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How Social And Political Issues Affected The LGBT Culture

Decent Essays

The LGBT culture has been in existence in the United States for centuries. It has been influenced in many ways by many cultures. The influence has cause the LGBT culture to go through a great amount of obstacles throughout time. Consequently, it has created the LGBT culture that exists today. In this portion of the paper one will go back in history and see what social and political issues affected this culture.
Even before colonization, the LGBT communities existed in the United States. In Native American communities, the term “Two Spirit” was use to describe individuals that were lesbian, gay, or transgender. In native tradition individuals that were “Two Spirit” were regarded with great respect, they are consider gifted by their culture because they have both the spirit of a men and a women.
However, England had a major influence on how the LGBT communities were shaped from the 16th century to present day. English common law reference sodomy as a criminal offense since 13th century. By 1971 all 13 colonies had sodomy laws in place. During this time period different colonies had a variety of punishments for violators ranging from execution to whippings. Nevertheless, following their independence from England, the punishment of execution was gradually removed from the …show more content…

The Stonewall Riot of 1969 was a turning point for the LGBT community. During this incident, police raid Stonewall Inn, a gay club in New York City. While police were arresting people inside the club, people began to resist the police. The individuals inside the club were annoyed and tired of all the raids that were occurring, subsequently causing a violent riot to ensue. This event further lead for the first known organize gay and lesbian pride march to end harassment and abuse against LGBT in New York. As the LGBT community continued to protest for change and equality in New York, soon these changes began to spread all over the United

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