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Gay Rights
No matter how much media attention the gay rights debate gets, people seem to lag behind the times. Anti-gay discrimination is still a huge problem in this country, and in many neighborhoods it is openly tolerated if not given official legal sanction. Gay rights are basically human rights – the right to be treated equally and receive the same privileges as any other member of society. Yet to hear the gay-bashers speak, you would think that homosexuals were asking for privileges that other people don't have. This simply isn't the case.
One of my best friends grew up with gay parents, and he really brought home to me. Because we have been best friends since we were kids, I grew up seeing the anti-gay prejudice, but a lot of the people around us didn't. People called him all sorts of nasty names when he was growing up, even before he understood discrimination and gay rights. When he was in public with his parents, he would be treated differently and maligned. Even some of his friends who seemed to be pretty cool with the whole gay rights things in private would make jokes about it. These jokes were meant to be funny, but they were not funny. A lot of them had gay discrimination at their roots, covering up real hatred with a mask of humor.
Fortunately, there is a lot that you can do to help with civil rights in this country. One of the biggest campaigns is for gay marriage equality. It is still in sort of a legal limbo. States are supposed to honor contracts made in other states, so technically if one state allows gay marriages to take place, the other ones should. This hasn't been how the states have been interpreting the law, however, so the gay right to marriage still is in universally acknowledged.
Still, there has been a lot of progress in gay rights recently. With the development in Oregon, Massachusetts, San Francisco, and other places, marriage equality is now a reality in a large part of the country. People are starting to talk about gender discrimination and gender issues in the school and although these discussions are far from universal, the fact that they are occurring at all is encouraging. It will be a long time before there are equal rights for gays, but the day is coming. By working together to bring it about, we can all be part of this historic change.
Summary
It is still in sort of a legal limbo States are supposed to honor contracts made in other states, so technically if one state allows gay marriages to take place, the other ones should. This hasn't been how the states have been interpreting the law, however, so the gay right to marriage still is in universally acknowledged.
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