Opinion Piece - A Case for Comprehensive Protections for the LGBTQ+ Community

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As a straight white man, I feel I can’t really speak on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. But, the hatred and bigotry that’s plagued it throughout my life is something I can’t ignore. With the victory of Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, homosexual marriage is legal all across the United States. Great! This is a step in the right direction. However, much how the 13th Amendment didn’t end discrimination against blacks (America is still working on that), this won’t end it either. So, I’d like to present a logical case on why protections for this community should be legislated or at the very least proposed.

Religious Rights
The conflict of whether one can refuse service for somebody being queer* is ridiculous and borderline barbaric. The United States has no establishment of an official religion so by a government being complacent in these discriminatory policies is emphasizing one religious group over another (or lack thereof). This is a simple question of inequality and the queer community should be treated with all the same protections that other groups are. As Rousseau would argue, it is through difference (perceived or real) where ideas of inequality are crafted.

Homosexuality as a Social Construct
Look, gender identity/sexuality is complicated but we have to look at the idea and stereotypes we place on homosexuality and how it relates to our ideas and opinions. Let’s look at it as a social construct made up by society. Much how sociologists do with looking at race (Coates, et al. 5), we can prove this by analyzing if it’s something that static over time or if it changes. And boy does homosexuality change over time. Ancient Greece, artisans and apprentices would commonly have sexual relationships with each other, some of which were homosexual. In Shakesphere’s time, male on male relationships were mostly seen as platonic, even while having some (what we would think of as) homosexual connotations (see Shakesphere’s Hamlet & Horatio’s friendship). Provided this information, we can therefore logically assert that the hatred of a group’s lifestyle is in no way justification for the suppression and prejudice towards them. Furthermore, perhaps it is those stereotypes that directly contribute to that resentment, stereotypes that are not based in logic and fact which therefore shouldn’t be communicated into any legal capacity.

Protections
I feel the main part of the controversy is in the lack of guaranteed protections towards the queer community. While some headway has been made to protect this community discrimination in the workplace, education, and other social institutions are still there and very real. I propose that discrimination of sexual orientation, gender expression or sexual identity be classified as a hate crime in all states. Some states list sexual orientation under this category but this should be expanded to gender expression and sexual identity. For these people have the same right to love as you do and what two consenting adults do is not in your jurisdiction in the same manner as one citizen cannot tell you who you can love.
Bibliography

Coates, Rodney D, et al. The Matrix of Race: Social Construction, Intersectionality, and Inequality. Sage Publications, 2017.


*Using queer as an all encompassing term to include: gay, transgender, bi/pan/a-sexual, etc. While I know these relationships and terms are all different, in the case of this piece, I will encompass them for simplicity.

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