English
All people are equal in rights from the moment they are born. This same equality is legislatively secured by the Constitution of the United States. Also, this equality implies freedom of religion, of activities and its other forms in order to let people express themselves in any way; people should have an opportunity to live life they consider to be right and free. However, not all members of our society feel free or even secure: that part is the LGBT community.
Despite numerous internal problems and discrepancies, American society is moving fast enough towards liberalization and adjustment of the rights of people of non-traditional sexual orientation. Indeed, in recent years, members of the LGBT community managed to attain many rights for themselves. However, many people still consider this occurrence as an ambiguous one, some openly show a negative attitude. But it is necessary to understand that changing the treatment of most people is a matter of the evolution of thinking, which cannot happen instantly. Also changes in existing laws are required, and this is what characterizes how actively the government involved in resolving the problem.
USA is among countries where the issue of sexual minority rights is evolving faster than anywhere else. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision according to which the Federal Law "On Protection of Marriage", which treats marriage as a union between a man and a woman, declared unconstitutional (Cahill).
This should balance the rights of same-sex couples who have decided to legally formalize their relationship - first of all, they no longer experience problems due to property issues. Also, the decision will have a positive impact not merely on the same-sex couples, but also for children who are adopted by such a couple. The adoption of this law will allow them to live in fully legal families (Goldberg and Allen). This amendment to marriage act was also praised by President Barack Obama, who has publicly supported gay marriage. In his opinion, the law that existed before, provoked discrimination.
It was also adopted a number of other laws that are called on to make life easier for sexual minorities in society. These are laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace; permission to serve in the army. On the other hand, despite the open struggle of the LGBT movement for their rights, we cannot say that the problem is getting settled. Thus, mentioned above decision of the Supreme Court does not answer the question about whether such marriages are constitutional or not. Today the situation of sexual minorities in America depends on the state in which they live. Same-sex marriage is legal in 12 states, but in the rest (which is more than thirty states) such marriages are still banned (Gerstmann).
It is also unknown, what fate awaits those same-sex couples, who have got married in the state, which allows such unions, but live in another - where such union is prohibited. Among other problems, LGBT community still feels the condemnation of society for being “different”. The overall level of tolerance towards LGBT in American society remains quite low. Because of this, many people prefer to hide their orientation, wishing not to provoke conflicts. Especially it refers to people who have a public life: politicians, musicians, athletes, actors – they all are still forced to hide their sexual orientation because of professional interests. Although, some of them openly admit their sexual orientation to support like-minded people and draw the attention of society to the existing problem of unequality. Also forced to hide their orientation teachers, medical and scientific staff, judges and officials.
The present attitude of the society to the members of the LGBT community can be compared to the attitude towards black people of America in the middle 20 century. De jure they got the same rights as other citizens of America, but the de facto they still felt overt discrimination in their address. It took a while for society to got used to the idea of equality of nations, to show no longer intolerance. People are always wary of anything new and unknown in their lives, always afraid of changes. Especially if they do not know what will be the consequences of these changes. Intolerance of certain groups of population to the LGBT community will always be, there always be dissenters, and it will not change. However, the number of intolerant people over time will decrease as there will be new generations who will have to live in a world where sexual minorities will be absolutely normal and natural phenomenon. Society just needs time to accept those changes, that will happen sooner or later.
Works cited
Cahill, Sean. Same-Sex Marriage In The United States. 1st ed. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2004. Print.
Gerstmann, Evan. Same-Sex Marriage And The Constitution. 1st ed. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print.
Goldberg, Abbie E, and Katherine R Allen. LGBT-Parent Families. 1st ed. Print.
