"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. .