Sexual and Gender Identity Rights Paper

Sexual and Gender Identity Rights

The United States. This is a place where people of all nationalities, religions, beliefs and identities live, this is the melting pot of the world. People come to this free country to escape from oppression and inequality, in search of a new life that offers unification, opportunity and happiness, yet it seems that despite the common emphasis on equality and acceptance in modern-day America, sexual and gender identity rights continue to be overlooked. As it turns out, the United States may not be as accepting and free-loving as initially speculated to be. Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender (LGBT) people among other minorities continue to be discriminated against by religious groups, disapproving individuals, and the government by acts of dehumanization and uneducated, tainted beliefs.
The concept of equality has been contaminated by the religious groups that have a one-dimensional view of today’s culture and the way that it should function, and these views have been challenged by social groups fighting for the equality of all people. The idea of equality shall be examined and compared between a religious, con-LGBT rights Christian group, and a social, pro-LGBT rights Civil Rights group. Pious organizations often maintain the belief that equality corresponds with the values that higher deity upholds, which ultimately ends up excluding certain people because they do not fit the “standards” as stated by that particular religion. Civil Rights groups, conversely, aim to express the right to equal treatment for everybody, regardless of religious, sexual, gender, social, cultural, etc. affiliation.
According to Christian egalitarianism, equality represents the fact that “all human persons are equal in fundamental worth or moral status. A significant source of this trend of thought is the Christian notion that humankind were created in the living image of God and that God loves all human beings equally, regardless of their individual differences in gender, race, status, position, etc.” (Wikipedia, Para. 2). This is subject to interpretation, however, for there is no specific passage in the Bible which states that LGBT should not be treated equally; there is no excerpt which declares God’s equal love of individual differences regarding sexual identity. Due to this dilemma, the majority of religious groups throughout the eras have interpreted LGBT affairs to be immoral, and not deserving of equal rights, such as marriage, which brings up the question as to whether marriage is a religious rite or a civil rite. While it is important to maintain a sense of respect for opposing viewpoints, it is even more imperative to hold the ability to recognize when vaguely-stated beliefs are in danger of being tampered with, or when human rights are in danger of being violated. This is not to say that Christianity embodies the notion of inequality, but that Christian egalitarianism advocates the idea of equality without stating whether or not sexual and gender minorities are included.
Conversely, civil rights groups such as Amnesty International speak out for the equal rights of all human beings as described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Everybody has a sexual orientation or gender identity, and some people who do not conform to the majority. “Not only are millions of people across the globe facing execution, imprisonment, torture, violence and discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but the very consideration of the issue is seen by many states as a threat to the core principle of the universality of human rights” (Amnesty International, ACT 79/001/2004). Amnesty International is one of hundreds of groups that fight for every human’s right to equal opportunities, treatment, and rights, and it is groups like this that portray the true nature of judgmental groups who choose to violate “insubordinates” and their human rights with violence and discrimination.
All in all, it is imperative to recognize that no one definition of equality can be deemed “truest” and conflicts between ideas and interpretations of this notion will always subsist. The importance of recognizing varying ideas of equality, however, lies in the fact that some definitions present a more open view towards people of LGBT affiliation and other minorities alike.
Regardless of sexual and gender identity differences among people nationwide, every person is equally human and nobody deserves to be dehumanized. The goal of groups such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation will be examined, along with articles outlining dehumanization against LGBTs and statistics with the purpose of outlining the common misconceptions and naïve bases for unequal treatment that take place.
On October 5th, 2007, GLAAD received a public apology from the New York Post’s Richard Johnson for using an anti-transgender slur in his article. The Post's Oct. 4 edition described an impending dating show on Fox called There’s Something about Miriam. Miriam, a transgender woman, was referred to by Johnson as a “she-male.” GLAAD’s President Neil G. Giuliano states that "the Post's apology sends an important message to media across the country that the use of such degrading language is simply unacceptable” (GLAAD Para. 4).
Furthermore, a recent New York Times article describes a particular situation regarding Ms. Farmer, a “masculine” lesbian who dined in West Village, New York with some friends and was thrown out of the women’s room by a bouncer. Ms. Farmer described the situation as such:
He began pounding on the stall door saying someone had complained that there was a man inside the women's bathroom, that I had to leave the bathroom and the restaurant, inside the stall door, I could see him. That horrified me, and it made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I said to him, ‘I'm a female, and I'm supposed to be in here…‘After I came out of the bathroom stall, I attempted to show him my ID to show him that I was in the right place, and he just refused to look at my identification. His exact words were, 'Your ID is neither here nor there’ (New York Times, Para 4-5).
Ms. Farmer was then asked to pay for the appetizers and leave the restaurant. Ms. Farmer’s situation is a perfect example of the discrimination and dehumanization that takes place on a daily basis, nationwide. The restaurant/bouncer judged her because her appearance did not act in accordance with with society's standards concerning gender identity. Most importantly to recognize, Ms. Farmer did not do anything to deserve the treatment that she received, and the treatment that she received is truly an infringement of human rights. This violation of human rights goes back to similar causes which groups such as Amnesty International fight for; while Ms. Farmer’s sexual and gender identity is in the minority, she is a human being and she deserves equal opportunities and treatment regardless of how society’s standards label her.
Lastly, it is fundamental to recognize that judging a LGBT based upon general misconceptions, the notion that they are more likely to molest children, and that all LGBTs commit other crimes is completely erroneous. It is certain that these beliefs stand as the foundation for which many people view LGBTs as unequal and have trouble accepting their lifestyle. It is necessary for the nation as a whole to become familiarized with statistics proving that LGBT are just as human as heterosexual people, and that their actions do not necessarily propagate violence and other illegal acts (AGLBICAL Myths and Misconceptions).
In 1979, the American Psychiatric Association removed ‘homosexuality’ from their list of mental illnesses because no evidence existed to prove that this sexual stance was a psychological affliction of any kind. The APA also proved that the development of children in areas of intelligence, psychological and social adjustment, and popularity has nothing to do with whether or not the parents are homosexual or heterosexual. Another general misconception is that gay men and gay women have more sexual partners than heterosexual men and women, even though statistics show that over 50% of LGBT individuals are currently in a long-term relationship and heterosexual marriages have a 50% divorce rate (AGLBICAL Para. 5-9). Lastly, and most noteworthy, is the fallacy that homosexuals are child molesters. It is in fact that 97% of child molesters are heterosexual men who target adolescent females, on average these men are Caucasian, in a relationship, and pedophiles (AGLBICAL Para 7).
Even more noteworthy than the misconceptions of LGBT people are the negative side-effects that the dehumanization and prejudice causes in their lives. Studies by the US Department of Health and Human Services show that gay and lesbian adolescents are 2-3 times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual adolescents (Safe Zone Program, Para 1). Furthermore, 45% of adolescent gay males and 20% of adolescent lesbians have been victims of a verbal or physical hate-crime due to their sexual orientation (National Anti-Gay/Lesbian Victimization Report, 1984).
In addition to the current events exemplifying the chauvinism of LGBTs and the seemingly genuine efforts that the government makes in order to promote equality, there is evidence suggesting that the United States government has funded projects that propagate the discrimination of minorities. There are groups such as the Boy Scouts, who do not welcome atheists, gays, and other minorities into their community, for the purpose of maintaining the original values of a Christian, all-American boy’s club. Another example will be observed in a case where the U.S government funded a Christian group in Uganda which notoriously spoke out against LGBTs and embraced hate-crimes. All instances are unwarrantable and must be exploited in order to educate the public eye about the hypocrisy that the U.S government represents on a daily basis.
The Boy Scouts is a government-supported organization, and in an article called The Bigoted Scouts of America, the insincerity of this national group surfaces in a situation which discriminates against homosexuals (Barbara Dority, Para. 1).
In March 1998, a New Jersey appeals court ruled against the BSA in a discrimination suit involving a gay Scout. James Dale was a nineteen-year-old Eagle Scout when he was expelled in 1990 after it was discovered through a newspaper article that he was gay. He sued and lost, then appealed and won in the state's appellate court. The court ruled that the BSA is ‘a place of accommodation’ within the meaning of the law and is, therefore, bound by the state's anti-discrimination law. BSA spokesperson Gregg Shields insists that the Scouts ‘has a right, as a voluntary association... to establish membership and leadership standards’ and says the group plans to appeal this ruling to the New Jersey State Supreme Court (Barbara Dority, Para 8).
The network Gays without Borders examines another case of pretense, where the U.S government is suspected of financing homophobic groups in Uganda. On October 10, 2007, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission announced that they had evidence of the U.S government using finances to fund anti-gay groups in Uganda, when the finances were supposed to go towards AIDS awareness studies (IGLHRC, Para. 1).
The primary instigator of the backlash was Pastor Martin Ssempa, leader of the Makerere University Community Church and spokesman for the Interfaith Family Culture Coalition against Homosexuality in Uganda. Ssempa organized an August 21 rally in Kampala, the country’s largest city, at which more than one hundred demonstrators, including several government officials, demanded official action against LGBT people. Ssempa has called homosexual conduct, ‘a criminal act against the laws of nature,’ and has said that, ‘there should be no rights granted to homosexuals in this country.’ According to the U.S. Embassy in Uganda’s website, Makerere University Community Church received a grant under a program designed to provide funds for AIDS prevention, treatment and care programs in Africa. (IGLHRC, Para. 2-3).
It is absolutely immoral for the United States government to support anti-gay groups while the purpose of their mission is to fund AIDS awareness, not to support hatred. In addition to this, the government funds programs nationwide to educate the population about equality and acceptance.
In essence, it is vital for the nation to recognize the importance of embracing equal rights for gender and sexual identity minorities, in addition to the severe injustice that torments the lives of American minorities on a daily basis. Powerful, but narrow-minded groups have contaminated the concept of equality throughout the country, suggesting that diversity in America is a problem, instead of embracing it for being the main symbol of this free country. Every human deserves equal respect, and even if values and beliefs differ from one person to the next it is imperative that judgments are not passed without knowledge of the facts behind a situation. After all, it would be truly ironic for individuals of the community to recognize their identity without respecting others; every person can trace back, whether it is 100 years or 1000 years, to a country where a distant relative of theirs lived whose sexual or gender identity was in the minority, regardless of whether or not it was consciously recognized.
The point is that everybody is different; everybody is a minority to the person next to them. In this case, how could it be right to judge, to deem oneself to be more equal than another? Although ‘equality’ may never be labeled as one irrefutable idea, inequality can not be tolerated, and it is necessary to become familiar with how this aspect presents such a threat to the growth of America and the community within.