Lesbian, gay,
and
bisexual issues.
All viewpoints covered.
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The terms "LGBT" and "GLBT" are acronyms for
"Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual,
and "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
Transgender/Transsexual. Sometimes, additional
letters are
added such as: "Q" for Queer or questioning, "I" for Intersexual.
Welcome to the conflict:
Major and apparently irreconcilable conflicts exists in North America over equal rights and protections for
GLBT persons (gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered individuals and transsexuals), including the
right to marry.
Many GLBTs, their organizations and supporters
are heavily involved in the promotion of equality for persons of all sexual
orientations and sexual identities. This involves
working towards a culture where:
Persons of all three sexual orientations (heterosexual, bisexual and
homosexual) and various sexual
identities (cisgendered, transsexual, transgendered) are accepted, valued and given equal rights
and protections.
Homosexuality, bisexuality and heterosexuality are recognized as
unchosen, natural, normal and fixed (or essentially fixed) sexual orientations
in adulthood.
Loving, committed same-sex couples can marry and
receive a full set of
both state and federal benefits and rights.
Many social and religious conservatives in North America, their
organizations and supporters are heavily promoting the restriction of
rights and protections for sexual minorities. Their target is at what they
call the "gay agenda." This involves working towards a culture where:
Heterosexuals are given special rights and protections in employment
security, access to accommodation, access to marriage, inheritance rights,
hospital visitation privileges, etc. Gays and lesbians would be denied these
rights.
Homosexuality, and bisexuality are recognized as
chosen, sexual behaviors, unnatural, abnormal, disordered,
sinful, hated by God, changeable, and perhaps worthy of criminalization.
Same-sex marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships are unavailable in North America;
those solemnized in other countries are not recognized in the U.S. and
Canada.
Loving, committed same-sex couples are regarded by the states only as roommates.
Their
children are considered illegitimate. Their families have no access to
the 1,400 or so state and federal benefits and rights enjoyed by opposite-sex married
couples..
Countering sexual equality has surpassed in importance even the conflict over abortion
access in the minds of many -- perhaps most -- fundamentalists and other evangelical
Christians.
Some religious conservatives believe that the goals of the GLBT movement is
the destruction of the Christian religion, dismantling the institution of
marriage and adversely changing the rest of the culture.
There is a lot of anger and essentially no dialogue between the two groups. Resolving these
conflicts through debate is often impossible because the fundamental
assumptions, studies, conclusions,
and beliefs are generally rejected by the other. They even define words
differently, thus making any type of communication essentially impossible. The
situation has many points of similarity to the battle over
abortion access.
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