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Jaclyn Purvine
11-26-15
Comp 1 8:00

LGBTs
Do you think Johnny, Katherine, Laney, Michael and Frank are equal in the eyes of the
government? What if I told you they arent? Johnny is gay and lives in fear of being fired from
his job, Katherine and Laney are lesbians and cant get spousal benefits after being married for a
couple years now, and Michael and Frank face a discrimination in public places like restrooms.
What bathrooms do transgender people go into? The government is just now starting to open up
to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community. The United States government is
making strides in upholding equal rights for all citizens, but with all the different sticky
situations, LGBTs will never be completely equal. As a U.S. citizen I believe it is important to
make LGBTs as equal as we can so we can continue to protect individual rights for all and
promote unity as a nation.
Before the case of same sex marriage was presented in court, Diane J. Savino gave a
stupendous speech that truly widened the eyes of anyone who watched it. What do we have to
fear from letting two people be able to get married? Many people who go get married at the
courthouse vow to love the other in sickness and in health, for rich or poor, until death due them
apart but three fourths of those people dont mean it. You can conclude that off of divorce rates.
Some gay couples have far better relationships than heterosexual couples do, even some
relationships should be envied for their long lasting commitments (Savino). She pointed out that
by legalizing gay marriage it wouldnt alter the churches discrimination. The churches will still
be able to deny the marriage between two people just like they did before. The Roman Catholic

church could deny the marriage between a heterosexual couple if the priest felt that one of the
lovers were not worthy of the marriage or serious about it. The case was merely to allow the gay
couples to get married in the courthouse where they dont test the integrity of the couple or test
their love for one another. I believe all of what Savino said, there are much more deserving
couples than those we allow to get married.
Many people acknowledge that the government and the states are making strives to gain
equality for LGBTs but then they are just stopping. One of the biggest victories in history for
LGBT rights was legalizing gay marriage and adoption of same-sex marriage on December 9,
2010. Now that gay marriage is legal the government needs to tackle the idea of spousal benefits.
Spousal benefits include social security money, and life insurance that the living spouse can
receive after the other has passed. Homosexual married couples cannot receive any of this. Now
that homosexual married couples are recognized legally they should be entitled to the same legal
benefits as a heterosexual married couple. Lesbians and gays are American citizens and should
have all the basic rights as any other person. They pay taxes, they abide by laws and they have
jobs. If a same sex marriage couple adopted a kid and the spouse that made most of the money to
care for the kid died, the other spouse wouldnt be able to support the child anymore. The
spousal benefits should be applied to gay couples too, purely for the reason that it affects that
child. The government is allowing that child to starve, have a poor education, and/or grow up in
a bad home because the other spouse cant get any of the spousal benefits.
Now that gay marriage is recognized by the government and is legal the focus has shifted.
Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders are facing major discrimination in employment (Fig.
1). The federal government doesnt provide protections, so these responsibilities fall upon the
states. Currently seventeen states have included sexual orientation and gender identity into their

employment discrimination statutes in both private and public employers, five states and Puerto
Rico prohibit just sexual orientation discrimination for public and private employers, four states
prohibit sexual orientation
discrimination for public employers
by executive order, five states
prohibit discrimination based on
sexual orientation and gender
identity by executive order,
Missouri protects employees of the
Executive branch from sexual
Fig. 1 Double Standards Shot Down. Google Images.

orientation discrimination, and New York prohibits gender identity discrimination for public
employers (McAnallen). McAnallen pulls these facts to show the progress that the states are
making to ensure equality in working places. Tim W. Brown is a prime example of how sexual
orientation can affect jobs and also provides an example of government discrimination. Brown is
from Ohio and was running for a seat in congress until someone accused him of being gay.
Shortly after he withdrew from running. Brown surrender his goals but instead, ran successfully
for commissioner and then won a seat in Ohios state House in 2012. This made him one of the
few openly gay Republican state lawmakers in the country (Jacobson). As people have come to
terms with the fact that they know and care about those who have a different sexual orientation
than their own, it has helped move our society toward acceptance. (Brown). Brown said that in
a recent interview to bring to the readers attention how much his experience back then to his
current election differed. He believes that the climate has changed tremendously.

Some may argue that LGBTs cannot always be treated the same in the eyes of the
government. There are a lot of situations that need to be treated with great care and heavily
analyzed. If you take a transgender boy for example, and after the transition she wanted to
compete in sports, what sex would she play for? After the transition she will still have all the
strength of a boy and speed of a boy. Is it fair to let her compete in womens sports? Title nine
was created to provide an equal opportunity for women to play sports in college and if
transgender boys start competing in women's collegiate sports, then title nine isnt protecting
women anymore. Perhaps, these issues must be decided on a case-by-case basis. However, the
more important issue at hand in the instance is having individual rights of everybody protected.
Equality is more important than biology.
Religious views are also put into play when it comes to opinions against LGBTs. Many
people grow up attending church and adapt the churchs way of thinking. One of the biggest
arguments for churches is marriage should be the joining of a man and a woman. So many
people argue that gay marriage is wrong because they grew up believing it is a sin. Religious
discrimination of LGBTs will probably never end.
Discrimination in schools is increasingly coming on to the radar because more people are
speaking out and embracing their gender identity or sexual orientation. With more people coming
out the more mistreatment is coming out. Reports of bullying, harassment, and suicides resulting
from those are surfacing (Fig. 2). Tyler Clementi, a student at Rutgers University, took his own
life after two students allegedly videotaped a same-sex sexual encounter and streamed it online.
Another death that sparked outrage and united LGBT activists was that of Lawrence "Larry"
King in 2008. The boy, 15, was shot by another student at E.O. Green Junior High School in

Oxnard, California (Landau). These are a couple examples of students being criticized

Fig. 2 Quick Facts for Discrimination in Schools. Google Images.

by their peers. The government has been on the issue by enforcing laws to protect all students
from this kind of behavior. Two pieces of legislation in Congress, the Safe Schools Improvement
Act and the Student Nondiscrimination Act have made LGBTs feel safer in schools.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is continuing to grow as the years
go on. They are also beginning to take a stand for themselves by challenging the government
straight on. Same sex marriage marked one of the greatest milestones in the fight for LGBT
rights here in America. That was really the first time that the government acknowledged the
mistreatment of gays and made them no lesser than heterosexual couples. Although churches
may never come around, at least they can get married. Spousal benefits are one of the many

battles that gay couples have yet to conquer. Discrimination comes from all necks of the woods.
Discrimination from employers and from peers haunt and infuriate those who are affected. The
government is constantly trying to put laws in place to protect those being victimized, but it is
often hard to protect people in every situation. It is important for the government to continue
trying their best to keep everyone equal. Do you think with the efforts made by the government,
LGBTs will be equal to everyone else one day?

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Works Cited
Jacobson, Louis. "Being a Gay or Lesbian State Lawmaker Is Now so Common Its No Longer
an Issue." Www.ncsl.org. N.p., 25 July 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
Landau, Elizabeth. "LGBT in School: 'I Lost a Lot of My Friends'" CNN. Cable News Network, 10
June 2011. Web. 26 Nov. 2015.
"LGBT Rights." Human Rights Watch. Reuters, 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.
McAnallen, Kate. "What Is the Status of Employment Protections for LGBT People?"
Www.ncsl.org. N.p., 1 July 2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
Savino. NYS Senator Diane J. Savino speaks on the marriage equality bill. Tedtalks. Aug. 2010.
web. Nov. 2015.