t come out of the closet should and help join the movement for equal rights for homosexuals. Harvey Milk’s encouragement had a big impact in the past organizations, his voice and words have impacted the LGBT society in a big way. In document H it shows how people were doing riots to express how they felt. This helped make people aware of their movement and what they want. They were able to express how they felt through these riots. Today, all these riots and LGBT activist work have made an everlasting impact. They had finished their goal and had legalized gay marriage, something they have been fighting for a long time. Even though they face discrimination, they have had made a huge step for equality because of their hard work in the past and

The history of LGBTQIA+ rights in the United States is long and complicated. The identities within the LGBTQIA+ community that are accepted have shifted over the years as the majority of the population comes to understand some identities to be commonplace and struggles to understand others. However, the gaining of rights and acceptance by the LGBTQIA+ community has nearly always been tied to legal recognition. Lawrence v. Texas questions whether or not a Texas statute that bans homosexual sodomy is constitutional. Although LGBTQIA+ rights issues are controversial, the statute that convicted John Lawrence and Tyson Garner for having private, consensual gay sex as well as the means of conviction are clearly unconstitutional on several grounds,

Lawrence v Texas was the inspiration of changing the gay rights, and if wasn’t for this case gay rights wouldn’t be where it is today . In the case Lawrence v. Texas, which was the United States Supreme Court case the criminal prohibition of the homosexual consent was invalidated in Texas. John Lawrence and Tyron Garner were arrested for having an illegal type of sex. However this law was only enforced in the state of Texas. Lawrence and Garner's appeal was that what they had been doing was protected the Fourteenth Amendment, which, “prohibits state and local government officials from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without legislative authorization.” The court's final decision was 6-3 in favor of Lawrence.

Society was impacted in a great effect, this was one of the first victories for people of the (then) small group of LGBT, a group that was still not quite as influential as it is today. I believe the court’s ruling was not trying to stir the LGBT movement forward in any sort of specific way, but instead were trying to push for equality in justice, and having specific groups of people (Gay, lesbian, black, hispanic and so forth) is at the end of the day, an injustice to the people of the United States. There was severe involvement by civil liberties groups, as many saw that this court case would set a precedence in many state laws and some groups were concerned with the aftermath of the case. Kelly Shackleford, a Texas attorney, was affiliated with a Fundamentalist Christian group “Focus on the Family” and he argued for the group that Lawrence V. Texas would be used as a trump card for homosexual equality, an “atomic bomb that they could carry around to attack any law that does not treat homosexuality on an equal basis with heterosexuality." He would also argue that marriage laws could become unconstitutional and that all marriage laws were in potential danger from a Lawrence win. These concerns were put aside and had little weight in the case, other claims that the case would make polygamy and bestiality legal in the bedroom were criticized for being outlandish and inherently insulting to the court. Professor Laurence Tribe wrote that Lawrence v. Texas “may well be remembered as the Brown v. Board of Education of gay and lesbian Americans.” What this case did do was make the roadway to equality for gay, lesbian and bisexual people. The landmark case of Obergefell V. Hodges that made same-sex marriage a fundamental right was a possibility because

The struggle for gay rights was not always publicized due to fear for being “ill” for thinking that way. The fight for rights was known in the mental health community as an illness. In the courts where same-sex couples would be denied the right to marry, from the Stonewall riots to the U.S. Supreme Court decision on June 26 of this year, the evolvement and difficulty of those fighting.

This court case doesn’t affect me directly because I am not gay but I do have gay friends that would be impacted by this case. If they were to be involved in homosexual intimacy and this case was decided against Lawrence then they would be arrested and fined for being with their

Katie Lawler Ms. Johnston RUST 8 18 April 2017 Davis v. Beason Supreme Court Case Throughout the history of the United States, some citizens rights have been unjustly violated. In the First Amendment of the Constitution, citizens are guaranteed 5 freedoms; freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly and petition. These rights are suppose to protect citizens rights and freedoms. The case such as Davis vs Beason questions whether Davis’ First Amendment Right of freedom of religion was being violated.

Marcus Wesson fifty seven years old lived in a small blue house in Fresno, California. In his house it was hell because he would have sexual intercourse with his own daughters and nieces. When he was about twenty seven years old he had met a girl who was only fourteen years old. This is where it all started Marcus Wesson and this thirthteen year old girl had two babies together, but she already had plenty more a total of ten children. Not only this but he married his own daughters with own ceremonies in his house. Some of his daughters and nieces were very young up to one to seven years of age. Marcus Wesson also had boys which were from his daughters and nieces he impregnated. Marcus Wesson first married his daughter who was twenty five years old and had sexual intercourse with her. Later on he married all of his daughters and nieces. Marcus Wesson would play with the girls private parts, he would touch them in certain areas, and he would also fully have sexual intercourse with them, and called this fatherly love. Marcus Wesson would brainwash his children that he was God, he also made his own Bible and would read it to them. Every time the children misbehaved or didn 't do what he asked them to do he would hit them with a stick. The children were very young from one to seven years old and they were trained to believe whatever Marcus Wesson had told them. Every child depends on their parents so all of these things Marcus Wesson taught them they were taught

I believe that it´s the same offender in the Parkinson case and the Johnson case, which is making the offender a serial killer because he has killed 3 people and it has been over a period over 30 days. By looking at different serial killer typologies my firm belief is that this offender will fall into the lust serial killer typology. I concluded this by firstly looking if the crimes were act-focused kills or process kills, I concluded it was process kills because the offender had taken the time to abduct both Parkinson and Johnson and didn 't just kill them right away like an act-focused killer would do. With the offender being a process killer he could only be organized as well because process killers cannot be disorganized. The offender would either be a lust killer, power-control killer or a thrill killer. I concluded that the offender in this case would not be a thrill serial killer, since this kind of murderer gets off my seeing his victims suffering, which is the most important factor for this type of offender. In the Parkinson and Johnson murders there were no signs of torture on the victims bodies and therefore I do not believe that this offender would be a thrill serial killer.

Professor Johnson’s lecture sparked conversation about whether or not the Supreme Court ruling accomplished enough for the LGBT community. At the time, I was unaware of how the ruling could be something that wasn’t an all-around win for the community, but after being introduced to queer politics