Through time, wholeheartedly embracing who you are has gone through many stages of acceptance in today’s society. There have been people who accept people of the LGBTQ community and welcome it into the norms but there have also been people who do the complete opposite. Unfortunately, the negative people in this scenario have had the tendency to take over the situation in multiple disciplines of one’s life. In comparison to race inequality, sexual orientation inequality occurs similarly. Sexual orientation may be found institutionally and in professional workplaces, in schools, in households, and among families. Institutionally speaking, there have been many cases where people have been seeking jobs and have been unable to land one due to their sexual orientation. In fact, at least one in five people reported being discriminated against while applying for jobs and entering the interview process. When it comes to education, roughly twenty percent of people have reported being discriminated against whilst submitting college applications. Although these instances are very serious, people of the LGBTQ community also receive backlash in the most serious situations. Many people have been known to withhold from calling the police or other emergency services and have also resisted medical care in fear of discrimination.
In many aspects of one’s life, discrimination and hardships regarding sexual orientation occur. Many heterosexual people do not have to think about these tasks because they hold the privilege of not seeing these go wrong. For example, from the lecture from this week, there is a severe lack of marital rights and parental rights, along with housing discrimination and medical discrimination. Gay marriage has recently become legal in all fifty states, which has helped the LGBTQ community to feel welcomed. However, the lack of rights in these marriages still fuels old fires. It is difficult in many states to be seen as holding the same power as a heterosexual married couple because many people do not understand gay marriages. In regards to parental rights, having homosexual parents is viewed as inferior in the court system in America. It is extremely difficult to adopt children when in a gay relationship and it is, again, difficult to be taken seriously as a gay couple. On a different note, discrimination against these groups exists everywhere, including housing and medical facilities. Being approved for housing becomes much more difficult when one is in a LGBTQ relationship and receiving medical care and insurance may be just as difficult.
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Aalyna's Sociological Perspective 