Various Articles

Similar to the civil rights movement of the sixties, our country is once again seeing a rise in civil hate crimes and a rise in discrimination against a particular group of people. In our present day and age, these crimes are occurring against those that chose a sexual orientation or gender identity outside the norm. By doing this, they may accidentally invite a lot of hate into their lives.

The history of gay rights shows us that it will be a long and tedious project to obtain total equality and equal gay civil rights. The battle that many of these people are fighting is seen in the war that gays have fought to simply be a family. Many areas still do not see gay marriage as a legal binding contract. Despite the fact that these two people love each other, they are not allowed, by society, to get married as the rest of us do.

There have been improvements in legalization of civil rights for homosexuals. Acts have been passed to ensure that there are non-discriminatory housing and job opportunities and making sexual discrimination illegal. Although this is certainly a step in the right direction for gay civil rights, it is still no actual guarantee that homosexuals will get exactly the same treatment as heterosexuals. Companies have found means to circumvent these statutes, particularly in so-called "right to work" states.

Crimes against gays are declining, but this doesn't mean that they really are becoming less frequent. Because gay civil rights are still being worked out, many gays feel afraid or ashamed to report crimes that have been committed against them. This means that the overall statistic is incorrect, as many crimes are either not reported at all, or are reported as some other type of crime.

Perhaps the biggest opposition to the gay movement is the conservatives. These people are generally the ones who believe in the old way of doing things and are hesitant to change. These opponents are usually based heavily in some religion where gays are unnatural and hated for choosing to be gay. People are being killed for this line of thought daily.

Little by little, civil rights for homosexuals are altering and are becoming a part of the public consciousness so that they may actually afford a greater degree of protection from violent and non-violent bigots alike. And while the country may never see true equality in this area, there is much to be learned from the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. People must also begin to discuss this subject more frequently, because it is always easier to combat any discrimination when it is out in the open.