The journey and fight for LGBTQ+'s rights have been long and hard, and yet, we still aren't where we need to be. Imagine being treated differently in the name of love. It's sad and disgraceful that still some places and people aren't accepting of a person because of who they love.
Wake up, because it's 2020 and love is love. In 2020 LGBTQ+ love, and all love, needs to be accepted.
It all started in 1924 when Henry Gerber, a German immigrant who served in the U.S army, founded the Society for Human Rights in Chicago. According to History, this was the first documented gay rights organization in the United States. Although this was monumental, we still had a long way to go. During World War II, the Nazis were holding homosexual men in concentration camps. Due to this, they were branded with a pink triangle badge, the same badge given to sexual predators.
But there was still hope because later on in the 1950s we had Harry Hay, an American gay rights activist, who founded the Mattachine Foundation, which later led to the Mattachine Society, one of the first gay right's groups. The point of this was to help the lives of gay men.
But there were lots of setbacks because President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order that banned gay people from working federal jobs, which remained in power for 20 years. Also, in 1952, the American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a mental disorder.
In the 1960s, things started changing. People from the LGBTQ+ community were not served in New York City, which led to many protests. One including the StoneWall Riots, a riot at the Stonewall Inn that happened after police raided the gay bar. Because of this, every year New Yorkers march through the streets celebrating what we now call the Gay Pride Parade. Iconically, the pink triangle now represents a symbol of gay pride.
According to the PBS Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement timeline, in the 1980s Wisconsin became the first U.S state to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Then, Vermont became the first state to register partners of the same sex.
Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage. Followed by New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Iowa and Washington D.C. Later on, New York State became the largest state to legalize gay marriage. Then, in the aftermath of Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.
The fight for LGBTQ+'s rights goes back to the 1900s, and we still aren't at the place we need to be. Just because some states legalized gay marriage, does not mean gay people still aren't being discriminated against. We are nearing the end of 2020 with 2021 around the corner. It is up to us to do better and make a change for the future of our generations. Love is love, and let's start accepting others.
Sheetal Tadiparty
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