Family is a common factor, visibly prominent in people's lives. To many, the definition of family varies. “Families differ in terms of economic, cultural, social, and many other facets, but what every family has in common is that the people who call it a family are making clear that those people are important to them in some way.” Katherena Vermette’s The Break revolves on a community of families whose lives intertwined with one another.…
The book Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay is about two main characters: Sarah, a Jewish girl who is captured along with her family and taken to a concentration camp, and Julia, a reporter in 2002, who is learning all about Sarah and the Vel' d'Hiv'. When the French police come to Sarah's house, she quickly locks her 4 year old brother in the hidden cupboard, believing that he would be safe, and that she would be able to return and take him out again in a few hours. She doesn't know that they are never coming back, where they are going. She thinks she and her parents would be fine, and return, being taken by the French police and not German.…
Being gay, lesbian, or bisexual is becoming more universally accepted today, however, it is still frowned upon in some parts of society. In the poem “Commitments”, Essex Hemphill uses his work as a mirror to reflect his ideas and beliefs of being a gay African American writer and poet to readers. This poem exemplifies the unseen problems that gay, lesbian, and bisexual people face in their everyday life, and should be taught in literature in order to make others more aware of the importance of equality. This poem describes typical situations of gay, lesbian, or bisexual children in their families. They are often rejected by their parents and lack support from them.…
Realizing the Importance of Relationships Creating healthy relationships with family is far more important than some may presume. In Claire Holden Rothman’s ‘My October’, Luc is under an illusion that he is the ideal father but soon realizes that this is not so true. This realization happens when Luc does not understand his family and is being selfish at first, but after having his son run away from home, and trying to communicate to him afterwards, Luc is brought into his reality that he hasn’t been an ideal father after all. Initially, Luc is self-centered and does not try to understand the importance of family. Luc takes no responsibility for his son Hugo.…
Heteronormativity is the assumption that everyone is heterosexual. This is obviously not the case in today’s society; Lesbian feminism is the resistance to this ideal, it “links sexual desire for other women, women’s independent lifestyles, and women’s friendships with the idea of women’s culture and knowledge, producing a movement of resistance to a gendered social order” (Lorber pg.152). Lesbian feminism moves to show society that there is no such thing as gendered roles without heteronormativity, with this comes a great debate on whether this is just a resistance to the conventional family or…
In Chrys Ingraham’s “Heterosexuality”, she discusses an angle of women’s oppression that stems from heterosexuality being normalized in society. This normalization is not natural, and is instigated because it helps men stay above in power. It is a social institution that has a bias in favor of heterosexuality and romanticize heterosexual relationships and related rituals. The main argument of Chrys Ingraham’s “Heterosexuality” is that heterosexuality is not something people are born with or have natural leanings toward.…
Language is the basis of all ideological concepts. Without language, the fundamental ideas of human society would be clouded in an intangible form where we all understand the idea but fail to express it. As such, it is very important that our discourse stays as unpolluted as possible, encouraging proper wording and politically correct statements discourages discrimination through the nonchalant language that we have plagued pop culture. As the LGTBQ+ community gains their rights, many people became distraught in the illusion that they are different or that they are the root cause for many problems in society.…
Robert Reno Professor James Richardson WHO-1030-271 16 April 2015 The Gay Rights Movement: Moving Mountains Although great strides have been made in the recent past, homosexuals have faced many hurdles in the fight for equal rights. From hate crimes to legislative tyranny, the homosexual community has strived to become socially accepted and ascertain the same rights afforded to them as by the Constitution of the United States of America. For over five decades, many organizations have been created to facilitate this fight and many continue today.…
“Commitments” by Essex Hemphill is a poem written by an African American Poet that has used his writings to express his belief that gay people have a right to live their life the way that they are. In this particular poem, the writer uses many literary elements to express his theme. The main theme in this poem is commitment to family obligations amongst personal battles of loneliness. The writer is committed to carrying out his familial obligations, regardless to the loneliness and inability to be himself around his family. Throughout the entire poem references are made to his family, family gatherings, and his appearances amongst this family.…
The Stonewall riots inadvertently created an international community that forced to acknowledge the existence of the gay community. While there was clear tension between gay rights groups and other activist groups, as well as tension within the gay rights groups, gay rights became a forefront issue. There was no longer a need to remain quiet and “virtuous,” as there had been during the homophile movement. This shift in principles and how to approach gay rights has endured through the 21st century, and can be completely attributed to…
In order to define topics and ideas, individuals incorporate their personal bias, education and morals. Although in doing so, defining such topics could leave to subjective views. In the case of today’s society, many argue that the legalization is either moral or immoral due to what their perspective of the definition of marriage is. Andrew Sullivan, a former editor of the New Republic magazine, thinks that the definition of marriage includes gay marriages due to homosexual couples having the same qualities of heterosexual couples. In contrast, National Review editor William J. Bennett thinks that the idea of a man and woman is the traditional idea of marriage.…
Many LGBTQ+ citizens are concerned, perhaps rightfully so, about what the Trump-Pence era holds in store for the rights they have fought so hard to obtain. Questions ranging from “is this the end of same-sex marriage?” to “will I lose my Obamacare?” plague the thoughts of many in a time of confusion, anger, and in many cases, hopelessness.…
A Queer Dilemma,” which states that queer activism chooses to destabilize a collective identity and community rather than adopt a stable collective which are necessary for action. He raises the question “When and how are stable collective identities necessary for social action and social change?” (Gamson 403). This gets to the heart of Cohen’s argument, which is that queer activism and politics hinders their ability to radically change these institutions they fight so hard against due to their resistance against the idea that heterosexuality is normal. While the idea of destabilizing and resisting the institutions which promote heterosexuality as the baseline for identity is good in theory, the tactics employed by activist groups mainly focus on “othering” themselves as act of protest, which furthers the binary they want to fight against.…
The Media & Backlash Effects Throughout history, minority or marginalized groups have struggled for equal rights which have resulted in heated debates across different domains. The current struggle for the LGBTQ community can be compared to what African Americans went through in their fight for equality in the 1950s and 1960s. As marches and sit-ins were organized across the country, the media broadcasted the events. As more people became aware of all of the events unfolding, multiple reactions arose.…
The oppression of homosexual people in the United States is another clear example of the lack of truth to the American Dream. Despite America claiming to allow everyone an equal opportunity to be successful, take ownership of what they want, and exercise certain freedoms, homophobia has run rampant in the social, economic, and political systems in America. Many gay people have faced discrimination in the workplace, politics, hate crimes, violence, health services, restaurants, and home ownership. The FBI reported that 14% of all hate crimes in the United States were committed toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals in the United States (Civil Rights Conference, 2017). Gay couples were not allowed to marry or to be benefactors of their deceased love ones until 2015.…