This paper briefly explores the gay rights movement in comparison to the civil rights (including women’s rights to vote) movements. The gay rights movement has made incredible headway since the 1960s. Now same-sex couples can marry, and in some states they can adopt children. The 1960s was a time when there was a huge protest movement against the Vietnam and the beatnik generation was listening to Bob Dylan and singing the praises of freedom and equality. The gay rights movement emerged out of that era. Those members of the gay rights movement in the 1960s were not calling for freedom to marry or the freedom to vote. In those days, the gay movement was not as much concerned with the right to marry as they were with their safety. Many gay people were attacked and brutally beaten.
This is similar to the civil rights movement because during the same era, blacks were still being sent to separate restrooms, lynched and could not eat in most restaurants with whites. They were considered an underclass, and the majority of people wanted to keep it that way. Gay people always have had the right to vote, while black people were denied the right to vote up until 1965. Women were not given the right to vote until 1920 (Archives.gov).
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In this modern day generation, women would have made more headway in gaining the right to vote than they did in the early 1900s. The separate but equal factor is no longer in effect in today’s society. With the first African American president in office, and now a female contender for the same job, America has moved past its growing pains and has embraced diversity. America is truly a melting pot, as it was meant to be when the founding fathers authored the United States Constitution.
- Archives.gov,. ’19Th Amendment To The U.S. Constitution: Women’s Right To Vote’. N.p., 2015. Web. 2 July 2015.
