Primary Source Post

For my primary source I found a court case called Lawrence V. Texas, which covers the case of two men who were charged for sodomy in Texas in 2003. I chose this source because my topic goes into looking at how the christian church has influenced different aspects of modern American society, and this court case shows that. Texas is a very religious state and is known for such, and this source really shows how religious they really are, the state was one of several that had laws condemning sex between two people of the same sex regardless of their genders. The law was deemed unconstitutional because it tramples on the citizens' right to privacy. The ruling of the case gave homosexuals in Texas the right to privacy and the right to practice as they see fit. The basis of these laws was rooted in Judea-Christian beliefs that have always existed in the united states. Thankfully, the laws preventing homosexuals from having intercourse were eventually repealed in all 50 states.

Primary Sources

Researching my primary sources the same information has been repeated. The research i have done has continued to emphasize on how Harvey Milk did not just advocate for gay rights, he advocated for any one who didn't have representation. He did not have many sponsors during his campaign  many of his followers were towns people, many from different ethnic groups. Harvey Milk was accepting of everyone and felt every citizen in American should be treated the same, with equal rights. He worked to abolish discrimination against gays; giving the gay community more jobs. More gay and lesbian teachers were being hired. He also worked to improve education, public transportation, child-care, and low income housing. Harvey Milks slogan was "Milk has something for everybody." and this is what Milk did. He took an approach that appealed to everyone, not just gays and lesbians. Milk advocated for everyone, but he had the biggest impact on the gay and lesbian community.

Primary Source

I felt that it was hard for me to distinguish between primary and in depth sources during my research. One article I found was about a study that took place which was the interviews of 12 LGBT members between the age of 18 and 21 (I think). The article talked about affective support systems that are available/ should be available to LGBT members in the school systems. I learned that there are 4 types of support that are able to be provided. The first type is emotional support which is in the form of love and trust. The second type is appraisal which comes in the form of positive feedback. The third type is instrumental support which comes in the form of something that is tangible such as money. The fourth type is informational support which comes in the form of advice or knowledge. The lack of support makes the LGBT members in the school systems feel isolated, without anyone too look up to or go to. The study found that non family members were more supportive of the LGBT students compared to their parents/family members. It also found that heterosexual peers were unable to give as much emotional support as other LGBT members. Other LGBT members are able to relate and provide contextual support with specific experiences to back it up. Many of the studies felt fear about telling people their sexual identities. One of the female students in the study said that her and her friend could talk about "pretty much anything..." and added in, "not my sexual orientation at that point at all." The study stated that a main part of high school is the development of social norms and the study found that most of the teachers and other administrators "strove to uphold the heterosexual model as normative." This is the reason why the school is seen as so homophobic, their homophobia is institutionalized and taught as normal. This is teaching a cycle of hate and discrimination. This environment that the schools have crated has lead many LGBT members to be uncomfortable with their sexuality and has made it hard for them to "come out" in fear that they will be harassed, bullied, treated unfairly, singled out, or treated lesser by their peers and teachers. This research has lead me more into the area of homophobia in the school setting rather than bullying and suicide in general.

In-Depth source

During my research of in-depth sources I found some helpful information about how the school systems have contributed to the bullying of LGBT youth. Overall I found that the environment that is set up by the institutions are often homophobic and support homophobic actions and thought. In one article I read it spoke about the difference between gender and sex of a person. Sex refers to the biological classification of someone as either male or female, while gender refers to the distinction of the two based on the stereotypical behaviors of each sex. The school systems and society in general do not support children and their identity development of gender. From the time that a child is in the womb and the sex is found out, the parents prepare for a child of that "gender." Society is determining how a child should act, dress, and be, before the child has a chance to become them self. The children who do not display this gender/sex accurate behavior are often teased in school causing a negative association with their actions. Children are often exposed to the idea that it is bad for a boy to act like a girl or the other way around. They are also exposed to the idea that being gay is bad by others saying things like "that is so gay." When people use phrases like this they are replacing the word stupid or synonyms for it with gay. This is making a link between homosexuality and stupidity in children's minds making them feel as if it is not acceptable to be gay. The article suggested ways of making schools a more gender numeral / supportive environment which focused mainly on physical education.

Primary Source

The source I read was an article from The New York Times, published in 1982. It discussed a particular film and how it showed more accurate depictions of homosexuals. It gave specific examples of how this film and its depictions were different from others. This shows that there has been progress with portraying gays and lesbians in the media. In the 80s, nothing was perfect yet and nothing was close to how it is today, but this film and the other film mentioned did have an impact on the media and the audience. It shows that writers are starting to be more realistic and respectful to gays and lesbians, which is great! :)

In my research today I learned about the spread of HIV aids throughout China. There are a large amount of people living with HIV and many people that have died from it because of the large population. This epidemic started unfolding in 2006 and again started with the use of drugs, and then got spread through heterosexual people. Now about 40 million people living there have this disease. The amount of people living with it has risen among prostitutes, due to unprotected sexual intercourse. In the article they show a chart comparing people with HIV in China to people with HIV in the United States. There are larger amounts of people in China living with or have died from this disease, this is mainly because of Chinas larger population than the Unites states.

In-Depth source

Using in-depth sources was very important in my research because so far they have helped me to identify certain more specific aspects of the topic of marriage that I previously did not no much, or anything, about. For example i am now aware, after using one in-depth source, that there is not really a stable option of true legal marriage for same-sex couples and instead most states have so far passed laws making it legal to have only a civil union or domestic partnership, which is very similar to the kind of separate but equal laws and regulations in the south that segregated blacks and whites. It is interesting how similar of a progression both African Americans and members of the lgbt movement must go through in order to achieve the rights that they deserve.