Gay Rights
One of the most astonishing social transformations of the past three decades has been the changes wrought by the gay rights movement in the United States.
Homosexuality, once a taboo subject that could barely be mentioned in public, has become a common topic of debate among politicians, voters, and the media. From being invisible, closeted, and fearful of persecution, gay men and lesbians have “come out” as politicians, TV stars, athletes, and so on. The notion of legally recognized gay marriage, once an unthinkable concept, is now a genuine possibility in the state of Massachusetts, Canada, and several European nations. And it was one of the major issues of contention in the November 2004 presidential election, when 11 states and cities around the country, gay people have won an array of court, legislative, and cultural victories. There are now openly gay musicians(k.d. Lang, Elton John, George Michael), movie and TV personalities, and politicians(Massachusetts representative Barney Frank).
Moreover, in 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its own previous ruling and declared in Lawrence v. Texas that outlawing sodomy were unconstitutional. The sodomy is a type of sexual practice associated with homosexuality and had criminalized gay men lesbians for hundreds of years. For the Supreme Court to rule that such laws violate the Constitutional rights of gay citizens was a major shift in the legal status of U.S. Gay residents. Nevertheless, according to a report by the American Enterprise Institute, gay men and lesbians are more widely accepted in U.S. Society than ever before. Although about 2/3 of U.S. Residents consistently oppose gay rights, other commonly held opinions have changed:
Approval of gays in the military rose from 52% in 1977 to 80% in 2003. Acceptance of gay elementary school teachers rose from 27% to 61% during the same period.
Only 26% of voters in 1978 stated they would cast their ballots for a well-qualified gay presidential candidate, compared with 59% in 1999.
The movement for gay rights has encompassed a broad range of demands and cause a great deal of conflict. There are some issues that currently concern about gay rights.
Marriage: the effort to legalize same-sex marriage has a history that is several decades old, but progress toward winning this right for gay men and lesbian has increased dramatically in the 21st century. They wanted government to pass a bill and get gay marriage legalized.
Recognition of gay families: because gay sexual practices used to be illegal in many states, and because prevailing opinion often considered gay men and lesbian to be, the definition of“unfit parents” is one of the major arguments gay rights activists have advanced in favor of same- sex marriage that it would give gay and lesbian parents the same kind of legal rights to their children that straight parents enjoy. Even after 2003, when the Supreme Court struck down the sodomy laws that criminalized gay sex, gay and lesbian parents have often had difficulty winning child custody battles. Likewise, the right of gay men and lesbian to adopt children, including the right to as a couple rather than as individuals.
Employment rights: although one-half of all states, hundreds of local
governments, and thousands of private employers have some form of anti-discrimination law or regulation, a person can still often be fired simply because an employer dislikes gay people. The gay rights movement also seeks to win recognition of same-sex partnerships from public and private employers so that can receive health insurance and other benefits that a married partner would enjoy.
Religious recognition: groups like Dignity, a gay Catholic group, reflect the wishes of many gay people to be recognized by their religion of choice. Several Christian and Jewish denominations ordain gay and lesbian ministers and rabbis, there are also many gay and gay-friendly churches around the country. However, most Western religious, as well as many individual congregations, are strongly resistant to the idea of accepting homosexuality,.
Cultural expression: for many years, books and visual materials that portrayed gay relationships were considered obscene, and openly gay people were virtually absent from movies, TV, popular music, advertisements, and other forms of popular culture. One part of the gay people want to focus on creating books, movies,music, and other forms artistic and commercial expression that portray gay life and gay concerns. For example, MTV Networks is launching LOGO, a gay network.
In recent years, legislations to protect the rights of homosexuals began to be passed all over the world. Whether gay should the same rights as the citizen in the law is a question. With the development of society and integration, people will become more and more broad-mind to accept the gay rights.