Looking into the Mirrior: Homosexuals' Human Rights in the USA

1397 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Educational equality

Key Words

• Homosexuality-The romantic or sexual attraction or behavior of members of the same sex.

• No Child Left Behind- An act that went into effect January 2001 it is a standard based reform program aimed at making all students proficient by the year 2014.

• Equity- Fairness in regards to all people.

• Homophobia- The fear of a person who is attracted to someone of the same sex.

• GLBT- Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender

Religious Affiliation- To be connected to an organization that proclaims morality and equality for all.

Introduction

With the rise of the gay liberation movement in the post-Stonewall era, overtly gay and lesbian perspectives began to be put forward in politics, philosophy and literary theory. Initially these often were overtly linked to feminist analyses of patriarchy (e.g., Rich, 1980) or other, earlier approaches to theory. Yet in the late 1980's and early 1990's queer theory was developed, although there are obviously important antecedents which make it difficult to date it precisely. There are a number of ways in which queer theory differed from earlier gay liberation theory, but an important initial difference can be gotten at by examining the reasons for opting for the term ‘queer’ as opposed to ‘gay and lesbian.’ Some versions of, for example, lesbian theory portrayed the essence of lesbian identity and sexuality in very specific terms: non-hierarchical, consensual, and, specifically in terms of sexuality, as not necessarily focused upon genitalia (e.g., Faderman, 1985).

With the above in mind an examination of the homosexual community also known as the queer community will be examined. The isms that exist against them and the steps we as educators can take to help them in their fight ...

... middle of paper ...

... get a good education or find a decent job, regardless of race,sex,handicapping condition, age, or national origin” (Fowler,2004) .

Conclusion

The issue is that we are not allowing all of our students to have an equitable education. Many of them are pushed aside or are ignored due to their needs or due to our perceptions of them. Many of our homosexual students are ignored in the classroom. Due to the way they act or our fear of them. That is why it is so crucial to change our perceptions and in the process educate ourselves.

With the above in mind, awareness is crucial. In our educational climate, we need theory now more than ever. Thus, we need to develop and use an educational justice discourse as a way of counteracting the hegemony and elitism that has plagued our school system throughout history. We need to educate others and ourselves in order to reform.

Show More
Related

  • The Pros And Cons Of The LGBT Community

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    Homophobia does not allow homosexuals to use public and private places as heterosexuals use to socialize and have fun . The homosexual community suffer from some of the following descrimination like are showing affection in public or dance in a lounge, bar or night club, or even be in a restaurant; attend church, or be considered for family, work or political activities. Finally, homosexuals as human being they are inevitably discriminated in places such as work, family and educational environments. Society is responsible for creating a number of negative prejudices and stereotypes toward homosexual orientation; making homosexuals feel insecure about themselves in areas such as intellectual and emotional level. The rejection among homosexual relations is caused due to the need to procreation feel these people to satisfy their desires to perform as father or man role model. The fear felt by homosexuals that are not being accepted by the family, forces them to repress their feelings and sexual desires. The acceptance and respect of a parent for their kid being homosexual is vital, so the children can develop without no fears or

    Read More

  • The Antigay Movement In Vicki L. Eaklor's Queer America

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Vicki L. Eaklor’s Queer America, the experiences of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people in the years since the 1970s gay liberation movement are described as a time of transformation and growth. The antigay movement, threatened, now more than ever, created numerous challenges and obstacles that are still prevalent today. Many of the important changes made associated with the movement were introduced through queer and queer allied individuals and groups involved in politics. Small victories such as the revision of the anti discrimination statement to include “sexual orientation”, new propositions regarding the Equal Rights Amendment and legalized abortion, were met in turn with growing animosity and resistance from individuals and groups opposed to liberal and

    Read More

  • Pop Culture Freaks Summary

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    They mention the transition of “the closet,” as being a place in which people could not see you, to becoming a metaphor over the last two decades of the twentieth century used for queers who face a lack of sexual identity. Shneer and Aviv bring together two conflicting ideas of the American view of queerness: the ideas of the past, and the present. They state as queerness became more visible, people finally had the choice of living multiple lives, or integrating one’s lives and spaces (Shneer and Aviv 2006: 245). They highlight another change in the past twenty years as the clash between being queer and studying queerness (Shneer and Aviv 2006: 246-7). They argue that the active and visible contests over power among American queers show that queers now occupy an important place in our culture. They expand on the fact that queerness, real, and performed, is everywhere (Shneer and Aviv 2006: 248). This source shows the transformation in American culture of the acceptance of queerness. It makes an extremely critical resource by providing evidence of the changes in culture throughout the last two decades. Having the information that queerness is becoming more accepted in culture links to a higher percentage of LGBTQ youths becoming comfortable with their sexual identity. However, compared to the other sources, this

    Read More

  • The Preformity Of Sexuality In Tony Kushner's Angels In America?

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    In an effort to legitimize all subcategories of sexuality considered deviant of heterosexual normatively, queer theory acknowledges nontraditional sexual identities by rejecting the rigid notion of stabilized sexuality. It shares the ideals of gender theory, applying to sexuality the idea that gender is a performative adherence to capitalist structures that inform society of what it means to be male, female, gay, and straight. An individual’s conformity to sexual or gendered expectations indicates both perpetration and victimization of the systemic oppression laid down by patriarchal foundations in the interest of maintaining power within a small group of people. Seeking to deconstruct the absolute nature of binary opposition, queer theory highlights and celebrates literary examples of gray areas specifically regarding sexual orientation, and questions those which solidify heterosexuality as the “norm”, and anything outside of it as the “other”.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of No Child Left Behind

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    The policy “No Child Left Behind (NCLB)” is a policy where Federal legislation has mandated that children be tested, and where there is compliance with standards. Simply means, that all children must meet standards. The standards are defined by the states, and all children will be subject to testing, starting from as early as third grade. The students will be tested annually, in order to ensure that they are getting the type of education that they are entitled to, as determined by their performance on standardized tests.

    Read More

  • The History Of The Queer Community

    1060 Words  | 3 Pages

    In a structured society, as one we’ve continued to create today, has raised concerns over the way society uses the term queer. Queer was a term used to describe “odd” “peculiar” or “strange” beings or things alike, but over the centuries societies began to adapt and incorporate the term into their vocabulary. Many authors such as Natalie Kouri-Towe, Siobhan B. Somerville, and Nikki Sullivan have distinct ways of describing the way the word queer has been shaped over the years and how society has viewed it as a whole. In effect, to talk about the term queer one must understand the hardship and struggle someone from the community faces in their everyday lives. My goal in this paper is to bring attention to the history of the term queer, how different

    Read More

  • Homosexuality: Greco-Roman Period to Today

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Homosexuality, the sexual attraction between members of the same sex, is a term not coined until the late nineteenth century; however, its prevalence throughout Western history is apparent and cannot be ignored. Some of the earliest accounts of homosexual relationships date back to 700 BCE in Ancient Greece. Spanning from that period up to today, the history of the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) minority is one that is commonly overlooked. Only by analyzing the historical records of homosexuality can one fully understand the widespread GLBT movement of the current era.

    Read More

  • The Politics of Sexuality in E.M. Forster’s Maurice

    1896 Words  | 4 Pages

    Modernist writings have always been hailed for its nuanced relationship with sexuality. This paper looks at the ways E.M. Forster, one of the modernist writers on the fringes, deals with the discourses of sexuality different in ways different from other high modernists against the backdrop of the socio-cultural milieu which was extremely intolerant to homosexuality through his novel Maurice, written in 1913-14 and published posthumously in 1971. To what extent Forster’s homosexuality and his novel on same sex love negotiate with other homosexual writers and activists of the period? The mere fact that Maurice was published posthumously shows the grim situation of homosexual men and women of the time. Now our job is to closely look at the novel and situate its transgressions and liberation in the larger context of same-sex writings of the early twentieth century.

    Read More

  • The Challenges of Lesbian and Gay Youth

    2611 Words  | 6 Pages

    “The unprecedented growth of the gay community in recent history has transformed our culture and consciousness, creating radically new possibilities for people to ‘come out’ and live more openly as homosexuals”(Herdt 2). Before the 1969 Stonewall riot in New York, homosexuality was a taboo subject. Research concerning homosexuality emphasized the etiology, treatment, and psychological adjustment of homosexuals. Times have changed since 1969. Homosexuals have gained great attention in arts, entertainment, media, and politics. Yesterday’s research on homosexuality has expanded to include trying to understand the different experiences and situations of homosexuals (Ben-Ari 89-90).

    Read More

  • Homosexuals Should Have Equal Rights

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    I want you to become aware of what we have done and take action to stop people to be happy, to respect their way of thinking, acting, and living. My purpose in writing this paper is to present my points of view on how society has changed as the years go by. Also how homosexuals have fought for many years and all the different struggles they have managed to get the rights they deserve and one day had which were then taken away because they became themselves and also because of the ignorance of some people.

    Read More

  • Solutions to Problems with the No Child Left Behind Act

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) deals with student achievement standards by holding schools accountable for the achievement of their students (Implementation 11). The NCLBA uses standardized tests to chart the success of students. If students are not meeting standards, the school is required to offer tutoring, which is funded by the state with Title I, the education mandate passed in which granted all public schools access to federal grants, money (No Subject 7). The Act itself is not the problem; the problem is that the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standard which is a big part of the NCLBA is not being met. The AYP standard is not being met because schools are not changing their methods quickly enough. It was said in the NCLBA that schools nationwide were to have 100% proficiency of the AYP standard within 12 years (Implementation 9). Since the passing of the NCLBA in 2001, most public schools, nationwide have not improved at all.

    Read More

  • How Sexuality is Socially Constructed

    2048 Words  | 5 Pages

    As Tamsin Wilton explains in her piece, “Which One’s the Man? The Heterosexualisation of Lesbian Sex,” society has fronted that heterosexuality, or desire for the opposite sex, is the norm. However, the reason behind why this is the case is left out. Rather, Wilton claims that “heterosexual desire is [an] eroticised power difference [because] heterosexual desire originates in the power relationship between men and women” (161). This social struggle for power forces the majority of individuals into male-female based relationships because most women are unable to overcome the oppressive cycle society has led them into. Whereas heterosexual relationships are made up of the male (the oppressor) and the female (the victim who is unable to fight against the oppressor), homosexual relationships involve two or more individuals that have been freed from their oppressor-oppressed roles.

    Read More

  • The Ethics of Homosexuality

    1649 Words  | 4 Pages

    Halwani, Raja, Gary Jaeger, James Stramel, Richard Nunan, William Wilkerson, and Timothy Murphy. What Is Gay and Lesbian Philosophy? 2008. MS. Oxford, UK. San Diego Mesa College Academic Databases. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. .

    Read More

  • gay literature

    1585 Words  | 4 Pages

    This quote addresses directly the primary difficulty of the issue. The terms gay and lesbian are useful in literature in that they allow a group of people who have been marginalised and even persecuted to become visible. They enable a way of life and a set of identities, harmonious or conflicting, to be presented, to be questioned, to be understood and accepted. As categories they create ‘space’ in which there may develop a more evolved understanding of texts and they also create a genre within which many lesbian and gay writers are comfortable with being placed. A gendered reading of a text can reveal undercurrents and depths which might otherwise not be apparent. These categories also make ‘space’ for the author within the text which leads to a closer tie between the author and the reader in the reading process.

    Read More

  • LGBT Community and Discrimination.

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    When one hears the words “LGBT” and “Homosexuality” it often conjures up a mental picture of people fighting for their rights, which were unjustly taken away or even the social emergence of gay culture in the world in the 1980s and the discovery of AIDS. However, many people do not know that the history of LGBT people stretches as far back in humanity’s history, and continues in this day and age. Nevertheless, the LGBT community today faces much discrimination and adversity. Many think the problem lies within society itself, and often enough that may be the case. Society holds preconceptions and prejudice of the LGBT community, though not always due to actual hatred of the LGBT community, but rather through lack of knowledge and poor media portrayal.

    Read More

More about Looking into the Mirrior: Homosexuals' Human Rights in the USA

Open Document