LGBTQ Rights: A Comparison of State Laws and Policies

This assignment delves into the multifaceted realm of LGBTQ rights, offering a comparative analysis of state laws and policies. The student's work begins with a historical overview, tracing the evolution of LGBTQ rights from pre-1800s to the 2010s, highlighting key milestones such as the founding of the Society of Human Rights, the Kinsey scale, and the legalization of same-sex marriage. The core of the assignment centers on a comparison of LGBTQ-related employment laws in Maryland and Texas. Maryland is presented as a state with robust protections against discrimination based on sexual identity, while Texas is shown to have faced significant legal challenges, despite the existence of anti-discrimination efforts. The assignment discusses the differing perspectives on LGBTQ rights in these states, attributing the divergence to educational systems and public opinion. References to relevant sources are also included.

Running Head: LGBTQ RIGHTS
LGBTQ Rights
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1LGBTQ RIGHTS
1.Answer-
Pre 1800s – In 1648, the first trial for homosexuality in Canada, a gay military drummer is
provided death sentence by few priests who were local Sulpician. The military drummer is
stationed at Ville –Marie, New France. The matter got intervened by the Jesuits and the life
of the drummer got spared only on one condition that he would accept the position of the first
executioner of New France (Ciszek, 2017).
1800s- In 1897, the Scientific Humanitarian Committee is founded by Magnus Hirschfield on
May 14th. It was the first official organization designed for homosexual rights.
1920s- In the year 1924, a German immigrant Henry Gerber established the Society of
Human Rights in Chicago. It is the first documented organization for gay rights movement in
the United States. During the World War I, he was influenced to create this organization by
Germany’s ‘homosexual emancipation group’.
1940s- According to History.com Editors (2018), in 1948, Alfred Kinsey claimed in his book
‘Sexual Behavior’, that the orientation of male sexuality rests on a continuum somewhere
between the heterosexuality and homosexuality.
1970s- In 1978, Harvey Milk became the first gay man elected in a political office in
California. He was previously the supervisor of the San Francisco city.
1990s- In the year 1987, the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was
held by the Gay rights proponents. The event became marked as the first national coverage of
ACT UP, that sought to improve the lives of the victims of AIDS (Parco & Levy, 2016).

2LGBTQ RIGHTS
2010s- In the year 2016, the ban on the transgender people openly serving got lifted by the
U.S military. It occurred after Eric Fanning received the position of secretary as the first
openly gay man.
2.Answer-
The chosen states are Maryland and Texas and the issue is regarding employment. These
states have different LGBT laws. The state of Maryland has strict protection laws against
judgement or discrimination that is associated with the sexual identity in employment of a
person since 2001. The state also has legalized same sex marriage since 2013 (NBC News,
2018). Today, the state can be referred to as the most supporting state to the LGBT rights. On
the other hand, the LGBT people of Texas undergo many legal challenges and sexual
discrimination (Nytimes, 2018). Although there are evidences of people prohibiting the
discrimination based on sexuality in the private and public sector employment, it is still
prevalent in the state. Morris, (2018) suggests that they do not have strong laws against such
discrimination.
According to my views, Texas consider LGBT as something offensive because it is
taught by their education system since early childhood. Children are taught that homosexual
conduct is unacceptable and grow up to uphold such perspectives. In Maryland on the other
hand they have such open views about LGBT because the state acknowledges the opinion of
the common people. As informed by Morris, (2018) the same sex marriage has been
approved by the court based on the public voting. The country is loud against the struggle the
LGBT people face in the educational and work field and focused on being an all-embracing
state of the country.

3LGBTQ RIGHTS
Reference
Ciszek, E. L. (2017). Activist strategic communication for social change: A transnational
case study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activism. Journal of
Communication, 67(5), 702-718.
History.com Editors (2018). Gay Rights. A &E Teleision Networks. [online] Available at:
https://www.history.com/topics/history-of-gay-rights [Accessed 16 Nov. 2018].
Morris, B. (2018). [online] Apa.org. Available at:
http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/history.aspx [Accessed 16 Nov. 2018].
NBC News (2018). Over 150 LGBTQ candidates claim victory in midterm elections. [online]
NBC News. Available at: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/over-100-lgbtq-
candidates-claim-victory-midterm-elections-n933646 [Accessed 15 Nov. 2018].
Nytimes.com (2018). Facing Threats and Bias, L.G.B.T. Candidates Are Running in Record
Numbers. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/us/politics/lgbt-candidates.html [Accessed 15
Nov. 2018].
Parco, J. E., & Levy, D. A. (Eds.). (2016). Evolution of government policy towards
homosexuality in the US military: The rise and fall of DADT. Routledge.