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Lynn Smiley

Aughenbaugh

English 12

15 February 2017

Equality For Same Sex Couples

Support for same-sex rights has risen from 37% in 2009 to 57% in 2015. That means in just

six short years 20% more of the worlds population decided that same-sex marriage was okay. If

a gay man or woman have a lot of the same rights as us, why are all of their rights not the same

as ours? For centuries they have been fighting to be allowed to have the same rights as us,

weather it be in marriage, in the workplace, adoption, health insurance, anything. It is 2017, it is

about time they have the same rights as us. We can not be home of the free if we can not even

have same sex marriage.

In America there are 594,000 same-sex couple households. Out of those 594,000, 115,000

have children (LGBT Adoption Statistics). If that many gay couples, or singles, can raise

children, they should have the same rights as the rest of us. Part of being a human is that you can

raise another human, obviously they can. Over the years the number of children living with

LGBT has risen. Which means that the kids that we do not want, most likely end up living with

someone from the LGBT community. In the near future there will be more children living with a

same-sex couple than a different-sex couple. Researchers estimate the number of children

nationwide living with at least one gay parent ranges from 6 to 14 million (LGBT Adoption

Statistics). That is a lot of children living with a gay person. Same-sex parents in the united

states are four times more likely than different-sex parents to be raising an adopted child, among
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couples with children under the age of 18 in the home, 13% of same-sex parents have an adopted

child compared to just 3% of different-sex parents (LGBT Adoption Statistics). Same-sex

couples and people in general stand up when different-sex couples step down on raising a child

that they themself created. Why do we think that a person who lives with and loves someone the

same-sex as themselves, can raise a child that we created but do not want, but we do not think

they should be allowed to get married?

Same-sex couples do not want special rights, even though that is what most people think,

they simply want equal rights. A man named Mitchell got beat by a group of people because they

stated his van looked gay. The fact of the matter is, there is not just one bigot out there who

would hit people and vote to take our rights away (Gallagher) People honestly think that

because someone looks gay that gives them the right to beat them. Which is not a fact at all.

Everybody has the right to be who they want and people should not fear driving a certain car to

avoid getting beaten up. No equal rights movement create as much backlash as gay rights do.

People literally think that because someone who is the same sex as them that they are less human

than a person who loves the opposite sex. People stand outside pro-LGBT rallies and just scream

derogatory things and have signs that are hurtful and cruel because they really think gays and

lesbians do not deserve to have the same rights as us, and some people think they do not deserve

to even just live. This is America? Land of the free? Where is the freedom if people can not love

whomever they want? Given proper information, people will stand behind gay men and lesbians.

Most people think they are asking for things that other people do not get. When really, all they

are simply asking for is to be allowed the same things everyone else is allowed. To marry who

they want, to be allowed to be on their partners medical insurance at work, to have freedom to be

who they want. After a decade of remarkable advances and increased acceptance, gay and
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lesbian activists continue to be dragged by the idea that they are somehow asking for more than

anyone else (Gallagher).

In WWI isolated gays met other people in war who thought they were gay. In the early

discoveries of gays, people were not really sure if they were gay. Most people joined the war

because they knew that other men probably felt the same way. They figured being with a bunch

of men who felt the same would probably help them decide if they actually were gay or not,

without being judged to harshly. Created a new sense of community for them (Engel). It made

them think that they could be who they want without hiding how they feel. Even if they found

out they were gay and other people were not, they created a bond with these people so they knew

that these people would not make them feel any less of a human than they are. Homophile,

people that emerged to show the support of homo sexuals as a minority who deserved basic

human rights (Engel). Basically, everyone thinks that things back in the day were so much worse

than they are now, gays, they do not think that. People supported them so much more in 60s and

70s than we could ever do now. In the 1970s the first full-fledged gay liberation movement

began modeling itself after other liberation movements in the era, including the anti-war, black

power, and feminist movements (Engel). There is a specific time that the gay movement started.

It was at 1:20 a.m. on Saturday, 28 June 1969. There is not many movements that have a specific

time that they started. The gay movement is such a big movement that people literally remember

the specific time that it started. One year police officers raided a gay bar. At Stonewall Inn there

were gays from their late teens to early thirties. When the police raided not many customers tried

to escape. Although when police started arresting people, they did start trying to get out. This

event is s crucial because it signifies the emergence of group action among a previously docile,

invisible, and seemingly powerless minority (Engel). When they invaded most people did not
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think that anyone in the building would do anything because it was a minority of people who

usually did not stand up for themselves. When they went in and saw that people actually were

fighting back it was different than what they expected. Early 1970s activist felt characterized by

the homosexual lifestyle. Founded by Harry Hay in April 1951 in Los Angeles and modeled

after the communist party, the Mattachine Society was the first organization of what would

become the homophile movement (Engel). The birth of the gay liberation movement in

America can be dated to the evening of June 27, 1969, when patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a

homosexual bar in Manhattan, resisted a police attempt to close the place down (Engel). The

police did not only raid the Stonewall Inn. They also tried to have it shut down. It did not work

however because they were not breaking any laws so they could not shut the place down. Today

gay rights movements sees the governments as agency, and not an enemy. Basically they see

the government as people supporting them now instead of people who are trying to tear them

down. No gay rights, only individual rights. They are not asking for unreasonable things. They

simply want the same things any other human can have. They want to be allowed to get married,

and allowed to hare benefits, and they want to be left alone while they do these things. For

hetrosexuals these rights boil down to the right to be left alone.So all in all, they want to be able

to love whoever they want without everyone else getting into their personal business. Which is

what most normal people ask for in their lives. They dont bother us and criticize us for who we

love, so what gives u the right to do it them. Gays must reject the nonsensical idea that theyre

oppressed by heterosexism (Engel). A vile ideology that subordinates and denigrates

homosexuals by insisting on the centrality of heterosexuality in human culture.

We has heterosexauls get a whole lot of benefits. So why is it that the homosexuals do not

have those same benefits. Benefits promote equality and non-discrimination in society. The more
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same-sex marriage the more people will realize they are valued humans as well as everyone else.

The religious beliefs should not have any say in someones marriage life. Meaning even though

the bible says same-sex marriage is wrong that should not be brought into an actual marriage.

Separation of church and state is a thing for a reason and everyone is always so clear on that until

it comes to same-sex marriage. Allowing same-sex couples to marry harms no one. We as

heterosexuals think we are entitled to everything in the world though that we think we should be

allowed to tell everyone they have to be exactly the same as us. If you as a homosexual get

married and you work, you are not allowed to put your significant other on your health insurance

if you receive it at your job. Same-sexcouples really do not have any of the same rights that we

as heterosexuals have, besides marriage. People still do everything in their power to get that

taken away from them. The one smallest thing that they have that we also have, people think they

can take that away from them. Which is not the case. Benefits should be the same for every

married couple, same-sex or not.

People can argue that gay rights is a dumb thing or an idea that should not happen. They think

that they should not be allowed to adopt, or get married, or share benefits with their loved one.

They think that in a family they should provide the stability that marriage afford the presence of

both male and female authority figures. People say if a kid grows up with two of the same-sex

parents. Kids can only grow up in a good life if they have a mom and a dad. Which is in no way

shape or form true. Anyone can raise a child if that is what they really want. Straight or gay

anyone has the potential to be a good parent. Argument is that homosexuals are similarly situated

to unmarried persons (Birch, 135). Most homosexuals are single for a number of reasons. That

does not mean they would a bad parent. There are plenty of single parents that do just fine. Is it

because they are straight? No, it is because they want to be a parent. If a gay person goes through
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all the work to adopt a child they will be a good parent. They are not going to go through a bunch

of hassle just for a child they do not even want.

In conclusion homosexuals should have all the same rights as hetrosexuals. Just because their

mindset is different than ours does not mean they are any less human than us. They do the same

jobs we do and live basically the same life. If they can work the same jobs, wear the same

clothes and live in the same houses there is absolutely no reason they should not have the same

rights as we have. They are human just like us. They should be treated as such.

Works Cited

Birch, Stanley F., Jr. The Circuit Courts Opinion: Florida Law Banning Same-sex Couples

From

Adopting Is Constitutional. Issues On Trial: Adoption. Ed. Tracey Biscontini. Detroit: Gale

Cengage Learning, 2009. 126-142. Print.

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Engel, Stephen. The Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement in the United States. Gays and

Lesbians.

Ed. Kate . San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Contemporary Issues Companion. Rpt. from

Making a Minority: Understanding the Formation of the Gay and Lesbian Movement in the

United

States. Handbook of Lesbian and Gay Studies. Ed. Diane Richardson and Steven Seidman.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 19 Jan. 2017.

Gallagher, John. Homosexuals Seek Equal Rights, Not Special Rights. Homosexuality. Ed.

Helen

Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Current Controversies. Rpt. from Are We

Really

Asking for Special Rights? The Advocate (14 Apr. 1998). Opposing Viewpoints in Context.

Web.

17 Jan. 2017.

LGBT Adoption Statistics Lifelong Adoptions. Lifelong Adoptions, 2017. Web. 13 Jan. 2017

Lipp, Murray. "Same-Sex Marriage Benefits Society in Many Ways." Same-Sex Marriage. Ed.

Tamara Thompson. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies. Rpt.

from "7 Ways the U.S.A. Benefits From the Legalization of Gay Marriage." Huffington Post (2

June 2013). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.

Raimondo, Justin. Gays and Lesbians Should Not Be Given Special Rights. Homosexuality.

Ed.
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Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Current Controversies. Rpt. from A

Gay

Man Decries Gay Rights. The American Enterprise (Mar. 2000). Opposing Viewpoints in

Context. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.