Gays Pros And Cons

“It takes no compromise to give people their rights...it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression.” This was spoken by Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person elected to office in California in 1977. Society has shifted its eyes to look at issues within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer community (LGBTQ community) more often than in 1977, but it has not always been in a good light. While the American public begins to voice opinions in support of the LGBTQ Community, many states’ legislations display the opposite. There have been instances where states have passed, or at proposed, legislation that bars same-sex couples from adopting

There were bars open to this side of the community, drag shows were common, and Hollywood and broadway were places of expression (Chauncey, George).But when the 1930s rolled around, all of this went away. Conservatism became the dominant set of ideals, focusing on reversing much of what the 1920s had done. This included forcing people who had been out of the closet for a decade, back in. The bars were shut down, the drag shows stopped, and hollywood begun banning homosexual characters or mentions from appearing on screen. The openness of the 1920s was erased from the public’s eyes. Legislation began passing that criminalized homosexual behavior and dressing too much like the opposite sex. Legislation outlawing homosexuality from marrying or serving in government positions continued to appear across the United States until the 2000s. In 2003, the Supreme Courts ruled to decriminalize homosexuality across the country (LGBT Rights). This sparked the LGBTQ community to continue pushing for the same rights are non-members of that community. This has also caused the general public to begin shifting opinions. According to Pew Research Center, 62% of adults in the United States support same-sex marriage, whereas 32% oppose it. As public support grows, the legislators in power continue their push to keep things as they have “always

Georgia, Arizona, Texas, and Mississippi have all proposed legislation that would legally allow the denial of services based on this concept of sincerely held religious beliefs. When Georgia proposed SB375 in support for the religious beliefs, immense economic pressure was given to the state by corporations like Delta, Coca-Cola, and large players in the film industry (Allen, Samantha). The bill did not pass as a result of the economic pressure. The state simply could not afford to lose the large corporations. This counters the bills in Arizona and in Mississippi. The bills in both of these states passed. Arizona’s bill allows business owners to deny service based on religious beliefs, but this includes more than just the LGBTQ community. This opens for denial based on race, sex, national origin, age, or sexuality (Sanchez, Ray. Marquez, Miguel). Though there is legislation on the federal level that protect against discrimination, the supreme court has refused to hear cases involving this bill and the actions it has been used to justify. The bill that paved the way for many other bills based on religious freedom was first proposed in Mississippi in 2016. HB1523 was passed and fully enacted in October 2017. It set 3 religious beliefs into law; it set that marriage is between a man and a woman, sex is reserved for heterosexual marriage,