Equal Rights for LGBT Community

The LGBTQ+ movement are individuals who advocate for equal rights, and full of others who support their message. The movement really started in 1969 at The Stonewall Inn when police rushed New York’s Stonewall Inn Bar in July of that year. In this time, acting on your homosexuality was illegal and so bars were made for gays and lesbians as a place to feel safe and accepted but these were places law enforcements would easily target. A place police had raided many times was Stonewall Inn where it all started.

The 28th of July in 1969, law enforcement targeted the Stonewall Inn for the third time for the distribution of alcohol without a license and they arrested everyone they could. Before, the LGBT individuals in the bar would disperse but enough was enough. They stood outside and spontaneously protested the injustice they were constantly facing and started resisting the police. The police, who were shocked at their resistance and undecided on what to do, shut themselves in the bar and called for backup to help with the situation. This protest was unlike any other LGBT protest seen before because they all sensed unity within their community. This event ignited civil rights for LGBT organizations. Many LGBT leaders rose from the riot like Marsha P. Johnson who was an African-American transgender woman. The spoke people of color in the transgender community and she was a key figure in “spearheading the Stonewall uprising” (Marsha P. Johnson Biography, Biography. com Editors).

Another important leader in this community was Harvey Milk, who was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the States. He refused to let the homophobia, which was strong in his time, keep him from being his own person. He inspired many LGBT members to not let the environment around you nor the criticism keep you from doing what you want and to continue being yourself at the same time. He was assassinated after a year in office by Dan White. A few other key leaders would be Sylvia Rivera from The Stonewall Riot and Bayard Rustin.

This movement is still alive and present today, but now the homophobia has shifted towards transgender individuals rather than gay and lesbians. Now, the community is fighting for transgender people but also fighting for other LGBT people who struggle with their everyday lives full of inequality. The movement rejects inequality against their community and the dehumanization they face on the regular.

This community challenged religion and religion challenged back and to this day it’s still one big war going on between the two groups. They also challenged the norm of having man and woman together. Rather, they were man and man, or woman and woman which was something society was not ready to see or tolerate. The community did have an impact on values and did convince or try to convince that they were human, just like the rest of society and deserved the same rights as everybody. The only difference between one and the other was their sexualities and it didn’t affect them.