"Gay Rights"article response

This article is about the fight for gay rights throughout history in the United States. According to this article, prior to 1960, gay and lesbian rights were not protected under the constitution. During the early 1900s, gays and lesbians started to become more open with their sexuality because of the urbanization of big cities like New York and Chicago. With this, state governments decided to create laws restricting sexual behavior within same-sex couples. Government officials and policemen saw homosexuality as an offense to American culture and a specific social problem that needed to be taken care of. Homosexuality became linked with crimes such as prostitution, child molestation and murdering. They were outcasts of society and started to be targetted for the AIDS virus that came out during the 20th century. Courts and governments used this as justification for not givint them equal rights. They claimed that gays were the sole carriers of this disease and they threatened the health of everyone around them. In addition to being discriminated against and targetted for spreading disease, during the 1950s gays and lesbians were being barred from employment in the government, in the military and teaching in public schools. They were also denied custody and visitation rights for their children on the basis that their behavior would corrupt innocent minds. This mentality extended even more into the world of entertainment. Gays and lesbians were prohibited from performing in live venues and homosexual behavior was even banned from movies. With these changes in society, hate crimes against homosexuals started to become more prevelant forcing the courts to create laws against sexually biased hate crimes. Even though these laws were created, many hate crimes still occured and punishment for crimes against gays and lesbians seemed to be less severe than punishments for other crimes. For example, in texas, a judge sentenced the murderer of two gay men to 30 years in prison, effectively giving him parole in seven years. In 1969, after the stonewall riots "during which gay men at a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn defended themselves against a police raid, more homosexuals were willing to come out to the public and be more open about their sexuality. Government officials such as Harvey Milk were very big motivators for the gay and lesbian community. These riots and motivators created a huge wave of the gay movement to fight for their equal rights.
This was interesting for me to read because after we finished our civil rights unit, it seemed a little ridiculous that this issue would be so controversial. It was the same thing with the African- Americans. People deserve equal rights no matter what and it baffles me that society didn't wasn't willing to do the same thing for gays and lesbians.
"gay rights." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. .

First Thoughts on Topic

My topic for the research project is Gays and Lesbians. This topic is interesting to me because its such a heated issue today and it affects everyone in the U.S. I did a research speech on adoption rights for gays and lesbians in eighth grade and I immediately was intrigued by this issue. During my research, I read many stories about the hardships people have to endure everyday just because of their sexuality. Nobody should have to feel discriminated against based on what's in their DNA.
It states in the Declaration of Independence and in our Constitution that everyone, no matter race, color or creed has equal rights. The constitution is blind to any social class or sexual orientation and therefore, shouldn't discriminate based on anything other than whether you live in the United States and whether you follow the law. When I first read about this topic on Monday, I saw that this issue wasn't really brought up in courts until the 70s and 80s. This really surprised me because it shows how invisible people must have felt not being able to express who they really are for so long. The issue was not only brought up, but people also had to fight extremely hard for equal rights. This shows how close-minded our society is. We refused to even acknowledge that Homosexuals were part of our society and when they finally came out, we tried to ignore them. This is just so disturbing to me and that is why I want to learn more about this topic.

State of the Union Address

Obama is such an inspirational speaker. He has the ability to turn around a harsh and seemingly impossible situation and make it into something positive, an obstacle that we are able to overcome. It was also interesting for me to see how congress reacted to each point he made. For almost every issue he brought up, half of the room would stand up and cheer while the other half would be sitting, looking displeased. It was funny how he addressed that in his speech when he talked about the two political sides not always coming to an agreement. He said that he is not naive and knew that his election would not bring peace between the two parties. With that said, he talked about not making everything about those differences and how congress should be able to push aside those conflicts for the good of the country. Government should not be about competition and fighting for popularity among the people. Nothing gets done that way. When he proposed a bill for a commission to help with the health care plan, the senate voted against it. I liked how he took the initiative to say in front of everybody that he was not okay with this and was ordering congress to do what he asked. Like he said, popularity is not important to him. If being disliked by some people means getting the job done then so be it.

this happens to me all the time..

Last night, I was really hot in bed, so I took one leg out of the covers. Then I got scared because it was too dark and my leg felt unprotected from somthing hiding under my bed. So I put it back under the blankets. MLIA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm_n76Dsl0c