Systemic injustices can apply to many different groups of varying minorities. Minorities can be groups that you may not think about, such as members of the LGBTQ+ community. In my life I have seen many different ways that the LGBTQ+ community can be treated in society. I have seen them with lots of support and I have seen them receiving lots of hate. It was not until 2015 that the US Supreme Court ruled gay marriage to be legal across the nation. I think this is a serious issue because it took so long for this to be legal. Although people could date or be “married” in heart, there are many benefits they could’ve experienced from marriage. Other injustices the LGBTQ+ community have faced are discrimination, within several categories. One way they can face legal discrimination, is if they decide to adopt children, for example some states can legally deny them to become parents based on their sexual orientation. Another injustice they face is when they attempt to get housing, as there are still many states (over half) that can deny people for their identity. On top of those life altering policies, they can also legally be fired from their job if their employer finds out their sexual identity and doesn’t accept it. As a white, straight woman, these are not facts I knew before doing research.This is concerning to me because this impairs the lives and abilities of so many people not only in the United States but around the world, when it shouldn’t be able to. Further more, it concerns me that this isn’t typically known to those who it doesn’t directly concern. As we have learned that subalterns can have many different identities and is not just reluctant on the ethnicity one has, I would consider the LGBTQ+ community to still be a subaltern in the United States. We as a country need to give them their rights to a happy and able life, as well as their equality that is more than deserved. To me, this means they need to be protected by the law, and not held back or have their lives on the line, just because of their sexual identity. We as a community and as a whole need to be more accepting of others, as well as free them to be themselves, with their rights still in tact. I found two images which I think are a great representation of this topic. The first says “Thanks for marriage but we need healthcare” and the second says “Not every boy dreams of being a marine”, both of which I think are very powerful messages to society and should be listened to.
Thank you for stating the true facts about how members of that community are discriminated against. As also a straight white woman, I tend to not consider others lifetyles limitations, as they do not apply to me. Yet, it is unfair and biased for those to be punished or even fired for loving who they want. While progress has been made as of recent in 2016, this is not enough, and members and allys of the community must continue to push for equal rights.
Hi,
I enjoyed this piece very much! I really liked how you understood your own blind sidedness to this topic, and the process you took to over come that. I personally did not know a lot of this information either. I really liked your comparison to the subaltern and i am also hopeful that in our life time we may be able to see this community with a louder voice.
I thought this post was excellently written and the topic was well picked as the treatment of LGBQT peoples has still been toxic and needs to change in the United States. We find ourselves in an election where some of these minimal rights that they have can be taken away or deemed unnecessary. We have too many ignorant individuals who do not care to educate themselves on the LGBQT community and this type of ignorance needs to change and leave our culture.
I think this is an important topic to highlight because many people think that because of the fact that gay/ lesbian marriage has become legalized, people think that all of their discrimination has gone away. But, this is not true, which is extremely important to highlight. Society has a lot of work to do in order to show that that the LGBTQ+ community is treated as equal as they say they are, which is shown through this presentation.