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LGBT Rights

By Kinza A.

The 21st century a time where everyone’s views on society are changing more and more rapidly than ever, where America is making history on its own. The LGBT community has been dealing with issues for many decades. The term “homophobia” became very popular in the ‘60s until people couldn’t take hiding their identities anymore. They couldn’t take being ashamed of themselves.

Stonewall Uprising is known as a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and all around the world. Up until the 1960s, the act of homosexuality was an act of crime and was punishable. Homosexuality was seen as so abnormal that doctors tried to find a cure for it. They thought being gay was a disease. Homosexual people were turning themselves in because they thought something was wrong with them. Children attended school assemblies to be taught that this kind of act was forbidden and not accepted. But on June 28th, 1969, the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a very popular gay bar in the city. The police raiding a bar was nothing new; it was an everyday event. But this time, people resisted arrests and police quickly lost control of the situation. Crowds of people gathered outside this bar. Violent protests and demonstrations went on for a week. This was the first time homosexuals were proud enough to fight back, when every homosexual stood up for themselves.

And this year on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal in all of America. America made history. By allowing same sex marriage, the act of being homosexual is not an act any more. Being gay is starting to become normal. More and more people are opening up to the LGBT community. The idea that traditional marriage can only be between a man and a women is disappearing. There are still people who are against it and aren’t willing to support LGBT rights, but homosexual or not, people all over the country are starting to feel like individuals. We are beginning to come to peace with ourselves and others around us. The sense of being an individual in my opinion can bring so much change, so much good change to the world. If we feel like we fit in with our personality, we will only bring out the good in ourselves. And that to me is important. All kinds of mindsets are changing, but the shift to gay marriage becoming legal, even if it’s just in the U.S. is only the start of more and more rapid change to come to to the LGBT community. In the 21st century, the LGBT community can finally start to live in peace, not in fear.

© 2016 Kinza A. All rights reserved.

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