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Gay Rights
Jazmine Swoveland
11/19/15
1-3:50
Elke Grogg

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Jazmine Swoveland
SOCI 111-14F
Elke Grogg
11/19/15
Gay Rights
One can only imagine the distraught of people holding in their feelings due to society not
making it socially acceptable. Everyone in this world should get treated the exact same,
therefore it doesnt matter if someone is gay, straight, black, white, Asian. Mexican, etc. The
discrimination and the god-awful condition people are proceeding towards the gays/lesbians is
absolutely pitiful. Since when did society ever pick and choose what is right or wrong? The
answer actually goes back to the 16th Century when Britain made it a criminal act to be
contributed into the homosexuality. It was much common back then among men, because the
parliament thought upon the fact that women would ever do such thing. During the 1890s, the
voices of the outsiders spoke up to the communities in Berlin which then intrigued the
scientists in the era to do the research on sex. After the end of World War I in the United States,
there was light at the end of the tunnel for most communities which inspired the gays/lesbians to
speak out about their beliefs and feelings. Unfortunately, the police force did not agree with the
acts, therefore the gays/lesbians were fired from their jobs, decreased a rank if in the police
force, or taken to jail. Those people were so called breaking the norms of society. In the 1970s
and 1980s, many gay political organizations were created in the United States to encourage gay
rights. Some of the organizations include, Human Rights Campaign, The National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force, and ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) (Levy) The belief that
had been passed down concerning the gays/lesbians from generation to generation was slowing

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beginning to change. Little did people know, this was a start of a new society. In 1980, the gays
won support from the Democratic Party which then captivated more gays to come out of the
closet. (Levy) A decade later, TV shows started presenting gay actors therefore our society
became more gay-friendly. (Klarman) As of now, not all of our society agrees with the
homosexuality that is going on. But that is not stopping them from standing up for what they
believe in. Society can pick and choose what they want to be socially acceptable, but the end
result all comes down to the citizens.

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Works Cited
Klarman, Michael J. "Harvard Magazine." 9 March 2013. How Same-Sex
Marriage Came to Be. 19 November 2015
<http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/03/how-same-sex-marriage-came-tobe>.
Levy, Michael. "Gay Rights Movement." 17 July 2015. Political and Social
Movement. 19 November 2015 <http://www.britannica.com/topic/gay-rightsmovement>.

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