LGBT RIGHTS AND STRUGGLES Alaina Burke Grazyna Dworan Jennifer Hanft Matthew Cheung

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CALLED FAT, UGLY OR STUPID?

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THE ONE TO SAY SOMETHING OFFENSIVE OR HURTFUL TO SOMEONE?

The term “gay” is commonly used as an adjective to describe something as "stupid". People often use the words “gay” and “faggot” to signify that a certain person, action, or object is stupid, whether it be a stupid idea, look, or thing to do. This term is not a derogatory adjective, but it is utilized to signify one’s sexual orientation. This term is offensive to many homosexual individuals because their sexuality is being used as a term of mockery.

Calling someone fat or ugly is just as bad as calling them gay and these days it's hard to get that point across. We all hear it said everyday in the hallways and it should not be used in such an offensive way. One may not think that this can hurt someone's feelings, but it does and hopefully we can get this point across to you with this commercial.

The commercial with Hilary Duff is to raise awareness of how loosely the term gay is used. Many of us have experienced a situation like this, and a way to raise awareness is by offending someone in a different way to understand that the stereotype and "adjective" are not taken as loosely as it may seem.

Steps are slowly being made towards gay rights in America. Recently, the "don't ask, don't tell" law was repealed by the Senate in December This law stated that gay and lesbian citizens could join the army, but they could not admit to being gay or else they would be discharged. According to The Boston Globe, an article titled "Gays being Kicked out of military at steady rate" stated that in the year 2008, according to the latest Pentagon statistics, six hundred and nineteen troops were kicked out of the military for admitting that they were gay.

The repealing of this law was crucial to the fight for gay rights because it was one step forward for the gay community as well as the United States. The Declaration of Independence states that no one can be deprived of "life, liberty or pursuit of happiness." So, let me ask you this: If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, doesn't he or she make you happy? It is not any different for women who like women and men who like men. They deserve to marry the person they love and the person that makes them happy. If gay, lesbian and transsexual people cannot marry their significant other, well than it seems to me that this deprives them of their right to the "pursuit of happiness."

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU WEREN’T ALLOWED TO MARRY THE PERSON YOU TRULY LOVED?

Throughout the course of history, gay people have always been seen as a minority in which they have been ridiculed, discriminated and abused. In our modern society, we continuously see gays and gay rights activists being discriminated against. Discrimination has recently been nationally recognized due to the extreme cases of hate crimes, like when Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and tortured to death for his sexual orientation. It is because of this hate crimes that we must pose a solution to stop future discrimination. Rights gained by the gay community only consist of simple rights granted to citizens such as adoption, domestic partnership, filing lawsuits for spouses, medical decisions for incapacitated spouses, joint title of property and transfer upon death etc.

. These rights can hardly satisfy gay people as they are not the “big picture”. The “big picture” includes rights that grant people the right to marry whoever they want to, even if they are of the same gender. It is only fair to take this matter under constitutional law because gay people are also citizens of the United States. However, before we try to take a radical change into gaining rights, we must first try to solve the problem of hate crimes by informing those around us. If you want to learn more about what you can do to help fight for gay rights, go to:

SPREAD AWARENESS: WAYS TO HELP If you want to learn more about what you can do to help fight for gay rights, go to: