Today, public policies are being changed so that those in the LGBTQ community do not have to have their existence debated in a court and have the same liberties, rights and protections under the laws as straight and cisgender people. Members of this community do not want special treatment or attention but rather they want to be accepted and viewed as any other human being. Many fears going out in public with their partners, much less show any affection towards them, for fear of physical violence. Hatred and violence against LGBTQ people are another obstacle. This often makes it difficult for members of this community to find housing, start/raise a family or adopt children. There are some challenges in this community, the biggest challenge being discrimination. If you are not on the spectrum of gay/bi/trans, there is nothing that can ‘turn you” if it was not already IN you to begin with. If straight people can show public signs of affection, then everyone who is not straight should be able to as well. People in the LGBTQ community want to live the same life as those outside the LGBTQ community do – they want love, acceptance, family, a sense of belonging and to feel safe.Īnother misconception is this community is putting their personal business in our faces or they are trying to “recruit” people or being around or raised by LGBTQ people will “turn you” into being a person of this community. One of the biggest and most ridiculous is that this is all about sex, which it is not. Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions in the community regarding the LBGQT community. There is also still much to be done to protect the rights of the LGBQT community and to educate those that continue to look down on them or judge them.
For those who struggle with their sexuality or gender, it shows them they are not alone, they are not “wrong” or “a sin,” but simply people who want to be accepted and loved for themselves. So many individuals have fought for the rights that many in the LGBTQ community have today. This month is important, so no one feels the need to hide who they are. A year later, community members marched through local streets in commemoration of the event and honoring the fight and those they lost, dubbing it “Christopher Street Liberation Day,” which eventually became “Gay Pride” and later, “Pride” to include all under the LBGTQ community. It is held in the month of June because the “flash” point for fighting for LGBTQ rights in the United States, The Stonewall Riots, began on June 28, 1969.Īfter years of police harassment, patrons and neighborhood residents of Greenwich Village, N.Y., a predominately LGBTQ neighborhood, reached a boiling point during yet another raid at the Stonewall Club, and they fought back by throwing objects at the arresting officers and police vehicles becoming a full-blown riot. Pride month is meant to increase the visibility of those who were previously shamed, ostracized and stigmatized for being themselves.