Gay Rights are Human Rights

Our main argument derives from the lack of civil rights that gay people in our country possess. Of the 50 States, 47 states and Washington D.C. have anti hate laws. Only 24 of the states and D.C. include sexual orientation in the law. In 2005, nearly 15 percent of all hate crimes in the United States occurred due to sexual orientation, and most of these were violent. There clearly isn’t enough action being taken on behalf of the gay community, and because of this we are not promoting true equality in our nation. Being homosexual should have no affect on others, and it should be a decision that is left up to the individual. And the citizens of our country that have made the decision to go public with their orientation for all to see should not be subject to this uncivil treatment. In July 2009 the Senate approved the Matthew Shepard Act, which will outlaw hate crimes based on both sexual orientation and gender identity. This is a law that has already been passed by the house and has full support from president Obama and is expected to become a law by the end of the year. This will begin to bring some sort of relief for those people but is only scratching the surface of what they would like to see done in America. In the United States, our people’s freedom of speech and freedom of religion are protected under our constitution but yet, gay marriage is outlawed in 48 states. The reason for the gay marriage being illegal stems from the christian belief of marriage being between a man and a woman, but it is unconstitutional to make a law on a religious basis. If the specific church doesn’t want to have gay marriage within their church, then that is ok, but laws should not have religious motives behind them.