Gay Rights Essays - Same-sex Sexuality, Sexual Orientation

Gay Rights Homosexuals: Fight for Rights Gay rights is a touchy subject especially in the united states. It is the fight for homosexuals to be treated as everyone else, the fight to be given what they desearve, the fight to live without torment, the fight for peace. This nation has the state of mind that how the ideal person lives, is normal, and anyone not living that way is wrong. The people of this country pick on and torment people because they are different or not like them. Why do thay do this?who knows. John Catlin M. D. states that ?Many indeviduals that bully other people due to sexual origin, usually are battling sexual insecurities themselves? (1) In New York there was a poll taken from the people, on the thoughts of gay rights. Many of them were displeased at the fact that homosexuals were discriminated against, and didn't have the same rights as heterosexuals. In November of 1989, Time magazine took a poll on what the people thought about legal benefits that homosexuals should receive. 62% came back saying that homosexuals should be permitted to receive medical, and life insurance benefits from their life long partner. (101) And yet nothing has come of that yet. Homosexuals deserve equal treatment legally and socially. Throughout the world homosexual people have been discriminated against for all types of different reasons and basically all of them are unjust. Homosexualality is not caused by abuse at a young age, it is not curable, it is not a disease or disorder and it is defiantly NOT learnt. For decades the incidence of homosexuality in the general population has been estimated to be approximately ten percent. Organisations opposed to gay rights have consistently claimed the number to be much lower. Despite the controversy, ten percent still remains the most widely accepted estimate (Issacson, 101) so why do people think of homosexuals as being strange or weird. There are many people around the world who are discriminating against homosexuals without even knowing it. One of these is when someone calls someone else a bad name such as a ?Pofter? or ?Fagot?, not really meaning it but saying it just as a hurtful name just because everyone else says it. This saying is not meant but it degrades every homosexual in the world every time some uses those words. There is another myth about homosexuals and is that a lot of people think that they are obsessed with sex. ?Contrary to popular belief, gay men and lesbians are no more inclined to be consumed with sexual thoughts or feelings than heterosexual counterparts, nor are they attracted to everyone of the same sex they meet.? (Weinberg, 109) The lives of homosexuals, like the lives of heterosexuals are about much more than sex, but it's easy to see why people believe these common myths that have been expressed by a lot of people. Many people do not even realise that they know someone who is gay because of the amount of gays that are in the community. Unfortunately, these misguided heterosexual's only knowledge of homosexuality comes from the media or anti-gay organisations that are trying to destroy the gay community, neither of which is likely to show the average gay person or couple in real life. The media is in the business of s elling news, and radical behaviour of any kind sells, big time. Anti-gay organisations are in the business of making gay people appear as evil as possible. They will obviously focus their attention on the most radical behaviour that can be found within the gay community. Why do gay people flaunt their sexuality? Why don't they just keep it private? Well the majority of gay people don't flaunt their sexuality. As a matter of fact, many go to great lengths to hide their sexual preference. There is a double standard in our society. What some people consider to be flaunting by homosexuals is usually regarded as everyday behaviour for heterosexuals. This is a perfect example : A heterosexual couple walking hand in hand is perceived as normal. Very few would consider their behaviour to be inappropriate or rude, if they even noticed it at all. On the other hand, a lesbian