There are individuals that live in fear of showing their true identity to the world because they simply fear that society won’t accept them for having a different sexual orientation. Society advocates that individuals should be able to be proud of who they are, but yet they judge homosexuals for being different. People are taught not to judge others based on their race or religion, so why do they still discriminate against homosexuals? The homosexual subculture is not accepted by society, looked down upon, and misjudged; however, they are human beings and deserve to be treated equally. Religion is a major aspect on why society believes that homosexuality is wrong and should not be accepted. Individuals who are against the LGBT (Lesbian, …show more content…
Homosexuals are being discriminated in their own homes, work place, and schools. Vanessa Garcia was judged and bullied during her childhood because she was lesbian. Garcia “was afraid to go to school [because] everyone treated [her] like a freak”. Her fear came from the peers in her school harassing and calling her names. Garcia never felt like she fit in with her peers. At a moment she even felt that there was “something fundamentally wrong with [her]”; which almost caused her life when she tried to commit suicide. John Williams is another example of the fear that society creates for being a homosexual. Williams is a gay male student who aspires to become a middle school teacher. Nevertheless, he is afraid that there will not be a school that hires him because of his sexuality. Antigay prejudice and homophobia interfere with the dreams of many members of the LGBT community. Homophobia causes heterosexuals to believe that homosexuals are less worthy and therefore it is okay to treat them unfairly. People do not take in consideration the deep wounds they are causing gay individuals with their prejudices. LGBT are human beings and they should not be thought to be inferior. Myths about homosexuality are one of the reasons why society misjudges the LGBT community. Myths cause gay individuals to fear themselves, and they also cause society to think wrongly of homosexuality. People are told to believe that homosexuality is a
“Although sharply divided, public attitudes toward gays and lesbians are rapidly changing to reflect greater acceptance, with younger generations leading the way” (NORC University of Chicago, 2010, p. 1). This push for international acceptance of the LGBT people could not come any sooner. Lesbians, gays, bisexuals as well as transgender individuals from around the world have almost all experienced some sort of discrimination in their lives. This is why there is such a gap between heterosexual and LGBT people. There are hundreds, if not more, reasons for why some people will not accept LGBT individuals and couples, whether it is religion, family values or simply the fact that some people find LGBT people unnatural. This is why the common sufferings
For decades, there have been several cases and stories about how the homosexual youth have been mistreated, and Matthew Shepard is one of the many cases. The causes of the oppression may be disturbing to some, but they are clear: discrimination and inequality. This issue is dividing our community into acceptance and refutation. Those who disagree about the gap often see it as a choice between being a heterosexual or a homosexual. Often times, the maltreatment may take place in school, at a workplace, or public. It has been shown that “still, some gay students suffer harassment of their sexual orientation, and many, particularly athletes, stay “in the closet” for fear of unfavorable treatment” (“Gays on
Based on the discussion from the Williams Institute, it is evident that there continues to be a prevalence of discrimination among groups that are not viewed as culturally acceptable in our county. In this article, it is reported that people are more likely to experience hate crimes based on their sexual orientations. For instance, 44% of people reported experience physical violence (without a weapon) because of their sexual orientation, and 80% had been verbally harassed (Herek, 2009). Although the Hates Crimes Statistic Law became effective in 1990, the stigma surrounding the LGBTQ community continues to affect their everyday life. It may defer a person by identified their sexual orientation for the fear of being discriminating in the workplace,
LGBT culture is a community made up of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. This community shares a common interest in social movements. Many people today have been able to come out and be who they truly are because of the LGBT community. Roughly, 6.7 percent of the U.S. world population is said to be a member of the LGBT community. However, many negative stereotypes do not support this community. People are very biased towards the LGBT community and it is unfair. The LGBT culture has always been frowned upon by many people, however, most of those people are uneducated and do not understand what the LGBT culture truly is. The LGBT community deserves a chance to be who they truly are without being judged and looked down upon by
In today's society many religions and many people don't see eye to eye with the LGBTQ community. They see this community as something less significant than others, viewed as something unnatural, and even something different from this world we live in. This community suffers from being threatened for their lives, being scared of being their true self. In what power should people have to make these decision on what people should like; none, because people should be allowed to love whatever gender they please with. People in this community shouldn't have to a live in fear of being judged by others, tormented, or even humiliated because others don't agree with what gender they like. They are just like every human that loves, but many don't see that because of maybe the way they were raised was to only believe in same sex marriage or people just don't like the idea of a sex liking the same sex. People don't see that society is more open than it was back in the days. This community suffers from being othered and are being viewed as monstering walking on the street. There's stereotypes being made about people in this community, there's religions that disown family that are in this community, and people don't see these types of event could lead to self harm, addiction, and could mess a person mind, just because they don't agree with what gender they please with.
However society 's perspective on sexual identity has changed tremendously over the years. It used to almost be a disease that no one wanted to admit to having or have to deal with because that 's not what society viewed as “normal”. It was even said that only homosexuals can contract HIV/AIDS. In some cities, people got attacked physically because of the disagreement on homosexuality. Homosexual denied it their homosexuality because they didn 't want to be judged, but more and more people are admitting to it. Historical perspectives have changed too, especially in the U.S military service when homosexuals were banned from serving until 1993 when the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy was passed which allowed homosexual to serve in the military but not admit to it if they were asked. After World War II gay life flourished in urban areas such as Greenwich village and Harlem.
Education is an important factor in life in order to thrive, but LGBT students face harassment in school due to their identity. According to a Human Rights report conducted in 2001, two million American students in the LGBT
Along with verbal abuse, LGBTQ youth also experience physical violence in schools across the country everyday. Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s sociologists such as Joyce Hunter thought that much of the physical abuse happening towards the LGBTQ population stemmed from the stigma and fear that came from the AIDS epidemic that was spreading rapidly among the gay community in that time. In a study as recent as 2003, 60% of LGBTQ youth had reported being assaulted physically due to their sexual orientation (Chesir-Taran, 2003) These physical actions towards the gay and lesbian youth has caused many to fear going to school. In fact, many LGBTQ students avoid school in order to escape the physical harassment. This drop in attendance has detrimental effects on the student’s academics (American Educational Research Association).
Homophobia has been an uprising issue since the 80s, and it needs to be stopped before it gets more out of hand. Homophobia has been the motive behind various crimes; in just the US alone. One of the various crimes was the Pulse Club shooting in Orlando.(Attaiah) wrote after an interview with the shooter's father, “Mateenn(shooter) had seen two men kissing and was instantly enraged by what he saw.” The fact that someone's sexual preference is the cause of a mass shooting shows how homophobia is a major problem here in the US. Another issue with homophobia is that it is driving a vast amount of teens to suicide. Suicide rates have increased drastically for members of the LGBTQ community. (WONG) “Suicide rates amongst gay youths are devastating. With suicide becoming a far too common way “out” of unbearable homophobic condition.” Not only suicide in general, but there has been a trend of gay youths killing themselves because it is the only way “out”. Fortunately, a man by the name of Dan Savage is trying to help with that. He has created a project by the name of “It gets better project” which is for gay, lesbian, or Transgenders to have a “safe place”.
Not many people realize, but there are many social inequalities shaping our everyday lives. Sexual orientation discrimination discriminates against transgender and homosexual people, and many people in America are affected by it. Whether someone is transgender, gay, or a lesbian, they are looked upon as an oddball or a freak. It is important to bring awareness to the topic of social inequality and persecution, especially sexual orientation discrimination, because various genres of literature can be used to help change society's views of tolerance and acceptance, it impacts teenagers in modern America, and affects readers when learning about social inequality.
Culture is the ways of thinking, acting and the material objects that form a people’s way of life. Within each culture there are many subcultures, which are cultural groups within a larger culture with similar beliefs. Many times, the subculture a person belongs to provide him/her with a sense of identity and belonging. Subcultures are characterized by their origin and the characteristics that define it. While growing up I belonged to many different subcultures, but my main one was my gymnastics competitive team. This was definitely the most influential and time-consuming subculture I was a part of and is considered a special interest subculture. Along with its origin, subcultures
Many negative stereotypes are the cause of homosexuals failing to come out the closet to their friends, family and loved ones. There are also positive effects to coming out as well but the negative opinions of some has triumphed across the nation during the last decade. Even though it may seem that our country has come a long way and accepts homosexuals, we still have a long way to go. Why do such stereotypes override the good effects of coming out gay? Coming out as a homosexual improves the quality of life such as making the individual feel confident and happier within. My own experience will serve as an example on how these things can reduce the confidence level in someone that wants to be open to friends, family and loved ones.
There is something about the ideology of a subculture that sparks an interest in me. Maybe it is intriguing due to its members’ originality, courage to stand up for beliefs, or freely expressing their own self- identity. A subculture forms by individuals taking a risk, separating themselves from the mainstream, and forming their own distinctive norms, not caring what the “normal” members of the mainstream society think of them. Or do they care? Maybe that is the exact statement a subculture is making. Maybe these individuals are forming these groups so that people will care. Maybe their rebellious attitude is a final, somewhat desperate approach to getting that response. The images being portrayed in most subcultures are
Gender and sexual orientation is a topic that has been and still today is not talked about in such a way it should be because of how society has chosen to structure and control it. Social stratification is a system in which groups of people are divided up into layers according to their relative privileges (power, property, and prestige). It’s a way of ranking large groups of people into a hierarchy according to their relative privileges (Vela-McConnell 2016). People, who deviate from the norm of the “accepted” gender and sexual orientation that society has placed upon us, are stratified below the norm of a dominating binary gender and sexual orientation. People who are queer face the struggle of mistreatment and an unaccepting society that has been socialized to see and act on gender and sexual orientation to being a dualistic system.
It’s widely known that the LGBT life is spreading. There’s Pride month, same sex marriage is now legal, and more people than ever are starting to show who they really are. Even though it’s starting to be more accepted, I still struggled for months to find a way to tell people. I was scared my mom wouldn’t let me be happy and embrace who I really wanted to be. Then I had to consider how my friends would react, and it was an awful feeling losing some of the people that I thought was my friends through everything. Good definitely came out of the whole process though. Although, there are definitely still people who discriminate and banish people from their lives. All because others cannot accept who people choose to be. According to Morris (2017), in the 1950s, there was an investigation into homosexuals holding government jobs. This in turn, led into the first American demand for equality. In 67 years, we still cannot find a way for the life styles to be nationally accepted. “In 1965, as the civil rights movement won new legislation outlawing racial discrimination, the first gay rights demonstrations took place in Philadelphia and Washington, DC.” Also, in 1970, is when the pride marches started taking place in June every year Morris (2017). Acceptance is a hard pill for many to swallow, and it may even be