Issues of LGBTQ Population. Social Sciences. Research Paper

Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Issues of LGBTQ Community
Introduction
Genesis
Throughout history, queer sexuality has been spreading across the societies with LGBTQ community being oppressed across cultures. It is only recently that most societies acknowledged the existence of LGBTQ individuals, but still a lot needs to be done in terms of acceptance of this community. In most countries especially USA and UK, there is good progress because some sections that prohibited the discussion of LGBTQ issues had been abolished. This has been marked with a series of events and celebrations that are being carried across countries and have been termed as appropriate in acquainting with the various struggles that the LGBTQ community has faced throughout history.
There is enough evidence that supports the existence of non-heterosexual relationship in various civilizations across the world. However, the prevalence of sexuality and attitudes towards these relationships had a great variance. For example, in ancient China, it is believed that the Han Dynasty emperors had male sexual partners (Whyke). Also, homosexuality amongst men was considered a norm in the Siwa Oasis community during the early modern Egypt (Lara Aasem and Ryan). The discussion of the history of LGBTQ seems to be incomplete without mentioning the Ancient Greece which is most cited ancient society when it comes to the issue of homosexuality since pederastic relationships were common in this civilization (Bullough). Despite the existence of such relationships in ancient Greece, they did not replace the institution of marriage between a man and woman, but it was a norm for man to have a younger boy to be his sexual partner. It was believed that these relationships were considered to be passing of education to the younger boys and a form of population control. Although, these relationships were common, to say that the Greeks were sexually liberal can be wrong since a homosexual relationship between individuals of the same age was taboo. Any individual who admitted to such relationships would have been exiled or executed since the ancient Greeks believed that the duty of a human being was to reproduce and such relationships did not guarantee that.
Life for LGBTQ individuals worsened after it was considered that LGBTQ relationships do not encourage human reproduction. With the spread of Christianity across the world, LGBTQ individuals became oppressed and became worse during the Renaissance period. However, LGBTQ relationships persevered and began to resurface in western societies where straight foundations were the norm. During the 18th century, private clubs and bars started where cross-dressing and gay men could meet for sexual partners started to emerge in Great Britain and other cities (Brady). It is believed that these were the foundations of the modern gay clubs and unions. Due to these channels, Revolutionary France legalized sodomy which gave birth to the first LGBTQ movements not in France itself but Berlin, Germany. Berlin was considered a liberal city with a number of gay clubs and bars.
This movement paved way for LGBTQ culture but its efforts were witnessed in the 1960s when gay movements flourished. In 1969, the police raided Stonewall Inn (a gay club) in Manhattan and triggered and sparked riots in Greenwich Village which intensified the tension between the LGBTQ community and the police (Stein). These riots are considered to be the ones that led to gay liberation movements since gay rights movements were formed in the USA and other parts of the world. In the 1980s, the first person to come out as gay (Harvey Milk) was elected to public office and spear headed the implementation of gays rights in the city (Erickson). This led to the decriminalization of homosexuality across the USA. Throughout the decades, things have been changing for better for LGBTQ people. With same-sex marriage now legal in some areas across the world and medical care needs for trans individuals improving, still more needs to be done for LGBTQ community to be fully accepted by the society.
Denotation
Intersex
Individual who are born with features that do not fall into the typical definition of male or female.
Gender
Societal constructions that are assigned to male or female.
Queer
Different ways that individuals reject the categories of sexual orientation in order to express they identity.
Sexual Orientation
How individuals characterizes their sexuality.
Gay
An individual who is sexually or emotionally attracted to a person of his own gender; it is used to describe men who are emotionally or sexually attracted to other men.
Lesbian
A woman who is attracted to other women in an emotional or sexual manner.
Bisexual
An individual who is attracted to more than one gender in a sexual manner.
Asexual
An individual who has no emotional or sexual attraction to other individuals.
Gender Identity
How one identifies him/herself either as a male or female.
Gender Expression
How one expresses his or her gender identity.
Transgender
An individual with a sex different from the one he or she was assigned at birth.
Coming Out
The process through which an individual discovers and accepts his or her gender identity.
Closeted
An LGBTQ individual who cannot disclose his or her gender identity to the public.
Ally
Non-LGBTQ individuals who uses their status to support the LGBTQ individuals in an attempt of promoting equality.
Homophobia
Discrimination or hatred towards LGBTQ individuals
Connotation
The acronym LGBTQ stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer”. However, in some instances Q is used stand for “questioning” to refer to individuals who are in the process of figuring out their gender identity. This acronym is also written in various forms such as LGBT+, LGBT*,LGBTQIA or LGBTx where I represents the “Intersex” and A “Asexual/Agender/Aromantic”. Additionally, the “A” is also used to stand for “Ally”.
For the past few decades, most of the developed countries have made good progress towards LGBTQ equality. However, despite these efforts there is no federal or statutory non-discrimination law that protects LGBTQ individuals. LGBTQ individuals still face discrimination beyond the public spaces which sometimes costs their homes, education, health and even ability to take part in public activities.
Opposing/Divergent Views
Despite the gains in LGBTQ equality especially in the United States, there are various organizations and unions that oppose these kinds of relationships in the society. The most notable opponents to LGBTQ relationships are religious organizations and the Boys Scouts of America. The various religious organizations site the Bible, Quran and Hebrew Sciptures to support their opposing viewpoints. They hold that homosexuality is a sin and its acceptance is weakening the moral standards of the society. The Catholic Church considers homosexuality as “gravely sinful”. In Islam, LGBTQ is criminalized and forbidden according to the Sharia Law. In the past, it carries a death penalty in most Islamic countries.
In 2017-AUG, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) released a statement on called “Nashville Statement” on homosexuality within 14 articles with each article addressing the various aspects of LGBTQ. The Nashville Statement is summarized by Article 10 which states:
“WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of (either) homosexual immorality or transgenderism (sic) and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.
“WE DENY that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism (sic) is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.” (CBMW)
The religious beliefs against LGBTQ are mainly based on their teachings that LGBTQ is a sin and that God acknowledges only a sexual relationship between a man and woman and not people of the same gender. On transgender people, these organizations hold that transgender people males are males and not women because their mind did not change and females are females and not men because their brain did not change. Approving such people to act in the capacity of their current gender identity is against the moral standards of the society.
The Boys Scouts of America does not allow LGBTQ individuals to serve in its organization based on the belief that homosexuality is immoral and all scouts are required to have certain moral standards and values. This is based on their Oath and Laws which requires the scouts to be morally straight and their policy which the majority of the public considers to be discriminatory. However, despite this public view, the organization defends its policy by stating that accepting diversified values does not require one to fail to fulfil his or her duties (Boys Scouts of America).
It is because of the above divergent views that the LGBTQ community faces various issues which are discussed in the literature review.
Thesis
LGBT, or lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans equality have been an issue from the past to nowadays. Some countries such as the United States have made many legislative changes to promote LGBT equality, such as anti-discrimination laws and same-sex marriage. In spite of these laws, LGBT people have still found so difficult to “come out”. Part of the issue is that We as society likely to think everyone fits comfortably into male or female gender category, and most people is presumed to be straight.
My mainly writing are about contrasting how LGBT population parenting / how they raise offspring; how their lives are like; how happy they are; how they manage relationship between family and gender identity and other various issues surrounding their daily lives. I am also going to look into different culture norms because the United States is a country based on immigrants. In short, I will represent the current living situation of LGBT population in the United States in this research paper, and I believe this research can settle my curiosity regarding LGBT.
Literature Review
Rossman, Kinton, Paul Salamanca, and Kathryn Macapagal. "A qualitative study examining young adults’ experiences of disclosure and nondisclosure of LGBTQ identity to health care providers." Journal of homosexuality 64.10 (2017): 1390-1410.
One of the major issues affecting the LGBTQ population is inequalities when accessing healthcare services. This happens when they disclose their gender identity. A study by Rossman, Paul and Kathryn examined LGBTQ young adults experiences of disclosure and nondisclosure to healthcare providers. 206 participants aged between 18 and 27 completed the survey questionnaires that assessed their health care access experiences. The study addressed LGBTQ’s experiences of identity disclosure to health care providers and reasons for nondisclosure. Findings demonstrated various intra- and interpersonal factors for disclosure and nondisclosure to identity to healthcare providers. The reasons for nondisclosure include healthcare providers not asking and the notion that LGBTQ and health are not related. On the hand the findings revealed that when participants disclosed their identity, they experienced various reactions from discrimination and disrespect from healthcare providers.
This article provides insights into what LGBTQ people undergo in the health sector which is supposed to address the needs of individuals regardless of their gender, race and ethnicity. It also provides the reasons why some LGBTQ individuals chose to disclose their sexual orientation and why others do not. It also demonstrates the existence of discrimination in the health sector which is not supposed to be biased at all. This article is relevant to the paper because it provides an overview to the areas where LGBTQ community faces challenges and the reasons behind their discrimination in health sector as well as how they avoid it.
Albuquerque, Grayce Alencar, et al. "Access to health services by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons: systematic literature review." BMC international health and human rights 16.1 (2016): 2.
This study examined some of the difficulties associated with LGBTQ when accessing and utilizing health services. This was a systematic review that reviewed various articles from PubMed, Cochrane, SciELO, and LILACS that were published between 2004 and 2014. A search on the electronic databases produced 667 articles of which only 14 met the inclusion criteria. Most of the reviewed articles were from the United States. The results revealed that LGBTQ population have difficulties in accessing healthcare services due to heteronormative attitudes from healthcare providers. The discrimination portrayed by health service providers demonstrates violation of human rights of access to healthcare services.
This review does not only identify the difficulties that LGBTQ people face when accessing health care services but also the impacts those challenges have on the individuals. Besides the institutionalized homophobic attitudes in health sector towards LGBTQ people where some healthcare providers considers them as sick and incapable of starting a family of their own and does not need any help, the papers provides insights into how such treatment affects these individuals. For example, LGBTQ people who are discriminated when accessing healthcare services result to finding those services on their own or get depressed which can lead to drug abuse. This article is relevant to the paper because it provides insights not only into what the LGBTQ community goes through when accessing health care services but also how it impacts them.
McKay, Tasseli, Shilpi Misra, and Christine Lindquist. "Violence and LGBTQ+ Communities What Do We Know, and What Do We Need to Know?." (2017).
This study examined various aspects of violence in relation to LGBTQ community. It examined whether LGBTQ individuals are more likely to perpetrate violence than non-LGBTQ population; be victims of any form of violence than non-LGBTQ individuals; the impacts of violence to LGBTQ individuals, how they report cases of victimization and reasons for reporting; and how safe LGBTQ individuals feel in the public. This was a systematic review of prior research on violence and LGBTQ population on the following themes; perpetration, victimization, consequences and reporting of victimization, and fear and safety. The results revealed that LGBTQ population pose no threat to non-LGBTQ individuals; LGBTQ individuals are the victims of various forms of violence throughout their developmental stages; there are adverse consequences of victimizing LGBTQ individuals especially the youth; victimization is common among school students; and strangers and acquaintances are the most likely to perpetrate victimization on LGBTQ individuals.
LGBTQ people are vulnerable to various forms of violence; an example is the Orlando shooting that happened in 2016 in a Pulse which is a gay nightclub. This study examines various aspects of life in two broad categories, perpetration and victimization. It also addresses the various environments where violence is likely to occur. Victimization occurs in public areas such as transportation, sexually among others. This study shows that the LGBTQ individuals are the victims of violence and not perpetrators. One can ask why are they always the victims? Can they be the perpetrators and the mass violence against them is a reaction from straight people? The evidence is in this article by demonstrating that LGBTQ people are vulnerable to violence due to their sexual orientation which is considered to be a taboo in the society. This study is relevant to this paper because it demonstrates that LGBTQ individuals are less likely to start a violence but rather be the victims.
Sears, Brad, and Christy Mallory. Employment discrimination against LGBT people: Existence and impact. 2014.
This is a research review that addresses the existence and impact of LGBTQ population discrimination in the workplace. The results of the review revealed that there is discrimination of LGBTQ population in the workplace. Those who are open about their sexual orientation experience various forms of employment discrimination in various employment areas. Moreover, some of those who did not report about their sexual orientation reported to have experienced employment discrimination due to their sexual orientation. The findings also revealed that LGBTQ populations experience unfair treatment during the hiring, pay and promotion processes where they are denied a job opportunity, promotion or fired due to their job opportunity. Additionally, the findings revealed that sexual orientation discrimination has a significant impact on the affected people.
LGBTQ di...