Gay Rights In The United States?

[David In Indy]

What do you think? Members from other countries are also welcome to vote! I would love to hear their opinions too!

Lately, it seems every time the United States takes one step forward towards Gay Rights, it then takes 1 or 2 steps back. Discussions of Gay Marriage Bans are back in the spotlight. Advocates for Gay Marriage were shot down once again in two states this week. In my home state of Indiana, Hoosiers will vote on a statewide ban on Gay Marriage and there is great expectations it will pass with flying colors. Sexual Orientation is not considered a valid form of discrimination in many states leaving open loopholes for many employers to fire gay people simply because of their sexual orientation. Gay bashing is not considered a hate crime in many U.S. states. Often times gay people are denied a place of residence (such as renting an apartment) due to their orientation. Gay people are not openly welcome in many churches, and not welcome at all in others. Disparaging messages are being recorded on people's answering machines.

I was in Circuit City yesterday, and every one of their copies of Brokeback Mountain was sitting under the shelf, out of view.  I asked one of the clerks why this was, and he said the representative made this decision. He then added the movie wasn't selling  anyway.

Perhaps some of these things are only happening in my little corner of the United States, but I often wonder if I will ever see the day when my fellow Americans view me as their equal.

Will it ever happen?

[vkm91941]

I remain hopeful that this will happen in my life time.  That hope continues to be bolstered by the voters in places like California  where 76% of voters vote in support of Gays rights.   I remember that buffoon Bill O'Reilly saying Brokeback Mountain would not play in the heartland, that it would not play in Wyoming.  He was wrong it was a rousing success in all those markets.  Attitudes are changing, more and more people are sickened by hate crimes, more and more people are beginning to adopt a live and let live mentallity, but it is so slow and I am not a patient woman.   

[delalluvia]

I think it will happen.  It might take longer than we like, but it will happen.  It's already happening overseas in Western countries, and some states in this country are already moving in that direction.

Sadly, sometimes it takes an older generation with their life-long prejudices to die off before change can happen.

It took how long to give women and ethnic people the right to vote in this country?  150 years?  And even though they/we are now supposedly 'equal' under the law, the prejudices and double standards are still alive and well.

It might take a while for gays to be recognized as 'equal' citizens, but I fear the prejudices will last a lot longer.

[David In Indy]

So far it seems slightly over half of those voting (7) feel major changes towards gay rights will occur in the U.S. within the next 20 years.

6 people who voted (myself included) feel it will take more than 20 years to see major changes, or it will not happen in their lifetime.

Thanks to everyone who voted, and thanks to Victoria and delalluvia for posting their comments!

[mvansand76]

I sure hope they come to their senses sooner, though, but I am not sure they will, they should maybe take a look at the Netherlands...?

[wulfar360]

alhtought i voted "not in my lifetime"   after reading af ew of theses posts i alittle more optomistic

[David In Indy]

I sure hope they come to their senses sooner, though, but I am not sure they will, they should maybe take a look at the Netherlands...?

Melissa, I absolutely agree with you. Many gay Americans do look to the Netherlands as a Promised Land and hope to see the tolerance evident in your country manifest itself here in the U.S. too. Unfortunately even though things are changing in many parts of the U.S., lack of change is the norm in others. Progress is slow. But any progress is better than no progress at all, I suppose.

I was listening to that stupid Bill O'Reilly again the other night (why do I even listen to him at all?) and he was trying to tie increased drug use and crime to legalized gay marriage. He pointed to the Netherlands as an example. Well, I am glad I did watch him that night. I sent him the nastiest, most evil email I have ever wrote in my life. How dare he say those things? How dare he attack gay marriage like that? And how dare he say those awful things about the Netherlands? But it shouldn't have surprised me. He says stupid things all the time.

But this is just another example of what we are up against in this country. I read something on IMDb the other day I found very disheartening. It said that gay rights will never be tolerated in this country until Christianity is totally devalued and Christian beliefs have been driven from the country. That makes me really sad.   

I have hope. Things are changing in some parts of the country. I hope more and more people continue to look towards the Netherlands, Canada and a handful of other countries for examples. Gay people are people too. It's a shame when some feel that I am less than human simply because of my sexual orientation. 

[David In Indy]

alhtought i voted "not in my lifetime"   after reading af ew of theses posts i alittle more optomistic

Yes. We must always try to be optimistic.

And hope... and hope... and hope..... 

[Giancarlo]

Even with the fair share of bigots in this country, you must admit we have come a long way. Not as far as Spain has in the past thirty years, and speaking of Spain, what they have accomplished with equal rights is just plain remarkable. We would be treated like criminals and jailed in Spain thirty five years ago. Now Spain went from that policy to a pro-gay marriage stance. Anyways, back to the United States... there have been progress made in this country and we have to continue pushing our equal rights cause. People will try to block us, but we must never let them.

"he was trying to tie increased drug use and crime to legalized gay marriage. He pointed to the Netherlands as an example."

That man is sick in the head. In Spain, crime is low, and drug use is low... and we legalized gay marriage.

[David In Indy]

That man is sick in the head. In Spain, crime is low, and drug use is low... and we legalized gay marriage.

Yes. We too have a huge drug problem in the United States, crime is very high in some areas of the country (much higher here than in the Netherlands), and Gay Marriage is not legal here.

Bill O'Reilly's argument was totally invalid. The man is an absolute idiot. 

But it's not the first time he's made a complete ass out of himself.