In todays society, the Issue of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) rights Is a rising issue, and In some cases a debate over civil rights and liberties.
For years, decades, perhaps even centuries, there has been an ongoing debate over the rghts of the LGBT community. In recent months, more attention than ever has been brought to the unconstitutional bias the government thrusts upon them due to an Increase in popularity on sites such as Tumblr, YouTube, Facebook. Twitter, etcetera. Society is overall becoming more aware of this, however who is to thank for the knowledge?Activists from all over the globe have been "supporting the cause," as many say, by speaking their mind on the world wide web. An activist by definition Is "an especially active, vigorous advocate of a cause, especially a political cause," Activism is surely not a new thing either. In fact, its been around since the beginning of mankind.
Standing by one's cause is a way of being an activist. Miraculous examples of activism from history Include, but are by no means limited to: street marches, strikes, it-ins, boycotts, hunger strikes, and rallies.According to Neil Spencer of Visual News. "7 in 10 young adults have become social activists" due to media (Spencer). This is much greater compared to Diversity Digest's survey of fifty percent of young adults being activists In 1966 (Alvarado).
At this rate, It Isn't long before even more of the world's youth yearn for a change in the world; a promising fact for this planet. unfortunately in the past activists were not as noticed; especially in the World War II era. Yes, there were still those who were anti-war.However this did not seem to have any Impact on what had been going on In the terrible places known as concentration camps. During the 1 940s, It was illegal to be homosexual in Germany (US Holocaust Museum).
Those who were suspected of being homosexual were placed into concentration camps along with many others, and were given pink triangles to wear, much Iike that of how Jewish people had to wear the star of David. After the war was over, all were set free from the concentration camps. That is, all except for those convicted of being homosexual.This is because of the fact that they roke the law at the time for being who they were, and had to serve out their sentence.
Sadly, not many people knew of this horrible occurrence, and practically went unnoticed. Those who were aware however, never forgot, and spread the word, striking the match to the Gay Civil Rights Movement. Now having a newly paved road to travel down, sick and tired of discrimination, Harvey Bernard Milk comes into play in the late 1960s. Milk was angry about the way San Francisco was seemingly controlled by real estate moguls and huge corporations, and ran for supervisor for the first time.Unfortunately, he was not backed by most of the gay political clubs and organizations, being they thought Harvey wanted too much, too soon. Therefore, he unfortunately lost (Beck).
Harvey, one of the first visible out gay activists, did not give up there. He continued to fight for change, and after his fifth go at running for supervisor, he was successful. In office, he gave many hope with his shortly lived success. Milk passed a Gay Civil Rights bill, which prevented harassment based on sexual orientation.Unfortunately, Milk, along with the Mayor of San Francisco were murdered November 27th, 1978 by Dan White. Harvey Milk's brave, activist attitude helped to further pave the road for future activists.
Shortly after Harvey Milk's passing, came the very famous HIWAIDS scare. HIV and AIDS are deadly diseases spread by taking in someone else's bodily fluids including blood, and other things. "HIV infection is a condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The condition gradually destroys the immune system, which makes it harder for the body to fght infections" (National Library of Medicine).Back in the 20th century, little was known of this deadly virus besides two ways it ould be spread, which were the sharing of needles, and sexual intercourse with someone who was infected, typically within homosexual men.
Needless to say, panic struck and many precautions were made that have yet to be gotten rid of such as the banning of gay men from donating blood. This ban has had activists in an uproar, finding the ban barbaric, and unconstitutional, being that blood is tested for disease 20 times before being used in a patient.Attention on this topic is slowly, but steadily growing thanks to modern activism, along with other current issues. The American Dream is something everyone in America wishes to achieve, yet it seems to only happen when one is a white, Christian, heterosexual, male. Anything different than that sets one back considerable amounts.
Things such as marriage, and adoption are thought to be human rights, however to the United States, human rights float over the heads of the LGBT community. "The so-called 'Defense of Marriage Act,' or DOMA, was passed in 1996 by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton" (GLAAD).This act denied, and still denies homosexuals the right to a recognized marriage. Instead of marriage, some states have things called Domestic Partnerships, and Civil Unions, which are supposedly the same thing, yet lack most of the benefits of a real marriage, such as being able to see one's spouse in the hospital, and tax breaks. Currently due to the massive protests led by activists, the United States Supreme Court is deciding a verdict to determine if DOMA actually is unconstitutional. The month of September 2010 was possibly one of the most devastating months in this generation of young adults.
Six suicides were broadcasted to the world, all of hich were LGBT related deaths. It shall be noted that these were only the publicized deaths, and not the only ones. Tyler Clementi, a former student at Rutgers University (New Brunswick) was the death to strike a chord here in New Jersey. Many knew him, and many more mourned his death.
Clementi Jumped to his death over the George Washington bridge after an intimate encounter was posted on the internet of him and another male from Rutgers (Clementi).Tyler's death truly showed the horrors of bullying and the extent of which it can go to. Activists everywhere took and ran with his, attempting to show people the horrors, trying to make them understand the cause, and with that more and more people realized. Now has come current society, and current activists. The two main people of this generation are more than likely Ellen Degenerous, and Ryan James Yezak. Ellen, a famous talk show host, uses her talk show to touch upon issues in society, as well as entertain many viewers.
Earlier this decade, Ellen both "came out" as being a lesbian, as well as married her wife Portia. Ellen stands by the side of those in need, and is utterly sickened by bullying and harassment. One of the stories she reported was the murder of a 1 5 year old boy, who reportedly asked another boy to be his valentine, and was shot in the back of the head the same day, by that very boy. She made this story touch the hearts of many (Pozner). Ryan James Yezak uses his documenting skills on Youtube to show issues and speak his mind about certain bigots in the world.Recently, Yezak released a video series called "love, don't hate," which is a series dedicated to explaining to homophobic celebrities why their homophobic remarks are invalid, and highly offensive.
These videos have combined been seen by ver 125,000 people. Ultimately, the development of social media devices and sites has greatly increased both the effects of activism, as well as the number of those trying to make a difference in this world. More and more videos, blogs, statuses, and tweets are being posted, showing support for various causes. However what exactly comes next for LGBT Activism?Every day, every month, every year, more technology is released into the world creating more opportunity for people to become young adult social activists.
At this rate by the end of this century, almost all young adults will be some orm of activist, thus meaning there will be less destructive hate in the world. Which overall means a more peaceful, wondrous place to live. Everyone can't Just keep waiting on the world to change. With this increase in technology, more people have come to the realization they must be the change they wish to see in the world.
We are change.
