Originally colonizing for religious reasons in the 17th century, the United States of America has evolved since then into a nation that separates government and personal beliefs. Although the U.S claims that their church and state is separated, the issue of gay marriage is still a relevant issue today. Thoughts on same-sex marriage are primarily based off of religious beliefs, yet the U.S. government still believes it should control whether gays should be married or not. The U.S. should make gay marriage legal, because it is unconstitutional not to do so. Throughout history, efforts towards gay rights journeyed on an uphill battle and were not majorly successful until recent years. Starting with the Cold War period in the 50’s, there was a growth in homosexual couples in the urban subculture where they were investigated and harassed by the police. During the 60’s, however, the march towards gay equality took a left turn and there was an increase in gay rights activism. Some goals of the activists were to decriminalize homosexual acts, receive equal treatment under the law, and for people to be educated by unbiased facts about homosexuality. Their efforts prevailed and the activists achieved the following: the right to publish gay magazines, victory of discrimination of employment cases, constraints on police harassment, opening of dialogue in scientific and religious communities, media visibility, organizational impulse, and denunciation of how gays are a mistreated minority. Although they achieved so many things, Na 3 gays received hostility from the rest of society. The 70’s are when the movement for gay rights increased sharply and demanded attention. In June 28, 1969, there was a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations... ... middle of paper ... ...nstead of setting marriage limitations based off of race, the government now says that same-sex marriage is illegal in over half of the states. Sixty years from now, the American people will look back on the 21st century and be appalled at how the people from today allowed their government to make it illegal for certain couples to get married, just as the people of today are disgusted with the ban on marriage between interracial couples before 1967. Being so advanced technologically, it is surprising how America is still so behind on the issue of same-sex marriage. The United States should push aside the religious argument in this debate, and truly separate its church and state as it claims to do so. From its slow beginning to the rapid increase of support in the 70’s, homosexual marriage has been a controversial debate that hopefully will end in the near future.
In 1969, a serious of riots over police action against The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar New York City’s Greenwich Village, changed homosexuality society as a whole. Pros to this event it let the LGBT movement, organization of gay advocate groups, and inspirited media coverage on gay issues. Cons today’s youth do not realize how lucky they are to be able to express themselves more freely than in the pass, stonewall riots film portrayal is more negative than positive and it has also created anti-gay groups separating hatred throughout the country.
The media considers the1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City the spark of the modern gay rights movement. This occurred after the police raided the Stonewall bar, a popular gay bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Allyn argues that the new energy and militancy generated by the riot played a crucial role in creating the gay liberation movement. Arguably, the Stonewall Riots have come to resemble the pivotal moment in gay rights history largely because it provided ways for the gay community to resist the social norms. In fact, the riots increased public awareness of gay rights activism (Allyn 157). Gay life after the Stonewall riots, however, was just as varied and complex as it was before. In the following era, ho...
The Stonewall riots became a symbolic call to arms for many, it was gays and lesbians literally fighting back. After the riots many gay rights groups found new hope in gaining rights. New ideas, tactics, events and organizations were all a result of the riots.
The background of homosexuality in the 1940’s and 50’s was harsh, but people started to be opened toward the rights. There were criticisms toward homosexuality in the early days of Milk. Gay men carried the labels of mentally ill or psychopathic. Often times, gay men committed suicide from harsh judgement and criticism that always followed them. Even though population of homosexuality grew and had jobs, they were harassed and beaten by the police. There were a lot of disapproval and hostility of homosexuality. Anita Bryant, a singer, made a campaign to oppose the rights of homosexuals. Christian forces and activists withdrew gay-right legislation which lead to Proposition 6. The harshness from background of homosexuality back in the 1940’s and 50’s took the freedom away from the homosexuals. After the harshness, there came a little bit of hope for the homosexuals in San Francisco. Castro, a city in San Francisco, became the center of gay neighborhood. In 1964, gay men formed Society of Individual Right (SIR), and 1,200 members joined. Homosexuals started having good views when Sipple who was gay saved the president from a gunshot. Finally in 1972, Board of Supervisor banned the discrimination law for homosexuals. Even though in 1940...
President George Bush strongly opposed gay marriage along with most of America 's past and present legislators and politicians. For instance, Minnesota state senator Paul Koering openly came out the closet and admitted being gay when in the past he had voted against the attempted marriage amendments for gays to be legal to unify. Today, more than 35 states have legalized gay marriage. Homosexuals are adopting children because they cannot have one. They take children who were once starving and living in the streets, or abandoned, and take good care of them. I 'd rather see a child with a loving gay couple than to see it sleeping in the street with nowhere to go. Government officials in both state and national offices oppose these laws because if they allow same-sex marriage to occur, they will lose large amounts of votes and supporters will be appalled. The future looks grim for gay marriage with the conservative republicans holding office. Furthermore, legalizing same sex marriage can cause a chain reaction of hostility and violence. Many anti-gay organizations, some resembling the infamous Ku Klux Klan of the 1920’s, will form and be on the doorstep of same-sex couples. This may also perhaps create an international clash and cause other countries to view America more immoral than we already appear which makes gay marriage legalization even more difficult to
are said to have launched the “gay rights movement.” As the anger of many individuals,
In 1969, the US was preparing to land the first man on the moon, the first case of HIV/AIDS was confirmed, and members of the gay community were harshly discriminated against because of their sexuality. Family incomes had started to fluctuate and become unstable, and disputes with police were common among the population. On a mild Friday night in 1969, a riot broke out in Greenwich Village after a police raid that sparked rebellion. Police raids on bars that had patrons suspected of ...
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 in the 1950's president Eisenhower banned gays from holding federal jobs and many state institutions did the same. The lead taken by the federal government encouraged local police forces to harass gay citizens. "Vice officers regularly raided gay bars, sometimes arresting dozens of men and women on a single night" (Milestones). In spite of the adversity, out of the 1950s also came the first organized groups of gays, including leaders. The movement was small at first, but grew exponentially in short periods of time. Spurred on by the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the "homophile" (Milestones) movement took on more visibility, picketing government agencies and discriminatory policies. By 1969, around 50 gay organizations existed in the United States. The most crucial moment in blowing the gay rights movement wide open was on the evening of July 27, 1969, when a group of police raided a gay bar in New York City. This act prompted three days of rioting in the area called the Stonewall Rio...
There were many laws in place that limited LGBT rights prior to the Stonewall Riots, with horrible consequences for those who broke them. The most infamous of these was a law present in every state except Illinois that made gay sex punishable by a prison sentence or a fine. This prison sentence could, on some occasions, be a life sentence, depending on the state and the severity of the crime. Additionally, gay sex could result castration in seven states. New York City had the strictest laws against sodomy in the country. Additionally, New York was home to the most homosexuals. This resulted in a high rate of arrest. In the year 1966, an estimated 100 or more men were imprisoned because of the NYPD’s anti-gay effort. New York City’s anti-sodomy laws included banning homosexual behavior in both civic and independent establishments. Oftentimes, bars were the only businesses to accept openly gay patrons. This was mostly the case in the 50’s and 60’s, the time period in which the Stonewall Riots took place. Although bars were the safest places for LGBT members to gather, they generally meant bad news for such bars. In 1969, it was against the law in New Y...
... what can be considered one of the most forward thinking countries in the world. The longer we hold out on allowing homosexual couples to marry, the further we will fall behind in the world. We cannot continuously look down upon other countries degradation of particular minorities while we continue to do the same thing in our own country. Gay marriage it simply gives another minority the opportunity to express their love. Being married involves legal matters, and religion is simply something that we have added to it. The ideals of marriage have been ever-evolving and we as Americans, the pillar of modernization, the ever futuristic mainstay, should be open-minded enough to evolve even more to benefit the homosexual community. If not open-minded enough, look at the laws: America established itself upon the ideals of equality for all. We should follow our own rules.
The gay liberation of the 70s, when the gay rights movement began in earnest, is much different
As an American citizen, a person should be entitled to marry whoever they choose, regardless of gender or sexual preference. Gay marriage is something that some people consider to be taboo while other people are very supportive of it; I am one of the latter. The ability to marry someone is a basic human right and it should not be taken away from someone because they love a person of the same gender. One of the main reasons that gay marriage is illegal in the United States is because of what the Bible says about it, regardless of the fact that the first Amendment of the US Constitution says that there is to be a separation between church and state. Approximately three point eight percent of the United States population is made up of people
There has been many of protest and gatherings of the LGBT community after certain events has help with the growth of the community. On June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York for “violation of liquor laws.” Gays fought back, they taunted police and threw objects at
... the government and a majority of states ban homosexual marriage. Although many of these claims tend to be opinions and even falsehoods, the author contributes a strong argument. Many court cases have been issued due to the huge controversy of homosexual marriage. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court concluded “that the Constitution places limits on a State’s right to interfere with a person’s most basic decisions about family and parenthood”(Moss 106). This contradicts with all the rules and regulations that the states place upon marriage and more specifically gay marriage. There have been several cases on the violations of homosexual rights, but laws have not currently been changed so that they have equality in all aspects. In the future, society will hopefully mirror the solution to the 1960’s prohibited interracial marriage and permit homosexual marriage.
Same-sex marriage has been a topic of debate in the United States for decades, and on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that states could not ban same-sex couples from getting married. However, there are still those who believe that marriage is for those of opposite sexes only. According to an article written by Tom Geoghegan, gay marriage is “not the same as heterosexual marriage – the religious and social significance of a gay wedding ceremony simply isn’t the same” (Geo). Although the author makes a reasonable argument, we believe that it is the choice of the individual, and that gays and lesbians are all part of our society, and that we shall allow them the same rights as everyone else. Not only is same-sex marriage protected by our civil rights, but it increases the number of adoptions, which is beneficial to our society.