Summary: The Gay Rights Movement

The United States has historically been a Petri dish for change. Many different civil rights movements have emerged and thrived within its borders. But one movement in the past ten years has received the most mile stones. The Gay rights movement has been successful in achieving full marriage rights in the United States as of 2015 (3), something that the movement has fought for since its beginning. Such an accomplishment could not have happened without the determination that people worked with in the past. Even though the supporters worked with optimism they still had those that endeavored to stop them from getting to the next goal. It is clear that the Gay Rights movement held the American mentality of perseverance because no matter what was

And so, people started to celebrate openly that they were proud of who they were by start the tradition of pride parades (1). Even with all the celebrating people still saw the need to get the rights they deserve as humans. Organizations started to accumulate members and make themselves known. These groups where able to organize protests, circulate pro-gay rights literature, and even getting government officials elected (5). It was important for the movement to have leaders in their government not matter what level it was. With those that were elected, they could not only gain more attention, but also have sway in political policy. The most important of such officials was Harvey Milk elected in 1977. Milks story is the most important due to the fact that, along with his election, he was assassinated a year later in 1978 (5). His assassination influenced the first National March on Washington for gay rights. Those that marched wanted to see the end of workplace and federal level discriminate against a person's orientation (7). Soon after the march on Washington the gay community was challenged on how well they could

started to repeal and pass legislation as to protect the rights of gay people. Many states repealed their sodomy laws and many others, even lifted their bans on same sex marriage (3). It would not be until Lawrence v. Texas in 2003 (12) and Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 (3) that both sodomy laws and same sex marriage bans would be lifted in all states. The decade was also marked by many celebrities coming out and identifying themselves as gay or lesbian (3). While police raids on gay bars and people being fired from their jobs may have not been as predominate, people were still being discriminated against for their orientation. In one extreme case a young Matthew Shepard was assaulted and left for dead by two men in, what was judged as, a hate crime. Shepard later died after being found and brought to a hospital, but his story gained national attention highlighting the prejudice that still existed in the country