Human Rights at Home and Abroad: Past, Present, and Future

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Morgann Goodling, Bloomsburg University Gay Rights: Discrimination and Acceptance Many people take their basic human rights for granted. In America for instance, there is one right that people take advantage of over and over again. This is the right for two people to be married. Millions of people around the world get married; however imagine being someone who is not able to get married. Imagine being in love with someone and wanting to spend the rest of your life being married to this person, but an unwritten rule is denying this right to you. This is a circumstance that both gay men and lesbian women in the United States and the United Kingdom have to deal with. Instead of marriage governments have decided to offer civil unions or civil partnerships. With this small step towards an equalization of rights for homosexuals in both the United States and the United Kingdom discrimination seems to be disappearing, however much discrimination is still in existence. As a result of both progression and discrimination the topic of gay rights has become a very controversial issue in the United States and the United Kingdom; although when comparing the two countries it seems as though the United States has made this topic more debatable and controversial compared to the United Kingdom. This debate between granting and denying rights to homosexuals is not always a black and white issue for everyone. Undoubtedly, this issue for many people is considered to be a gray one because they are not exactly sure how they feel about it. Their minds are constantly changing and most are beginning to believe that all citizens including homosexuals should be granted all rights. However, many still think that homosexuals do not deserve these rights based solely on their sexual orientation. According to Chris Cuomo, ―it is difficult to get a clear sense of the state of American lesbian and gay politics these days (2006, p. 75), and the same goes for the United Kingdom. There are those in the gray area who do not necessarily agree with the lifestyle of homosexuality, but they do not feel that they have the right to tell someone how to live his or her life and say what rights they should be granted or denied. With these citizens starting to express their opinions more publicly there is a larger amount of people who are starting to change their minds on this issue. 63
Those who believe homosexuals do not deserve rights have organized hate groups. These groups have been developed by these inhabitants in order to spread their opinions around countries and to stop any type of progression being made. They believe any kind of sexual relationship between two people of the same sex is wrong and it must be stopped. In recent years a shift has occurred concerning the opinions of gay rights and because of this, ―disputes over gay rights policies have occupied a prominent place on the American public agenda in recent years‖ (Brewer, 2003, p.1208). This shift looks to have caused the topic of gay rights to be very controversial in both the U.S. and the U.K. With the issue of gay rights on the rise in recent years people are now expressing their opinions on this issue more than ever. People are strongly stating whether they agree or disagree with the lifestyle of homosexual individuals and couples. Citizens of both countries seem to be changing their ways of thinking and believe gay men and lesbian women should be granted all of the basic human rights given to heterosexuals without discrimination. Paul Brewer provides information about a study that was done in order to show this change in public opinion in the United States. Brewer explains, that from as recent as thirty years ago most people believed that any type of sexual relations between any two people of the same sex was ―always wrong‖ and because of this ―there was a small increase in hostility toward homosexuality during this period‖ (2003, p.1208). Nevertheless, Brewer then goes on to say that a couple of years later, around the year 1992, the ―hostility decreased rapidly‖ and people began to accept same-sex couples (2003, p.1208). Thanks to this shift in public opinions, government officials in the Unites States have started to acknowledge homosexuals as deserving of the same rights that are given to heterosexuals. Gays and lesbians have started to gain many rights that allow them to live as though heterosexuals do. One right that homosexuals now have is the right to adopt and foster children. This advancement is seen both in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Badgett and his accompanied authors explain a few findings in the U.S.: More than 16,000 adopted children are living with lesbian and gay parents. Gay and lesbian parents are raising four percent of all adopted children in the United States. An 64
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Proceedings of 11th Annual Frederic
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Introduction The 11 th Annual Frede
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Conference Presenters: Send a clean
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Friday, April 15 Session 6: 9:00-10
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dropped to 25% (50 Interesting Fact
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are not being received as a result
Page 13 and 14: system that would review all applic
Page 15 and 16: Conclusion Welfare programs are a w
Page 17: Pennsylvania Department of Public W
Page 28 and 29: going on in the south. An estimated
Page 30 and 31: wasn‘t nationally known, but it w
Page 32 and 33: and ―I Feel Like I‘m Fixin to D
Page 34 and 35: Works Cited "American Experience.Ey
Page 36 and 37: According to ―Child Labor in Indi
Page 38 and 39: called the Fair Labor Standards Act
Page 40 and 41: that the minor workers had lied abo
Page 42 and 43: It is said that a person‘s childh
Page 44 and 45: Works Cited ABC News. "The Blueberr
Page 46 and 47: "What Is Child Labor?" University o
Page 48 and 49: not to love? Family has become an o
Page 50 and 51: person is either a criminal being a
Page 52 and 53: immigrants have fled. With the cons
Page 54 and 55: Work Cited Our Dime, Dustin. "Anoth
Page 56 and 57: countries of Europe and is the desc
Page 58 and 59: then having to take a written test.
Page 60 and 61: America. It is committed to offerin
Page 62 and 63: collective work and responsibility,
Page 66 and 67: estimated 14,100 foster children ar
Page 68 and 69: individual would be dismissed. It d
Page 70 and 71: denied and discriminated against. S
Page 72 and 73: have come into existence. The suppo
Page 74 and 75: the U.S. have become very controver
Page 76: Reference Page Badgett, L.M.V., & C
Page 82 and 83: dynamic that encouraged rapid and t
Page 84 and 85: y big businesses for allowing them
Page 86 and 87: ―Duke University study published
Page 88 and 89: Works Cited ―BP Gears Up to Plug
Page 90 and 91: (702). The information provided to
Page 92 and 93: on the Human Terrain System states
Page 94 and 95: Works Cited "American Anthropologic
Page 96 and 97: toll that they can take depending o
Page 98 and 99: individual‘s identity, the indivi
Page 100 and 101: found various minority stress facto
Page 102 and 103: The concealable nature of sexual or
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Page 106 and 107: 18. How could the human race surviv
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guards view as consensual because t
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―emergency grievance criteria‖,
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Even though the exact extent of pri
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Danielle Miller, Bloomsburg Univers
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That was a real problem because as
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harmed someone was high and even th
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we should not just walk by and beli
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At the age of 15 Brenda (Bruce) was
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Taylor Roberts, Bloomsburg Universi
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Those individuals who do not enact
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goes without saying that collective
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members of the trans community can
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Her emotional reaction to sharing h
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In trans support groups it is not u
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According to this quote, trans acti
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Valentine, David. 2007. Imagining T
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In June, 2003, the U.S. military re
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The Nuremberg Code was created in W
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health. Scientists can also create
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similarly to the Hippocratic Oath t
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working in the world now than ever
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available to protect people. This i
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Brandi Spencer- Phoenix, Bloomsburg
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Most six graders are between the ag
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White students, for instance, score
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Students should have more adequate
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References Abdul-Alim Jamaal, (2010
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deep poverty. 2 Many historians agr
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As previously mentioned many Algeri
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personnel made it very difficult to
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of their European background. 30 At
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Bibliography ―Proclamation des R
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Human Rights at Home and Abroad: Past, Present, and Future

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