Gay Rights Paper

Sundas Mouslmani
Comp 106
4/13/10

Gay Rights
Gay rights have been one of the most controversial topics for over a decade. Homosexuals have been hurt and abused by society for being emotionally and physically attached to the same sex. They have been frowned upon and ignored. Protest was there only option to show that they have every right to be who they want to be no matter what their sexual orientation is. Society as a whole has failed to help homosexuals and need to take action. We are currently in the 21st century and the most diverse country in the world “America” that gives human rights and freedom has not given their 100% to homosexuals.

Homosexuality has been in existence since ancient Rome even before it was Christianized. It was never a problem in society to have sexual intercourse with the same sex. In Japan during the Samurai period homosexuality was completely normal but when the world began to westernize, homosexuality was extremely discouraged and became unacceptable. Not only was westernization ridding of homosexuality but also religion. The first rule known to human against homosexual acts are found in the Abrahamic laws that come from the Jewish people. Later on they were found in laws that came from the Middle Assyrian ages and many more. It shows that people are not only fighting homosexuals because of westernization but mainly because of religion. The three major religions of the world Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all do not accept homosexuality. Homosexuals who come from these religions are not accepted and cannot take part any of the religious activities and these homosexuals have developed their own religious activities without any acceptance by a church, temple, or a mosque or any other religion they may come from.
Gay people have been discriminated for a very long time. No matter where they are they will hear something and that will affect them emotionally. Statistics show that since 1970-2007 employment discrimination against homosexuals have increased in just 1970 the rate was at 0 and in 2007 in reaches to 171. Till this day schools are also discriminating against homosexuals. One of the most recent issues is a 18 year old girl from Mississippi. She wanted to go to prom with her girlfriend and was declined by the school. When she took it to the ACLU her school decided to cancel prom to avoid any problems. Discrimination is a problem and society can be ignorant when it comes to accepting change and differences. America does not need a repeat of the civil rights movement that occurred in the 1960’s. It was a time of prejudice, ignorance, and discrimination against African-Americans.
Same-Sex marriage in this day and age is an important and controversial topic. Society explains that same-sex should not be allowed because of many parenting issues. Many complain that two men cannot raise a child properly as well as heterosexual couples. But, studies override this idea by showing that they can do just as good as any other couple whether they are heterosexual or not. Another issue is the fear that the child will end up being Lesbian, Gay, or bisexual like their parents. Society does not want homosexuals to expand and grow in numbers and will try its best to keep all laws against getting married and having children or adopting any. Then there are studies about divorce that show many problems. There is much higher risk for homosexuals to get divorced then heterosexuals. So then the child will end up in a broken family and the parenting will not be stable. These issues are very emotional and difficult.

Survey on Gay Rights

My survey really got me thinking about what others thought about the topic of Gay Rights. It is sensitive topic but sometimes you have to be professional about and get to the point. I was unsure about how the people taking my survey would feel. When I saw there answers I was relieved and also disappointed at the same time. For instance when I asked "Do you believe gays should have rights as heterosexual people?", only 70% of the answers were yes and was not too happy with the rest of the answers the I got. Another disappointing one was "Do you feel that they have the right to get married?", only 60% said yes and I felt that the people who said no do not really understand what homosexuals are going through and struggling to receive as a right.
I was also pleased to find that all my survey takers said yes when I asked the question "Should society be allowed to stereotype the gays?", they even commented saying for example "no, because I hate when people stereo type about me :('. All in the end I would not change any of the questions I asked because they helped me learn more about what people think and how they feel about Gay Rights.

Interview

The snow has melted away and the sun came out on this beautiful day. The feeling of the depressing winter has vanished and I can feel the cool breeze of spring creeping in slowly. I pulled up to the parking lot of my old high school to see a friend who I have not seen since my graduation day. She was waiting for me at the door dressed in very bright colors to express the happiness she has inside of her. When I looked at her she had a very welcoming smile and looked like she was ready to tell me all of the fun things she is doing before leaving off to college. We walked into the school and many memories came back to me since the day I entered that school. I had a feeling over coming me and telling me that I was back home. It felt really good and I saw her pull out her senior wear and she was so excited to wear it and she truly reminded me of the wait I waited for so long and now it is over and I am in college. But, the four year wait was the best and I enjoyed every moment of it. We walked over to the cafeteria and went into the courtyard and talked about all of the good times that we had. The courtyard was relaxing because of the sun rushing in and the sounds of the lively birds chirping. We did a bit of talking and began to talk about what I was there for. Gay rights and treatment of these people was very important to my friend. Her two best friends are gay and had a secret relationship. I asked her, “When did you find out?” she said that when we were together hanging out one night they just told her the truth. Then I asked, “What did you feel?” she said, “I could not believe that they were hiding this from me”. She included that she was shocked but of course she accepted her two best friends and did not care one bit. Then I asked her, “How long was it a secret for?” and she said how they began to get really sick of hiding in the dark from the world and they decided to tell people. She said all the people they told took it like it was any relationship and did not seem to have anything against them. Then I asked, “When did they tell their parents?” she said not to long after and included that one of the boy’s parents did not accept the fact that their son is gay. I asked her again, “What happened?” and she said that his parents always gave him a cold shoulder and were against him on every choice he made. His father was the one that really kept telling his son that what he is doing is very wrong and everyone is going to talk about him in a very bad way. When they met his boyfriend his parents began to constantly tell him he was a bad influence and even his own twin brother did not help stand up for him in any situation. She told me that they soon got to talk to a school counselor to get this issue settled and his parents finally accepted their son but sometimes they do not seem too happy with what their son is doing. She told me that she was not allowed to go over his house because his parents are convinced that she is also a bad influence and is out to hurt her best friend. She told me that she could not understand how everyone was supportive and understanding but not his own family. Sometimes it is not society who is hurting you but the people you have known your whole life. They are having a hard time understanding and are not helping you get off this emotional rollercoaster. This boy has struggled very much and his only supports are his closest friends and not his immediate family. She told me that she always tells him to stay strong and not let anyone hurt him no matter what.

I was not able to take pictures at the interview spot but this

photo has many meanings that you would want to mean. As

for me it shows the pathway out of the darkness that you

might be living in and do not be scared to hide it, especially

if it has to do with what other people think.

The sun is settling and everything is going to be alright and

when you wake you the next day everything will be new one.

When darkness falls upon you, you need to find a way out of it

and do not care about what others think. You are what you want

to be not what others do.

Reading Response #2

Chapter 4
1.

• "While there has been considerable argumentation of these points....". This statement is telling the reader that she is agreeing and disagreeing. she is not giving us information to know how she really feels but is hinting that she is on both sides at this point.
• "...there has been little of no attempt to investigate these ideas empirically...". This quote is giving me a hint that she disagrees because it is describing that no one is really agreeing with these authors and are not about to go out and prove that these authors point are true.
  
• "This article offers tentative empirical support....". This quote is letting the reader know that she is agreeing with them because of the evidence they have to prove their point.

2. "Don't Blame the Eater" by David Zinczenko

This author has been noticing that many people are blaming fast food restaurants

Reading Response #1 (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1

a. A certain amount of experiments have suggested that there are dangerous levels of Chemical X in the Ohio groundwater.

b. Reader's of this book consider this novel of having certain flaws.

c. Many non sport fans feel that football is boring.

d. Some people believe that male students often dominate class discussions.

e. A group of movie watchers feel that this film is really about the problems of romantic relationships.

f. The creators who helped develop this book feel that the templates like the ones in the book will stifle the creativity of the author


2. If ever there was an idea customized for a Jay Leno monologue, this was it: Environment. Isn't that like the world? Whatever happened to saving trees and what not?
I happen to sympathize with Al Gore, though, perhaps because he lost the presidency and the environment was his only option to help the world.

Screen Capture

I had no idea I can do this. It actually took me two days to figure out how to screen capture my desktop because I had an extra button on my PC that I did not know how to use. This desktop image shows all of the things I do when I am on the computer. I am either on my Ctools checking what I have to do, or my Facebook to check a whole bunch of stuff or my email that I must check every single day.
Then I have my Microsoft Word that I always have to use to write essays that I loath so much. I did so many last semester I thought it would never end. This all just shows what I can do besides all of the other software in my PC that I has so much use and can help a lot.

• How does composing change in digital spaces?

Composing in digital space is much easier sometimes then on paper. You do not have to constantly erase and rewrite and all you see in the end are lots of eraser marks and smudges everywhere. Your work will tend to look more acceptable and just a nice clean sheet. Not only that but digital space is much more efficient and is very helpful when you have to type up anything. In the end when you print out what you typed everything is perfect. The words are the same size and when you want to quote anything you can automatically add a footnote.

• How can we better understand digital composing?

We can better understand digital composing in many ways. Like our generation we learned digital composing in school. We had computer class in elementary school and we were their all year. Middle school we had to learn to type as quickly as possible so that we can get use to typing because our teachers knew were going to be spending most of our time in the future typing. But, for other people such as our parents who never got a chance to learn to handle digital composing can join a class. Till this day you can sign up to join a computer class to learn and use it the proper way. Now that we have the internet we can use it to our benefit. If we do not understand something in digital composing you can just go online and type up your answer in any search engine and you will get many answers to your question.