We have taken long strides in our nation against discrimination against race, gender, or ethnicity.

There is still a lot in our nation, but the overall general consensus tends to shy away from such bigotries. Homosexuality is one of the last barriers left that is currently acceptable for people to openly discriminate against. These accepted acts are based on religious views of what a relationship should be like. Gay marriage is incompatible with the beliefs, sacred texts, and traditions of many religious groups (ProCon, 2012). Proponents of gay marriage think their view is the latest expression of enlightened humanitarianism. That means people who believe in the sanctity of traditional marriage may soon wind up on the wrong side of enlighten bigotry (NyDailyNews, 2011). Homophobia, the fear of and prejudice toward homosexuality, is present in every facet of life: the family, organized religion, the workplace, official policies, and the mass media (Schaefer, 2012). Most of the discrimination that comes from Americans is heavily based on religion, and because of this allows it to have a strong hold in our culture. Anyone who is for gay rights can be considered a godless heathen, and when you are in the political spotlight it can be hard to overcome those claims during an election. Its because of this, that most politicians wouldnt stand with these views out of fear of losing an election. But the view of this issue is slowly changing in Americans eyes, with the majority starting to accept gay-rights; politicians are able to stand by laws that allow these changes to take place. LGBTQ or GLBTQ is the acronym for the community formed by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, queer and questioning individuals (TMCC, 2012). Queer is an term that refers to sexual and gender minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. It has been used in a derogatory manner for many years and will continue to be used as such for a while. It will take a while before LGBTQ rights will be accepted by America as a whole, but every election we see the line move closer and closer to accepting these people as equals. I believe within the next ten years we will have laws passed on the national level that will allow LGBTQ to have full rights.

Schaefer, R. T. (2012). Racial and ethnic groups. (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. NyDailyNews. (2011). Five arguments against gay marriage: Society must brace for corrosive change. Retrieved from: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-06-23/news/29710731_1_gay-marriagetraditional-marriage-gay-advocates ProCon. (2012). Should Gay Marriage Be Legal?. Retrieved from http://gaymarriage.procon.org/ TMCC. (2012). LGBTQ Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from http://www.tmcc.edu/committees/lgbtq/faq/