There is a continuing conservative and protectionist tendency in the US today. At a time of anti-immigrant sentiments, alt right movements, and white supremacists, it’s interesting how movements such as Black Lives Matter and the LGBT have been sidelined. There is a general feeling that people, especially blacks, women, and other disenfranchised groups, have too much freedom. But as of 2018, our generation still fails to give fundamental human rights to same-sex couples, simply being that others, who have nothing to do with the topic, disagree with it. The thesis of this paper is that the struggle for LGBT rights will continue as long as LGBT is considered as a separate group of people who have different rights to non-LGBT. Whatever their justifications are, no person has any right to deprive the LGBT of basic human rights, including the right to marry or the right to live peacefully. We will use the idea of formal freedom and actual freedom to differentiate the formal freedom that many LGBT critics reference from actual freedom, which is the actual freedom of any person to live peacefully and determine their own lives.
It was only recently the LGBT rights have been given some attention in the US. Different states in the US have had varying laws on same-sex marriage, sodomy, recognizing homosexuality and same-sex relationships in domestic cases, adoption of children by same-sex couples, and others.
In the 18th and 19th century, sodomy was considered capital offenses and cross-dressing was considered a felony. They were subject to punishment, which includes imprisonment and even death. These laws varied state to state, but there was a general distaste for homosexuality and homosexuals in general (Norton n.p.).
The 20th century saw an increased attention to homosexuals and their experiences. It became a subject in some shows, plays, and songs. Nonetheless, sodomy laws persisted in some states, and it is still not likely to see homosexuals openly admitting their sexuality. However, the second half of the century, public opinion about homosexuality slowly changed. Illinois became the first state to decriminalize sodomy between consenting adults in 1958. Homosexual content in the ONE, Inc magazine was also ruled as protected by the First Amendment in the same year. By the 1960s, civil rights and liberation movements exploded all over the world. Women, blacks, and workers gained a popular audience. The first open gay liberation movement emerged in the same decade, calling for the abolition of discrimination and violence against homosexuals. Homosexuality was also decriminalized in many states (Lax and Philipps 368).
