Timeline of historical turning points
Credit: Marymount Commons
The LGBTQ+ movement has been an uphill battle in the acquisition of marital and nondiscriminatory rights and protections from the US government and -more broadly- society in general. One of the largest events in the 20th century that sparked the modern day fight for rights, was the Stonewall riots. The spontaneous demonstrations against the violence of police retaliation against the Stonewall village in Greenwich, NY sparked a series of mass movements for gay rights. The social conservatism of the 1950s and the 1960s that led to things such as homophobia and racism created an intersectional discrimination not only for the color of your skin but your sexuality. Therefore being part of the LGBTQ+ not only affected you adversely, but being a person of color also added to the severe oppression faced. Unfortunately even within the LGBTQ+ movement there was deep rooted racism and sexism especially from white gay men toward Black trans women. Therefore as with the Civil rights, the LGBTQ+ movement cannot narrowly be viewed as obtaining rights for the specific community as the intersectional nature of every movement requires success in obtaining Civil rights and liberties for all of society's diverse groups and ideologies.
We are all on a spectrum
Contrary to previous binary standards of sexuality, sex, and gender, all of these categories are based on a spectrum. Someone with XXY chromosomes is on a spectrum of sex, while someone may not identify with the societal roles assigned to being a man or a woman so they don't subscribe to a certain gender. Someone one day may think that they are straight and actually end up liking someone that comes along from the same sex. The spectrum allows for an all encompassing way to include all types of peoples without subscribing to the previous binary standards.
Recent Supreme Court decisions
Rainbow-colored lights illuminated the White House in honor of the same-sex marriage ruling in Washington D.C. on Friday. Credit Zach Gibson/The New York Times
June // 2015In June 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States voted a 5-4 ruling that the Constitution guarantees a right to same sex marriage. Its largest advocate was Justice Kennedy that had been seeking this ruling for a long time stating that "No longer may this liberty be denied". This momentous decision marks a precedent for the future supreme court rulings loose construction on the Constitutional guarantees for the members of the LGBTQ+ community.
|
Tiffany Munroe on Sunday in Brooklyn during a rally to call attention to violence against transgender people of color. Credit Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times
June // 2020On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled against the Discrimination of gay and transgender people in the workplace. Since the Supreme Court has ruled that the discrimination based on sex is unconstitutional, so is discriminating based on sexuality or being transgender. After the rulings on same sex marriage in 2015 that held a bright light in the memories of LGBTQ+ supporters with the social conservatism of the Trump presidency, the ruling is a reassurance of the expanding rights of the community.
|
