Today, the concern of minorities' rights is crucial in the United States of America. The rights of the homosexual community represent a wedge issue. The homosexuals, indeed, acquire more and more rights in the United States and this acquirement causes a great debate in the entire country. It raises many different domains such as law, politics, religion, culture and so on. The situation changes every day. That is why the subject is so fascinating and motivating. There is a real evolution of the state, the perception and the representation of the homosexuals. As we began our work, we thought that the United States was a very conservative and traditionalist country and that, therefore, homosexuals did not have many rights, compared to the rest of the world. Truly, we discovered that it is a progressive country, considering the situation of the gays and lesbians, even if there is still homophobia.
[...] Same-sex marriage is nowadays the most burning issue in the United States dealing with gay community but in fact, the social movement to obtain the legal protections of civil marriage, such as health insurance or hospital visitation for same-sex families, has begun in the early 1970s. Nonetheless, this effort did not reach widespread national attention until the 1990s and more precisely until 1993, when a decision of the Supreme Court of Hawaii in the case Baehr v. Lewin would have authorized same-sex marriage if it had not been subsequently nullified by a state constitutional amendment which gave the state legislature the right to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples. [...]
[...] 28-32 Scientific proof against the myth that gay and lesbian people are mentally sick, interesting but hard to understand. HOLTHOUSE, David, Gay Bowel Syndrome? Yeah, Right., Intelligence Report Informative lampoon against Paul CAMERON, an anti-gay activist. WEBSITES Exploring Constitutional Law http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/home.html Very interesting, it gives us an original approach of the United States Constitution via landmark cases. Gay and Lesbians Adoptive Parents: Resources for Professionals and Parents http://naic.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/f_gay/index.cfm Well organised and well documented website, willing to inform us with objective arguments (part of the official website of the United States Department of Health and Human Services). [...]
[...] and gay people what to think about themselves."21 In his book (which was adapted for the cinema in 1995 by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman), Vito RUSSO analyzes the representation of gays and lesbians in Hollywood films from the 1890s to the 1980s and describes the history of homophobia. During Hollywood's early years, from the 1890s to the 1930s, homosexuality was often presented as an object of ridicule and laughter. Therefore, the earliest gay male character was always the "sissy" who was very popular at this time. [...]
[...] That is why our topic is entitled: "The gay community in the USA: from marginal to mainstream?” Since we found our subject, we met on a regular basis: every Monday from 2:30 to 4:00 pm. First, we made researches in several libraries: the IEP library, the Marc Bloch's library and the BNU. Then we made an outline, knowing that we certainly would change it in the future. We distributed the chapters to each of us: David would write the first chapter, about gay rights, Julie the second chapter, dealing with the perception of homosexuals in the United States and we divided the third part: David would focus on the representation of gays and lesbians in Hollywood films and Julie in TV series and in music. [...]
[...] We chose the following subject: the gay community in the United States of America, from marginal to mainstream? We would like to understand the influence of the gay community in the US society. We wonder how the homosexuals feel the current evolution of their situation and how the heterosexuals react in front of the acquisition of new rights by this community. Finally, we would like to know what political and social stakes this evolution supposes. Would you please answer our few questions or, at least, some of them? [...]
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