Violence against Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender Essay Example for Free

Violence against Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender Essay In the past, society has been responsible in inculcating, indoctrinating and impressing on the minds of people that there are only two kinds of gender, either male or female. But in our modern setting, society has learned to adapt to the non-conformists in their midst in regards to this classification. But there are those who by virtue of their fear or upbringing, has raised the specter of violence against these individuals for no other reason than satiating their fear and hatred of gays and lesbians in this society. Can the incidence of violence against gays and lesbians be stopped? Should heterosexual society have justifications in their fear, or hate, of the â€Å"queer† people? In the article of Valerie Jennes and Kimberly Richman, Anti-Gay Violence and its Discontents (2002), there are recent crimes that seem to suggest just that. In a most heinous display of homophobia in the United States, one homosexual man from Wyoming, Matthew Shepard, was brutally killed by two assailants, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson (Diane Richardson and Steven Seidman p. 403). In the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the victim allegedly made advances on the suspect which provoked the suspect to go into a murderous fit. Counsel for the defendants argued that the incident was triggered by the homophobic tendencies of the suspect (Richardson and Seidman 403). After the Shepard case, Billy Jack Gaither was murdered by friends of McKinney and Russell. Again, the reason cited in the investigations was homophobia. Gaither was hit repeatedly with an axe handle, and then set on fire using a pile of tires as kindling. All of the cases were done by reason of the fear of homosexuals and the alleged sexual advances made by the victims on the suspects (Richardson and Seidman 403). Cases like these only display one fact. It must be understood that this incidents present a throwback to the old ideas that there are only male and female roles to be filled in the society, and anything else is deviant. But in this day and age, many of those roles are adequately fulfilled in by the non-conformists in the society, those who aver that it is their choice or give weight to the biological factors that make them as such. Most of the LGBT sector is afraid of revealing themselves and being true to their identity because of the ridicule and the shame that they would be made to endure (Riki Wilchins 265). In any society, there is always the event that what that society fears the most, it learns to hate it, not because of anything that the object of that fear has, but in the mere fact that the object gives them the thought that this object found its way into that society. This seems to be the main driver of the hate against gays and lesbians. It is thios hate that drives them to commit crimes against homossexuals. In her article Coming Out, Professor Paula Rodriguez Rust explains the term as recognizing that an individual has feelings of attraction towards a member of their own sex, embrace a bisexual outlook, and be able to share that identity with others (Paula Rust 227). This must be done to be recognized as such since the society has been inculcated with the notion that all are heterosexual. Since this is the operative assumption, then all parents would expect that their children are heterosexual and conduct themselves in a heterosexual manner. If one were to replace this resident societal identity with another so-called â€Å"deviant† one, these individuals run the risk of being ostracized rather than accepted (Rust 227). A revealed homosexual, once he does so, will find that their relationships in the heterosexual society will be vastly different than the one held in that society. It means a change in the attitudes and disposition members of that society will accord that person, gay or lesbian. Relationships with the members of that society, especially close ones such as friends or family, will dramatically alter for the worse. One will experience the impoverishment of closeness of these relationships, since their behavior or identity runs against the grain of that society (Rust 227). One of the subjects Wilchins interviewed intimated about the shame that he felt every time that his mother would ask him to hold her bag in the shop (Wilchins 265). His partner said that he used to skip classes every time they would play baseball in the gym because of the comments about the feminine way that he threw the ball (Wilchins 265). It is evident from the reaction of these two individuals that the society they are in now still has to allow integration of their sector into the mainstream of the modern-day society. The modern society that the United States boasts of is still quite archaic in their beliefs, at least in this context. Through history has been replete with incidents of violent acts that focus on the gay and lesbian sector, it was only recently that the government have begun to accumulate the data on the different aspects of the crime of â€Å"gay bashing† (Richardson and Seidman 405). Before this time, verifiable information on the statistics of gay and lesbian violence was very hard to come by. It was not until the later 80s that scientific research work on the compilation of data regarding the causes and manifestations of the crimes against homosexuals that is vital in the work to address this issue has recently been accumulated. In the United States, there have been incessant calls for the authorities to look into and monitor incidents of crimes of bias, especially those affecting the gay and lesbian part of society (Richardson and Seidman 405). Heterosexism: Racism in a new light As the African Americans in the early history of the United States were subjected to racist initiatives, gays and lesbians were not spared from the ostracization of the society (Gregory Herek, PhD). Since the advent of the gay movement in the middle of the 1900s, many people have reprehended these individuals as sick, profligate and outright felonious. This line of thinking was given form by psychologist George Weinberg, coining the term homophobia (Herek). Weinberg (1969) used this term to quantify the fear of heterosexuals coming into close contact with homosexuals. His term was first printed in 1969, coming out in Weinbergs Society and the Healthy Homosexual in 1972 (Herek). So what is a homophobe (University of Florida)? In brief, a homophobe can be defined as a person with an intense hatred or dread of homosexuals. Heterosexism is the idea that a heterosexual is superior to a homosexual, and that homosexual relationships are not as legal or accepted as heterosexual ones. Heterosexism as a concept came about the same time as racism and sexism (Herek). As an ideology, the term came to define the actions of individuals to asperse, besmirch, and isolate any form of homosexual conduct or actions (Herek). In Wichins article, it was said that the gender issue is like some form of â€Å"closet† that gay and lesbians must be willing to come out of (Wilchins 266). This, according to Wilchin, is the area that is targeted by heterosexuals. As stated earlier, society has been impressed by a constant deluge of the need to conform to the genders and sexual types in the modern society. Male children are taught to talk, walk, and act like some Hollywood action star. If the actions of the children are in the least way feminine, they will be subjected to violence and debasement (Wilchins 266). They learn to abhor anything remotely connected to their feminine side, so that when they finally come up to one, they are more than willing to terminate that threat (Wilchins 266). This indifference and marginalized treatment of the gay and lesbian sector may be attributed to the invasive nature heterosexism has been influencing the dominant society. This can clarify the hidden nature that the gay and lesbian sector has been â€Å"operating† in the society. Again the dictates society declares that the practice of heterosexual activities and conduct is widely accepted and tolerated, and the practice of homosexual conduct is severely chastised and discouraged (Florida). If people who are known or are open in their practice of their identities are discovered, they are open to violent acts that seem to be perpetrated by the dictates of the society (Herek). In a 1987 report released by the United States Department of Justice on the statistics of bias crimes, it was found out that a majority of the targets of these crimes were minority group members, such as African Americans, Hispanics, Jews, Asians and gays and lesbians. It also noted that gays and lesbians were the most frequent victims of bias crimes. In other private-sponsored studies, crimes against homosexuals that were provoked or bought upon by homophobia and heterosexism topped the reasons for the commission of the crime (Richardson and Seidman 403). It seems that the main issue, however, in the issue of gays and lesbians in society is not that they operate, so to speak, in a different norm and manner. Rather, the issue is trying to create a niche in a heterosexual dominated society (Wilchins 267). Wilchins argues that the movement for the recognition for the rights of women ultimately bore enactment in laws for the benefit, in the same way that gay rights efforts ultimately gave rise to recognition of that sectors rights. If the gender issue is to discussed intelligently and objectively, then the gender rights movement must be bought out rather than hidden from the public agenda (Wilchins 267). For something to be discussed, what is needed is educated discussion, rather than making attempts at terminating the percieved threat. Can the violence against LGBTs be stopped? Again, we must go back to the freedom we speak of. It is recognized that many in the LGBT sector have risen up through the obstacles that this â€Å"modern† society has set up along their way and emerged triumphant, yet are still looked down upon, and in many instances, with hate permeating through the opposition. It is this hate that laws and statutes, however good they may be, cannot control, the choice of people to hate, to think ill of the gays and lesbians, and to concoct and perform violence against gays and lesbians. All that can be done is to make laws that are far more retributive against people who perform these acts. Federal and local governments should take the initiative in making laws or amending current statutes to give more protection for the gays and lesbians in the society. Unless modern society provides that niche by which the gays and lesbians can integrate themselves into the mainstream of society, it can be said that violence against gays and lesbians and others like them are likely to be a major problem. It is in the act of â€Å"modern† society to accept its diversity, not only in identity, but also in gender and preferences that it can be called a truly modern society. Works Cited Equality Maryland. â€Å"Hate Crimes Bill Heads to Governors Desk†. http://www. equalitymaryland. org/pr_2005/pr2005. 04. 09. htm Garnets, Linda and Kimmel, Douglas C. â€Å"Psychological Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Experiences: Chapter 9: Finding a Sexual Identity and Community, by Paula Rust†. New York City: Columbia University Press (2003). Works Cited Herek, Gregory M. â€Å" Definitions: Sexual prejudice, homophobia, and heterosexism†. http://psychology. ucdavis. edu/rainbow/HTML/prej_defn. html Richardson, Diane and Seidman, Steven . â€Å"Handbook of Gay and Lesbian Studies: Valerie Jennes and Kimberly D. Richman†. California: Sage Publications (2002). Wilchins, Riki Anne. â€Å"Time for Gender Rights†. GLQ: A Journal of Gay and Lesbian Studies Volume 10, Number 2 (2004). pp. 265-267. University of Florida. â€Å"What is heterosexism†? http://grove. ufl. edu/~ggsa/files/bboard/heterosexism. pdf.

The American Civil Liberties Union :: essays research papers fc

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Where do you go if someone is threatening your personal rights? Do you go to the police, or maybe to the government? What if the police and government are the parties threatening your rights? All you have to do is just call the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). Sounds like a commercial doesn't it. The ACLU blankets the United States with its legal protection. It is involved in so many aspects of the fight for civil liberties that it is difficult to cover it all. To fully understand what the ACLU has done for the United States would take much longer than I have. Therefore, I have picked a couple of incidents that, to me, exemplify what the ACLU is, and how they have affected our society. The ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union, is an organization that began the struggle to protect the civil liberties of the American people. The ACLU is defined as being a US non-partisan organization offering legal aid and other assistance in cases of violation of civil liberties.(Websters) Civil liberties contain a substantial body of law including: freedom of speech and press, separation of church and state, free exercise of religion, due process of law, equal protection, and privacy.(Walker 3) The Encyclopedia of the Constitution defines civil liberties as "those rights that an individual citizens may assert against the government." In a formal sense, the ACLU is a private voluntary organization dedicated to defending the Bill of Rights. Officially established in 1920, the ACLU now claims over 270,000 members. With offices in most of the states and the District of Columbia the ACLU justifiably calls itself " the nation's largest law firm."(Walker 4) The ACLU, despite its noble goal, has a terrible public image. The reason for such hatred or support is the fact that civil liberty cases generally involve moral and personal issues. These issues are those that incite feelings from all corners of society. The rights the ACLU is generally protecting are those segments of society that least agree with mainstream society. The ACLU has promised to protect the rights of everyone. Those rights include the free speech rights of such detested groups as the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, and Communist. The Skokie Case is an example of the classic freedom of speech case the ACLU would undertake. This case which hit the media April 28, 1977, concerned the right of American Nazi Frank Collin to demonstrate in Skokie, IL. (Walker 323) This case like many before and after defended the rights of a person espousing one of the most universally despised ideology in the country.

Night

In the fascinating memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, he deals with the struggle of surviving, which was devastating since it was during the holocaust. In the memoir Night, Wiesel uses Symbolism, Simile, and Irony in order to illustrate the events during the holocaust. Wiesel’s use of Symbolism helped the reader understand the captivity of the Jews in the concentration camps. †Father, I said â€Å"If that is true then I don’t want to wait.I’ll run into the electrified barbed wire. That would be easier than a slow death in the flames. †(33). Wiesel uses his symbolism when he said â€Å"the electrified barbed wire. † It’s being used to show the reader that this is how the atmosphere was during the holocaust. Elie Wiesel, in his autobiography Night, his use of Simile helps the reader to understand the brutal atmosphere of the German Police. There are 80 of you in the car, the German Officer added,† if any of you are missing, you will be sh ot like dogs. †(24). He uses his simile language when the train (that the Jews were on) stopped and was guarded by two German police officers. It’s being used to portray the atmosphere of the brutal officers of the Germans.In Elie Wiesel’s Night, Wiesel uses Irony in order to help the reader understand the atmosphere on the train which the Jews were on. â€Å"Fire! I see a fire! I see a fire! (24). Wiesel uses the Irony figurative language when the Jews were on the train to the concentration camps. It was being used to illustrate the savage atmosphere of humans being killed in a huge fire! So Wiesel’s use of Symbolism, Simile, and Irony were in fact helped the reader understand all the events that he wrote about during the holocaust. His point view of the holocaust was very graphic! Even though we never knew about this this is a very historical event on this planet. Night In the fascinating memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, he deals with the struggle of surviving, which was devastating since it was during the holocaust. In the memoir Night, Wiesel uses Symbolism, Simile, and Irony in order to illustrate the events during the holocaust. Wiesel’s use of Symbolism helped the reader understand the captivity of the Jews in the concentration camps. †Father, I said â€Å"If that is true then I don’t want to wait.I’ll run into the electrified barbed wire. That would be easier than a slow death in the flames. †(33). Wiesel uses his symbolism when he said â€Å"the electrified barbed wire. † It’s being used to show the reader that this is how the atmosphere was during the holocaust. Elie Wiesel, in his autobiography Night, his use of Simile helps the reader to understand the brutal atmosphere of the German Police. There are 80 of you in the car, the German Officer added,† if any of you are missing, you will be sh ot like dogs. †(24). He uses his simile language when the train (that the Jews were on) stopped and was guarded by two German police officers. It’s being used to portray the atmosphere of the brutal officers of the Germans.In Elie Wiesel’s Night, Wiesel uses Irony in order to help the reader understand the atmosphere on the train which the Jews were on. â€Å"Fire! I see a fire! I see a fire! (24). Wiesel uses the Irony figurative language when the Jews were on the train to the concentration camps. It was being used to illustrate the savage atmosphere of humans being killed in a huge fire! So Wiesel’s use of Symbolism, Simile, and Irony were in fact helped the reader understand all the events that he wrote about during the holocaust. His point view of the holocaust was very graphic! Even though we never knew about this this is a very historical event on this planet. Night In the fascinating memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, he deals with the struggle of surviving, which was devastating since it was during the holocaust. In the memoir Night, Wiesel uses Symbolism, Simile, and Irony in order to illustrate the events during the holocaust. Wiesel’s use of Symbolism helped the reader understand the captivity of the Jews in the concentration camps. †Father, I said â€Å"If that is true then I don’t want to wait.I’ll run into the electrified barbed wire. That would be easier than a slow death in the flames. †(33). Wiesel uses his symbolism when he said â€Å"the electrified barbed wire. † It’s being used to show the reader that this is how the atmosphere was during the holocaust. Elie Wiesel, in his autobiography Night, his use of Simile helps the reader to understand the brutal atmosphere of the German Police. There are 80 of you in the car, the German Officer added,† if any of you are missing, you will be sh ot like dogs. †(24). He uses his simile language when the train (that the Jews were on) stopped and was guarded by two German police officers. It’s being used to portray the atmosphere of the brutal officers of the Germans.In Elie Wiesel’s Night, Wiesel uses Irony in order to help the reader understand the atmosphere on the train which the Jews were on. â€Å"Fire! I see a fire! I see a fire! (24). Wiesel uses the Irony figurative language when the Jews were on the train to the concentration camps. It was being used to illustrate the savage atmosphere of humans being killed in a huge fire! So Wiesel’s use of Symbolism, Simile, and Irony were in fact helped the reader understand all the events that he wrote about during the holocaust. His point view of the holocaust was very graphic! Even though we never knew about this this is a very historical event on this planet.

Analysis Of The Book The Necklace - 702 Words

The necklace She removed the wraps which covered her shoulders before the glass, so as once more to see herself in all her glory. But suddenly she uttered a cry. She no longer had the necklace around her neck! Her husband, already half undressed, demanded: â€Å"What is the matter with you?† She turned madly toward him: â€Å"I have --- I have --- I’ve lost Mme. Forestier’s necklace.† He stood up, distracted. â€Å"What! --- how? --- impossible!† And they looked in the folds of her dress, in the folds of her cloak, in her pockets, everywhere. They did not find it. After a sleepless night, her husband decided to tell Mme. Forestier the truth. But She did not agree with him. She is a vain person, and she worried that when Mme. Forestier know it will spread everywhere. She did not want anybody know that the glory of her success in the ball was not belong to her. Then they went from jeweler to jeweler with the box which had contained the necklace, tryin g to find if there is any possible they can find a necklace which look like the same as the one they lost. They have searched every jeweler in the whole city after three days. Unfortunately, there was no any necklace looks like the one they lost. In the three days, her husband always tried to persuade her to tell the truth to Mme. Forestier. However, she felt very desprate, and she began to think about her husband’s advice. â€Å"You have to write to your friend,† said her husband, â€Å"that you have lost the necklace during theShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book The Necklace 988 Words   |  4 PagesThese unquenchable needs can be demonstrated by the main characters in the short stories â€Å"The Necklace†, which exemplifies the destructiveness of pride and selfishness from a woman that feels entitled and desires what’s beyond her means and the grandmother in â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard To Find† that puts her needs before others at all costs. Al though these two stories are completely different in ways that â€Å"The Necklace is written in an earlier time in Paris about a young couples difference in frugalness andRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Necklace 1649 Words   |  7 PagesProfessor Lauren Allen English 101-070 11 September 2014 The Value of â€Å"The Necklace† In Guy De Maupassant’s short story, â€Å"The Necklace,† the main character Mathilde Loisel longs to be apart of a greater social class than she currently is. She borrows what she thinks is an expensive necklace from her friend and unfortunately loses it. She spends the rest of her life paying off the replacement necklace only to find out the original necklace was a fake. In the short story, Maupassant uses several key aspectsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Necklace1358 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"The Necklace† Analysis Plot Analysis - The plot analysis of (Exposition) â€Å"The Necklace† by Guy de Maupassant, take place in the late 1800s when Mathilde Loisel and her husband decides to go to a ball. The importance of the place is so you can fully appreciate how royal Mathilde is supposed to be at the ball, and let me tell you, she pulls it off. She was the most beautiful woman there, but surprisingly it wasn t the necklace that made her shine that night. She alreadyRead Moremarxism in the necklace1512 Words   |  7 Pages Textual Analysis of â€Å"The Necklace† In â€Å"The Necklace†, Guy de Maupassant uses a woman’s life, and very important event in it, to depict the Marxism of his or her lifetime, especially amongst women. He uses comparisons and downfalls of her life to depict society’s shortcomings and beliefs of class. Marxism looks at the economic and social structures of a society and the draws attention to the struggles between the classes. A Marxist might believe that people are born as creations of economical orRead MoreFeminism In The Necklace1068 Words   |  5 PagesFeminist Analysis of Guy de Maupassant’s The Necklace. In recent decades, feminism has attracted attention from different individuals who fight for equal treatment of both genders. As defined by many researchers, feminism is the advocacy of equality between male and females. This concept began when people realized that the traditional roles of men and women provide a lot of injustice to women. According to Barry â€Å"The women’s movement’ of the 1960s was not, of course, the start of feminism. RatherRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Ending Sentence Of The Story 836 Words   |  4 Pageslife paying back debt. This debt, of coarse, being from having to buy a new necklace after losing the one that she borrowed from Mme. Forestier. The ending is ironic because it tells the reader that the original necklace was fake and that Mathilde Loisel had basically just wasted ten years of her life working very hard at bad jobs to pay for something that she only bought because she thought that she lost a real diamond necklace. 3. The third-person-limited narrator paints a mostly unsympathetic pictureRead MoreThe Worlds Greatest Short Stories By Guy De Maupassant1678 Words   |  7 Pageslike seeing certain types of video clips on the news, and thereby elicit certain behaviors from us. In the book, The World’s Greatest Short Stories, analysis of the stories for tragic elements based on the theory we were studying lead to quite contrasting views from my fellow classmates and myself. One of the stories that was found to have controversial audience responses was, The Necklace, written by Guy de Maupassant. The story told a beautiful young lady, Matilda, who was never satisfied withRead MoreJoy Luck Club Character Analysis1045 Words   |  5 PagesJoy Luck Club Theme Analysis The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is an entertaining book that focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families. They face problems in their hometown which causes them to move to the United States. They end up moving to San Francisco and face many different problems with their cultural background. The theme of The Joy Luck Club is the relationship between both the mothers and their daughters. A variety of different events occur throughout the book that explains the complexRead MoreEssay about Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism2493 Words   |  10 PagesI strongly believe that every person who reads a book, listens to the radio, or watches a program on television will make their own assumptions. I know I do. Most of us will ask, â€Å"Why did the main character make that decision?† Or â€Å"What were they thinking?† Could it be that the author of the story is protruding their own subconscious thoughts and beliefs through their characters? Absolutely, most critics have adapted psychoanalytic literary criticism theory based upon the worksRead MoreAmy Tans Fish Cheeks : Identity Is Created Through Culture745 Words   |  3 PagesCharacter, and through family life. Identity is Created by he/shes Character, and how they act. The Character of a person shows how One acts or what one likes. For example in Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie, He states, Our house was filled with books. They were stacked high in crazy piles in the bathroom, bedrooms and living room (Alexie 1) He also states, This knowledge delighted me. I began to think of everything in terms of paragraphs. Our reservation was a small paragraph within the United