Summary: The Gay Rights Movement

Previous social movements have successfully led to progress in the past, as historians and history itself have proven. Although these movements of the past have ended, their legacies have been carried on by modern movements such as Black Lives Matter and the Gay Rights Movement. The BLM movement is the heir to the Civil Rights Movement; its main purpose is to call out police brutality and combat racism in the modern day. The gay rights movement, although the only gay rights movement in history, combats homophobia and fights for equality socially and economically for members of the LGBT+ community. Each of these movements have progressed In summary, a climate of injustice led to social progress in the 20th and 21st century America and has continued
to lead to social progress for LGBT+ people, women, and people of color into the present day.

The 2012 court ruling on the death of Trayvon Martin, a black kid who was shot by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, was a major push factor for the BLM movement to unite. In fact, according to the official website for BLM, the hashtag was created right after Zimmerman was acquitted. The creation of a BLM hashtag on twitter allowed the movement to be in the public eye, which permitted the black community to connect with one another. It began to increase in relevance with the deaths and protests of Eric Garner, Ezell Ford, Roshad McIntosh, Dontre Hamilton, John Crawford III, and many more at the hands of police officers. The death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, while starting as peaceful protests against police brutality, dissolved into riots that lasted for weeks, and eventually resulted in the looting of stores and the destruction of property. Similarly, in Baltimore, the death of Freddie Gray caused massive protests of police brutality, and in comparison to Ferguson, resulted in riots with similar consequences.These violent protests gave the movement a bad reputation, and many people began to think of BLM as an anti-white group. Despite this, BLM has accomplished a lot that has benefited the black community. They have brought attention to the horrible treatment of black transgender people in the U.S, successfully protested and removed the confederate flag from public spaces after Bree Newsome, a thirty year old black women, brought attention to it by scaling the flagpole and removing it herself. BLM forced universities to recognize their racial history, used the hashtag campaign called “Say Her Name” to raise awareness about police brutality against black women, and many other accomplishments. The BLM movement creates social progress; it draws attention to the issue of racism and police brutality in America and give people of color a voice. The BLM movement will continue to provide that voice to the millions of black people in this country in the future, and will continue to fight against police brutality and racism.

The gay rights movement started with the Stonewall Riots, a series of violent clashes between patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, and the police, who were raiding the inn.
This event alone catalyzed the start of the modern gay rights movement, although there were many events that are important in the fight for LGBT+ rights, such as in 1962 when Illinois became the first state to decriminalize “homosexual acts” between two consenting adults. However, the most important advances in equality for the LGBT+ community occurred after Stonewall. In 1980 the Democratic party came out and supported rights for the LGBT+ community, and has continued to fight for LGBT+ rights to the current day. In June of 2015, the Supreme Court ruled five to four to grant same-sex couples the right to marry in the landmark court case Obergefell v. Hodges. Even though this was a key moment in LGBT+ history, the movement still faces many issues. A Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act was passed in North Carolina in early 2016. This act is about and has remained in effect despite major protests and even presidential involvement. Biphobia is present, and the community overall tends to ignore the issues of people of color, especially trans people of color. Despite this, the movement has succeeded in many other ways. The gay rights movement has brought LGBT+ issues into the spotlight, and has advanced the fight for equality. The LGBT+ community will continue to fight for the rights of gay, bisexual, and trans people and will continue to give LGBT+ people a
voice.

Throughout history, social movements have changed the course of history for the better. Although not always successful at achieving a particular goal in a particular time period, ideas that these movements held dear inspire future movements to carry on that legacy. From these movements past, historians can tell what the future will be for these current movements. Although it is difficult to predict the future, onlookers can infer that, because of these current movements, the issues they address will be more widely known and talked about in the future. Because of the black lives matter movement, issues such as police brutality, excessive force, and racism will be focused on by future generations; it will become a more important issue to future generations because newer generation will have grown up with the issue in the public eye. Because of the gay rights movement, issues such as homophobia and transphobia will be focused on in the future; the next generation will grow up in a time where identifying as a member of the LGBT+ community won’t be such a scary thing, and members of the LGBT+ community will be more accepted in the society of the future. Overall, we can predict that these currently social movements will inspire others, and will hopefully result in the end of the issues they bring to the table.

Social movements have improved the quality of life for people of color and LGBT+. However, that work is not complete. A climate of injustice is still present; society is stacked against people of color and LGBT+ people. This is the reason why these new social movements have risen out of the ashes of previous movements. Black Lives Matter has exposed the issues of police brutality and racism still ingrained in society. As long as the BLM movements lives on, the fight for racial equality in the eyes of the police will continue, and, hopefully in the near future, this injustice against people of color will be stopped. The gay rights movement has brought LGBT+ people further to social equality and has exposed homophobia present in society. As long as there is an LGBT+ community, LGBT+ people will continue push for equality and will fight against injustices in the future. So, a climate of injustice (whether based in the past or present) has led to social progress in the modern era for LGBT+ people, women, and people of color.