Essay The Matthew Shepard Event

In the early days of the American government, there was a long struggle between the federalist, and the anti-federalist about the ratification of a constitution for a young nation. During that time, slavery was a source of labor, and commerce for our thirteen states, but this didn’t sit well with these human properties, because they wanted their grievances to be answered. Once it was clear that African-Americans were people who deserve the same rights as others too, it sparked the voices from women who were properties of their spouses. In continuation of all these dilemmas, there was a hidden developing conflict for homosexual rights. The rights that Americans think they are entitled too, must be answered,

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,

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Queer community also referred to as LGBTQQ is no stranger to oppression. “In 1600-1800, colonists discovered buggery (sex between men or between women) among Native Americans. In 1869, Dr. Karoly Benkert coined the term “homosexuality” to describe same-sex acts. In 1870-1910, homosexuals

The case chosen for this research paper is the case of Lawrence V. Texas. In Houston, Texas police officers were dispatched to a private home, responding to a report of weapon disturbance. Inside the home they found John Lawrence and Tyron Garner engaging in a private, consensual sexual act. The two men were arrested and held overnight and charged with violating Texas law, specifically Texas law made the act of two people of the same sex engaging in certain intimate sexual conduct illegal. The two men were then convicted before a Justice of Peace. Lawrence V. Texas asks the question of whether the criminal convictions of Lawrence and Garner under the “Homosexual Conduct” law of Texas was in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. It was argued

Supreme Court stated that the “Homosexual Conduct” law of Texas was unconstitutional and the law violated the 14th Amendment Due process Clause. This Clause protects  the right to personal freedom in intimate decisions. The issue wasn’t "the right to engage in homosexual sodomy" but  "the right to privacy in the home" and another is "the right to freely engage in consensual, adult sex."

‘Strand distinguishes between support for civil rights and support for civil liberties, arguing that heterosexuals are more supportive of civil liberties for gay men and lesbians, which are concerned with protecting individuals from undue government interference in their private behaviour, than they are

Analysis: Michael Hardwick was observed by a Georgia police officer while engaging in the act of consensual homosexual sodomy with another adult in the bedroom of his home. After being charged with violating a Georgia statute that criminalized sodomy, Hardwick challenged the statute's constitutionality in Federal District Court. Following a ruling that Hardwick failed to state a claim, the court dismissed. On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded, holding that Georgia's statute was unconstitutional. The court stated that fundamental rights are rights which are “deeply rooted in this nation’s history and tradition” or the rights which are essential to the existence of liberty. But homosexual sodomy, the court ruled, met none of

The Laramie Project is a story that has a variety of characters with many differing viewpoints on a multitude of issues throughout the entire book. Issues such as the death penalty, LGBTQ rights, what type of a person Matthew Shepard was, and a massive amount of others are present throughout the entire book. The character Matthew Shepard, a gay, black student at the University of Wyoming was murdered by two white, heterosexual males, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. With the mass amount of characters within The Laramie Project, there were bound to be differing viewpoints on what type of person Matthew Shepard was. Some people thought he was a good kid and a martyr, dying at the hands of homophobic males within their town, some thought he didn't really matter just because he was gay, and murders happened all the time. A third view is that he deserved what he got.

After seeing the play and later revisiting the horrid things that happened to Matthew Shepard makes me think a lot about today's society and everything that has been going on in the world lately. My perception of people has changed, not in a bad way but in a more cautious way. You never know what people are thinking or what thee are going though, just having consideration for others can really change things. Like I previously said, humanities help you understand things a lot better. The events that took place during the pay were at times very hard to hear, like the police officer explaining how she found Shepard's body, the two boys who killed him, as well as the interviews. The Laramie Project further opened my eyes to the amount of heavy

In his paper “Against Gay Marriage”, William J. Bennett uses quotes from a multitude of sources to support the argument that he is making, such as when he is commenting on the effects of the recent Hawaii Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. Bennett uses outside evidence to support major points such as his opposition to schools accepting homosexuals and teaching that homosexuality is equal. While most prolific in the second half of the argument, William J. Bennett uses both minor quotes and more important quotations of outside evidence to support his argument; however, Bennet does so in an unskilled manner. In several circumstances he uses uncited evidence from unnamed people, and he also quotes minor words with an unknown motive for doing so. The unclear motive for quoting minor words could be considered

In the past decades, the struggle for gay rights in the Unites States has taken many forms. Previously, homosexuality was viewed as immoral. Many people also viewed it as pathologic because the American Psychiatric Association classified it as a psychiatric disorder. As a result, many people remained in ‘the closet’ because they were afraid of losing their jobs or being discriminated against in the society. According to David Allyn, though most gays could pass in the heterosexual world, they tended to live in fear and lies because they could not look towards their families for support. At the same time, openly gay establishments were often shut down to keep openly gay people under close scrutiny (Allyn 146). But since the 1960s, people

“Terror doesn't change people from gay to straight. It just hurts innocent people,” DaShanne Stokes, a recognized thought leader, sociologist, author, and speaker, on conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is a pseudoscientific practice that encompasses psychological or spiritual interventions to try and change an individual’s, usually a minor’s, sexual orientation. It has been highly discredited and criticized by all major American medical and psychological organizations and even, in 2001, the United States Surgeon General David Satcher, stated that there was “no valid scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed”. However, conversion therapy still occurs in the United States. This paper looks to examine Ferguson v. JONAH, a case credited as the “first of its kind”, it’s ruling, and the effect it could have on future cases.

There are few issues that are more controversial than that of homosexuality. It is a topic that is randomly thrown into conversations along with; abortion, human trafficking, and feminism. But there is one common factor among these seemingly random topics: human rights. Women want the right to choose whether or not they will have a child, sex slaves fight for the right to be freed, feminists fight for gender equality, and homosexuals fight for the freedom to be treated the same way as people who are straight. Homosexuals are discriminated against because they are a minority that is defined by the majority as different.

2. Social deviance can be simply defined as any violation of social norms and laws, be it formal or informal (Conley, 2011). These transgressions may include minor acts such as violation of personal space, playing loud music or picking one’s nose publicly. It also includes major acts of crime such as theft, murder, rape, or assault. One of the currently hot topics regarding social deviance is the society’s acceptance towards gay people, especially those who went for surgery and became transgender. Today, LGBT rights are being established and strengthened step by step. However, not so long ago, gay people were usually glared at especially when they chose to exhibit their cross-dressing or their affairs publicly. Although most of these people

You’re disgusting. You’re sinning. You’re an abomination. What you’re doing is terrorism. Homosexuality is wrong. If you were in Alabama, Utah, South Carolina, Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi, you might hear this from your sexual health/reproductive health teacher. Slam! That’s the sound echoing through the halls as your body gets slammed against your locker by the quarterback of the football team. You look up, desperately searching the halls for someone, anyone who can help you. You make eye contact with your History teacher. He turns his head and briskly walks into his room right as a fist gets shoved into your abdomen.