In 1973, after conclusive and objective studies, the American Psychological Association removed homosexuality from the official manual that lists mental and emotional disorders. Since that time, the struggle for rights guaranteed to all citizens by the U.S. Constitution has been a hard road for the gay and lesbian community. They are Americans. They work, speak, eat, sleep and spend money like all of us. But they aren't treated like all of us.
Homosexuals in the United States apparently don't have the ability to love. Unless they live in Vermont. This northern state is the single state in the country that allows for same sex unions. Assuming that only a select 90 percent or so of the population can experience the sort of connection ideal for marriage is absurd.
On June 26, the Supreme Court ruled that sodomy laws are unconstitutional in response to two men's assertion that they were deprived of their privacy rights and equal protection of the law when they were arrested for having sex in a Houston home. After 30 years of being considered mentally healthy, they were finally granted basic rights to have sex in the privacy of their home. With sodomy laws gone, gay men are now allowed to have as much sex as they want, as long as they never get married. This doesn't sound like the no-sex-before-marriage agenda I learned in high school health classes.
Under the United States' Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), marriage is limited to the union of a man and a woman as husband and wife. Many Republicans, including President Bush, are eager to codify this further, in effect codifying discrimination into the law. There are many who are even considering proposing it as an amendment to protect it from any future court rulings. Bush has said that it is "important for society to welcome each individual." On the other hand, he has stated that we need to protect the traditional institution of marriage, which means not allowing same sex wedlock. What, exactly, is so endangered of being broken down by letting gays and lesbians legally marry? Divorce doesn't exactly nurture the traditional institution of marriage. I must have missed something. Are homosexual people the reason the divorce rate is lingering around 50 percent? Will allowing gays to marry make heterosexual couples' love less strong? At a time when the Pledge of Allegiance could be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court for the phrase "one nation under God," the president shouldn't be citing his own religious beliefs as reasons against changing marriage laws.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals are far from treated equally in other spectrums as well. As it stands now, only 10 U.S. states have laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. When 7 to 10 percent of the population are at risk of losing their jobs based on their personal life, something needs to be done. Many groups, such as the national Human Rights Campaign or the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies (LGBTA) on Penn State's campus are working to change this. The LGBTA group on campus also creates a more consistently friendly atmosphere for students.
Large cities such as New York and Philadelphia are more accepting and gay-friendly places than they used to be, but smaller cities and towns like State College make it hard to meet others. For one, the population is overwhelmingly heterosexual. This makes for very limited outlets for the gay and lesbian community to meet a wide range of people. There is only one gay bar downtown and a club with one gay night per week -- both of which serve 21 and over crowds only. The atmosphere is not tremendously inviting to "come out" in, nor is it easy to be openly gay in many college social settings.
Our age group will shape the coming decades and attitudes that come with them. The more you accept other people and their sexual orientations for what they are now, the more just the United States will be for all well-minded individuals in the future.
