Gay rights in america Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gay rights in america - Essay Example While public perception of homosexuality has improved over the years, there are strong political and religious forces that are endeavoring to curtail this progress. As a result, despite nominal changes to the status of homosexuals, there is widespread discrimination and harassment of members of the community. In the year 2004 alone, â€Å"sexual orientation bias motivated 15.6 percent of the 9021 reported offenses within single-bias hate crime incidents in the Unites States. In 1998, Matthew Shepard died after he was tied to a split-rail fence, tortured, beaten and pistol-whipped by his attackers, while he begged for his life.† (Brammer, 2006, p.996) In this context, many of the gay rights movements efforts attempt to address legitimate concerns such as anti-gay violence, anti-gay derogatory speech, discrimination at the workplace and unjust, unconstitutional laws that have held back the community. The gay rights movement has not a gained mass support the way the civil rights movement and anti-war agitations against Vietnam and Iraq wars did. This is because of a few reasons. Firstly, homosexuality is still a taboo in some parts of the country, especially those dominated by Christian orthodoxy. Secondly, gays and lesbians in America only comprise a minority of the population, not amounting to more than 10 percent (which makes their strength as a voting block less than that of blacks and Hispanics). Hence, the push for rights and recognition for homosexuality has happened in a sporadic, uncoordinated manner. The North East region of the United States, which is known for its liberal culture, has been at the forefront of gay emancipation. Some of the landmark legislations and verdicts that would act as legal precedents in the future were issued here. Yet, gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans-genders in the country continue to face discrimination and oppression in many areas of lif e. A case in point is the