The movement of Equality: the Gay Rights Movement as a social movement in the United States

Abstract

Lesbian, gay bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) individuals as a demographic group remained largely silent and unseen in American culture until after the Second World War. Prior to the World Wars, many gay and lesbian Americans hid their sexual orientation out of fear and shame. Gay men who lived in urban centres often formed close social networks with other gay men yet remained a part of a hidden subculture. Society as a whole grew less tolerant of homosexuality in the 1950s and 1960s. The LGBT community has gained much wider acceptance in American culture since the 1970s, but the struggle continues. Today, LGBT Americans are waging political battles in many areas, addressing same-sex marriage or civil unions, equal employment practices, and the right to live without fear of harassment or violence. However, Discrimination against LGBT individuals started to grow in the mid1950s: LGBT men and women were fired from their jobs or dismissed from the military because of their sexual orientation.The gay rights movement has been termed the predominant civil rights movement of the twenty-first century. The research takes up aqualitative approach and to that end it gathers secondary data that assess the LGBT climate and their civil rights movement in the United States. The analysis is largely based on Equality concept and social movement theory. A crucial question examine here is; how far the gay rights movement has been successful as a social movement in USA. The findings reveal that LGBT Americans still face discrimination in many aspects of their lives. Such as at school, at work, when they try to buy a home, or when they apply for a loan. USA is at the top of the world’s equality but it does not have the same equality as they show.