The Civil Rights and the LGBT
Movements

Throughout its history, America has symbolized
equality of opportunity for people of all races, origins, religions
and creeds, serving as a beacon of hope for anyone seeking a better
life. However, despite its founding principles of equality and
acceptance, the United States also has a long history of denying
basic rights to certain people. As Americans, we overwhelmingly agree
that discrimination is wrong – no matter what form it takes, whom
it targets, or where it occurs – yet discrimination in this country
persists in a variety of ways.

Although the conclusion of the Civil War
through the mid-1860s demolished the state practice of slavery, the
oppression and exploitation of African Americans has continued. Even
though rights and opportunities of African People in america were
greatly improved during Reconstruction, cases such a 1896’s Plessy
v. Ferguson, which served as the legal basis for segregation,
continue steadily to diminish the known humanity of African People in
america as equal people. Furthermore, the practice of the
sharecropping system impoverished unemployed African Americans,
recreating slavery. As financial and social conditions worsened, the
civil rights movement began to emerge as the oppressed taken care of
immediately their conditions, searching for equality and guarded
citizenship.With such goals at heart, associations like the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which came
to the legal defense of African Americans and aided the march for
civil rights reforms, surfaced. By working against the laws and
regulations restricting African Americans, the NAACP saw improvement
with the winning of situations like Brown v. Plank of Education,
which allowed the integration of public schools after its passing in
1954 and 1955. In the years following a reform instituted by the
ruling of Dark brown v. Board of Education, the fervor of the civil
rights movement increased; mass non-violent protests against the
unfair treatment of blacks became more regular. New leaders, such as
Martin Luther King, manifested themselves. The civil rights activists
thus found themselves looking for the “commendable dream”
unconsciously conceived by the democratic ideals of the Founding
Fathers to be instilled.

However, such goals came too slowly for some,
who further disagreed that the non-violent tactics would achieve
success to liberate blacks; thus, in around 1965, a dark
nationalistic spirit arose. The movement, using the slogan “Dark
Power,” followed the teachings of Malcolm X, an BLACK leader who
died the same 12 months and who advertised that African Us citizens
different from white culture in favor of forming their own community.
The Dark Panther Party, a militant firm that seen themselves as
soldiers warring against the white hierarchy, arose from such ideals.
Despite the problem that “Black Power” suggested to the
non-violent movement, civil rights activists continuing persevered to
find the end of dark discrimination legitimately. They found success
in the Civil Privileges Work of 1964 and the Voting Privileges Action
of 1965, which both contributed to legitimately naming minorities as
equivalent citizens, as well as protecting the same from
discrimination. Although the effectiveness of the civil privileges
movement dissipated following the 1960s, activists continue steadily
to make efforts to get rid of completely the racial discrimination
within America’s financial and social procedures.

As the civil rights movement progressed,
associates of the movement who belonged to other minority groups,
like the homosexuals of most ethnicities and classes , were inspired
and started organizations of their own; thus, the start of the gay
liberation movement arose, promoting the rights and equality of these
discriminated because of their sexuality, including however, not
limited to: lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people (LGBT). To
be part of the LGBT community was lawfully a crime; homosexuals could
only meet other homosexuals in illegal gay night clubs and bars.
Usually the law enforcement would raid the gay bars; some abused
their power and the situation to brutalize gays, for they trusted
that their victims wouldn't normally report them. Doing so would
publicize their homosexuality. June 28, 1969 marked the official
beginning of the Homosexual Liberation Movement when the police
raided the gay pub Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York;
rather than subordinating to the government bodies’ strike, they
revolted for three times with shouts of “Homosexual Power!” The
revolt led to numerous organization helping gay rights arose. Such
organizations included: the gay and lesbian Society for Human
Privileges, the Mattachine Culture, and the Daughters of Bilitis; the
groupings advocated the tolerance-And therefore the cultural
security- of homosexuals.

With time, a fresh generation of LGBT legal
rights crusaders emerged, and the ambition of the motion consequently
evolved; the LGBT activists now strove to enhance the perspective
that restricted those who find themselves grouped under a label
related with their sexuality, as well as the procedure to the same.
The gay liberation movement thus expanded to address gender roles and
gender choice, as well as sexual orientation. The change made their
ambition even more radical, therefore perspectives resulted in
questioning typical traditions of their culture and federal
government: the nuclear family, monogamy, and capitalism. In
questioning the web templates by which Americans found themselves
restricted, a liberal heart thrived; homosexuals more openly exposed
their identities, celebrating such with fads like the disco. However,
an anti-gay spirit rose in the late 1970s, as “Fundamentalist
Christians were particularly threatened by any legitimization of gay
life styles, and the antigay agenda because a platform issue for
conventional Republicans”; as a result, the fervor of the gay
rights movement essentially plateaued . Still, its followers grew in
the following years, and the LGBT broadened further, like the
bisexuals and transgendered people in its cause. Throughout the
2000s, interest for the LGBT motion in america has grown
significantly as the united states confronts legal controversies such
as that regarding same-sex relationship and America’s growth in the
bullying, sometimes resulting in suicide, of these of a recognized
sexuality. Because of this, new organizations like the Homosexual
Lesbian Alliance Network (GLAN) have emerged in efforts to educate
youth against homophobia and its consequences. Despite the successes
that the LGBT Movement has achieved, it is constantly on the strive
for a society in which those of the LGBT don't need to face the shame
and violent “gay-bashing,” that American culture is constantly on
the provide.