dicussion pols & timed essay

Youbin An

20 July 2020

PolS001

LGBTQ+ Community

The LGBTQ+ community is a community that supports people who are lesbian, gay,

bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning(“What is LGBTQ?”) and are fighting for the rights

of these groups. These groups are people who identify themselves as having a certain sexual

orientation or gender identity than the society norms. The community was formed during the

20th century, where there was a sudden increase in homosexual social movements leading up to

the 21st century. Today, the LGBTQ community is growing as this community is receiving more

acknowledgement and support from the society, especially in America.

Throughout early history, there had been signs of homosexual activities in nearly every

documented culture. However, these documents were mostly written by biased views of Western

or white eyewitnesses who believed that ​homosexual practices were foreign, savage, medical

issue, or sign of lower racial hierarchy(Morris). This caused the society’s views on homosexuals

to be tainted by ethnocentrism. There were signs of homosexual social movements thoughout the

history in America for about 150 years since 1870s but they had little to no success in gaining

recognition. For example, during the Harlem Renaissance in 1920, gay life flourished in urban

areas and during the Civil Rights Movement in 1965, the first gay rights demonstration occurred

at Stonewall Inn in New York (Morris). However, during the 20th century, the movements for

gays and lesbians began and gained momentum. Famous celebrities, like Ellen DeGeners,

became among the most vocal activists for the rights of gays and lesbians (Morris). This

encouraged people to come out and represent themselves for who they were. Furthermore, during

the 1990s, there was a rise of trans and intersex voices. Following the momentum from the 20th

century, the movement for LGBTQ increased as people began to fight for the community’s

rights. During the 21st century, there were legal gains for lesbians and gays, transgender

activism, and binary gender identification (Morris). The government also slowly began to

recognize this community as they gave legal rights and protection to this community. By 2016,

LGBT identification was legal except in 10 countries, Iran, Iraq, Mauritania, Nigeria, Qatar,

Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Yemen, where identifying as part of LGBT could lead to

death penalty (Morris). Additionaly, in this year, the Supreme Court ruled that a child adopted by

a lesbian couple in one state had to be acknoledged by all states. This gave progress to the

movement to move further in order for the community to gain their rights.

One of the Supreme Court cases that affected the LGBTQ community positively was the

Romer v. Evans. During the 1990s, due to the increase in conservative evangelical Christian

groups in Colorado Springs, the number of protesters against homosexuals increased. They made

petitions against homosexuals, which gained a lot of support, and eventually led to the

establishment of a new state constitutional amendment of Colorado, Amendment 2 (Urofsky).

This amendment repealed any state or local laws that protected the rights of LGBT groups and

prevented any from passing in the future. Richard V. Evans sued the governor of Colorado,

declaring that the amendment violated the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection’s clause.

Supreme Court ruled that prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation was no different from

discrimination against race and religion (Urofsky). The court’s decision declared Colorado’s

amendment as unconstitutional because it violated the equal protection’s clause. This became the

first case to declare discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation as violating constitutionally

protected rights and was established as a precedent for future cases on the rights of the LGBTQ

community.

Another Supreme Court case that helped the LGBTQ community progress forward was

the Lawrence v. Texas case. In this case, police officers received a report claiming that there was

a gunshot going off at the John Geddes Lawrence’s house, entered Lawrence’s place without any

warrant and found him engaging in consensual sex with a male companion (Urofsky). The police

arrested the two men for violating the Texas law. The informant later admitted that he had lied

about the gun noises. Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund took Lawrence’s case and

appealed to the Texas court stating that his case violated the equal protection clause of the

Fourteenth Amendment. Unfortunately, the Texas court used the precedent case, Bowers v.

Hardwick, a case that ruled that homoseuxal relationships were sodomy, to put down Lawrence’s

case. However, due to the Supreme Court ruling in favor of Romer v. Evans during 1996,

Lawrence’s case was given an opportunity to push forward with their case. The Supreme Court

decided that in order to take on the case properly, they had to review the Bowers case. They

determined that the constitutional rights of privacy for both homosexuals and straight

relationships should be taken seriously and decided to overturn the ruling on the Bowers case.

The court ruled 6-3 that a Texas law that intimate sexual conduct between two consenting adults

of the same sex was illegal was unconstitutional (Urofsky). This case became an opening to

constituitionalizing same sex marriage for the LGBTQ community.

In present time, the LGBTQ community is still fighting for their rights. They have gained

more acknowledgement and support for the society, as more and more people are identifying

themselves with the community. Recently, a case ruling went down stating that Illegal to fire

employers or discriminate against someone simply because they are LGBTQ (“ACLU News &

Commentary”). Despite the immense progress in society in the movement for the rights of the

LGBT community, there still needs to be more work done in order for the community to fully

receive the rights that they deserve. The LGBTQ need legal protections in education, housing,

credit, and health care, especially Black and Brown LGBTQ (“ACLU News & Commentary”). It

is highly likely that this community will receive their rights in the near future due to the

developing society.

As seen throughout history, the LGBTQ community has fought for many years for

acknowledgment and have made success in the recent years. With the support of the cases ruled

in favor by the Supreme Court, the community has made progress in gaining legal rights and

protections for themselves. Hopefully, in the future, the LGBTQ will be able to experience the

equality that they deserve without fearing the discrimation of the society.

Works Cited

“ACLU News & Commentary.” ​American Civil Liberties Union​, ACLUA, 18 June 2020,

www.aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/a-landmark-supreme-court-decision-affirms-lgbtq-rights/​.

Morris, Bonnie J. “History of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Social Movements.”

American Psychological Association,​ APA, 2019, ​www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/history​.

Urofsky, Melvin I. “Lawrence v. Texas.” ​Encyclopedia Britannica,​ Encyclopedia Britannica,

inc., 19 June 2020. ​www.britannica.com/topic/Lawrence-v-Texa​.

Urofsky, Melvin I. “Romer v. Evans.” ​Encyclopedia Britannica,​ Encyclopedia Britannica, inc.,

13 May 2020. ​www.britannica.com/event/Romer-v-Evans​.

“What is LGBTQ?” ​The Center,​ Lesbian and Gay Community Service Center, Inc., 2020

gaycenter.org/about/lgbtq/​.