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LGBT Community

First and foremost, being gay is not a choice. Just in the same way that heterosexuals like the opposite gender, it is not because they were raised to be straight, it is just the way their brain is programmed. Sexual orientation can be defined, by the LGBT Communication Manual as, “each person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with, individuals or a different sex/gender/ or the same sex/gender or more than one sex/gender” (LGBT Communication Manual). With each person’s preference to sex/gender, there comes a title so that within their community they can distinguish each other and know what each person prefers. For example, they use terms like bisexual, gay, lesbian, heterosexual, pansexual, transgender, intersexual, t-lover, and drag king or queen to name a few.

The LGBT community wasn’t always accepted for who they were, and it took much courage to come out into the nonaccepting time of the 50’s post-war. This is thanks to a man named Harry Hay because he found the first gay rights organization, that he called the Mattachine Society. Its founders, to the surprise of many, were former communists and radicals. Their goal with creating this group was not only to change the way that people looked at gay men and what they stood for but for men to start being comfortable in their skins. In a matter of three years, the Mattachine Society had grown to the point that you could attend a meeting every day for the rest of your life if that is what you desired to do, claimed Dorr Legg. At this point, the Gay community was peaking and not stopping with tens of thousands of people joining in the Los Angeles area. (Roscoe, accessed 20 October 2018).

Not too much after the Mattachine Society was created, the Daughters of Bilitis was formed. A lesbian group based in San Francisco, the founders Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, were the first same-sex couple to be married after the legalization of same-sex marriage was passed. Initially, this group was created so that lesbians could meet other lesbians so that they could start socializing and dancing at the clubs together. Eventually, this secret club at the time had realized that many laws were “anti-gay” and instead of partying and having a good time, they needed to start making a change in society for the well being of their futures. Soon after this realization, they began to focus more on educating the public about lesbians, they started to participate in research about lesbians and started to repealing anti-LGBT laws. (Anti-Defamation League, 2011)

Coming out in the 1950s was a very bold act considering that the United States government targeted the LGBT members because politicians strongly and wrongly believed that homosexuals were infiltrating the U.S. poses a threat to national security. The leaders of the U.S. in this time believed that those who were declaring themselves as homosexuals were both weak and mentally ill, and this posed a threat because the U.S. was sure that anyone in these conditions would reveal state secrets to undercover spies if they were blackmailed. Because of the government creating this illusion to citizens, the “Lavender Scare” was created. A time where LGBT members were fired on a daily bases and were forced to go through police raids at gay bars, parties, and places that weren’t even morally okay… their homes. It was a hard time for those who were coming out in this era because laws started being made that would prohibit wearing the clothes of the opposite gender and dancing with someone of the same sex. As a result of all these laws and unfair judgment, many members of the LGBT community went into hiding. (Anti-Defamation League, 2011)

Coming out can be defined but the LGBT communications manual as “a process of self-acceptance which may take an entire lifetime. A person builds their identity as a lesbian, gay man, bisexual, or transgender person, at first keeping it to themselves. Later they may or may not reveal it to other people” (LGBT Communication Manual). In modern day today, coming out is not as hard as it used to be 60 years ago, but it is still and always will be a big deal. Coming out isn’t just about telling people what sex you are interested in, but about finally getting to show your loved ones whom you are and hoping that there is still a way that they will accept you for who you are. Depending on where these people live is and what goes on in their household depends on if their family and friends would accept them for who they are. For my mother coming out was not an easy thing to do. Her father and mother thought she was utterly disgusting and to this day don’t accept her. When she came out to her brother and sister they were not accepting at first, but in my family, there is one thing that will always be important, and that is you only have one family it can grow, but it will never change. Over time, both of them came to accept her and love her just for who she is. My second mom, Lu, has passed onto another life, but if it wasn’t for her I know that my mom wouldn’t have been strong enough to come out on her own to our family, and for that, I will be forever grateful. For two people my age, I have come to find out they don’t have coming out stories because they always knew and acted on being just who they were, which has to be the most beautiful change I have seen throughout society.

A big factor that has played a role in many people coming out is what religion they are. Almost all religions have an accepting or nonaccepting truth to it considering the LGBT community. The Christian faith does not approve of homosexuality but preaches that we must love and accept everyone. Which is why over time the Christian community has some who support the LGBT community and some who do not. Judaism sees the LGBT community as not natural and does not accept it, although there are Jewish LGBT groups. (LGBT Communication Manual)

Although many people in today's society accept those who are a part of the LGBT community, there are still those times where people who don’t accept these people start to harras these members, which does have its title and definition: Homophobia. This is described as the fear and irrational hatred towards homosexuals. Homophobia can be seen almost anywhere but is slowly dissipating as time goes on. Familiar places we can see this kind of hate is in areas of extreme religion, the workplace, and school.

In Bogota, Colombia nineteen people were interviewed as being a part of the Colombian LGBT community wanting to know their stories and what it is like for them living where they do. For Carmen, a 46-year-old transgender woman, her upbringing into this community was an extremely rough case. Before completing the gender reassignment process, Carmen had finished her military service, and here sadly she was taken advantage of because of rumors going around that she (he at the time) liked other men. Even though he had said no to this sergeant, he started touching her and forcing himself onto her and speaking to her “Lie down, I am going to be good to you.” After this experience, Carmen had started to have consensual relationships with other men in the army. As Carmen did eventually leave the military, she moved around and became successful again (Zea, Reisen, Biachi, 2013). However, moments like these are what people think is okay, to be able to experimental and force another person to try something that they do not want. This is a clear and horrific example of harassment that has happened, there are many other stories like these and to fix this we need to fight against it and bring attention to what is happening.

Furthermore, completing the process of a transgender person is not an easy process. There are multiple steps to getting to where they want to be, starting with the said person needing an official confirmation from a qualified mental health professional that they suffer from “gender dysphoria,” which refers to the distress that comes the wrong fit of expressed gender and one’s assigned gender. Next, they must undergo twelve months of feminizing or masculinizing hormone therapy, administering more testosterone or estrogens into the body to have the body change more into the desired one. Following, those undergoing this process must go through a most important part of their transition, the “real life” experience. Here they must see the importance of coming out to partners, friends, community members, and family here they must also see all the challenges that are going to be up ahead of changing their sex, such as family, educational, vocational, economic, and legal problems that they will be facing every day. The final step in this years-long process is finally the surgery. For male-to-female they must undergo breast augmentation, facial feminization surgery liposuction, gluteal augmentation, reduction of Adam’s apple, hair reconstruction, penis and testicle removal, and creation of neovagina and clitoris. For female-to-male, they undergo removal of breasts, create of a male chest, liposuction, voice surgery, removal of the uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, vagina, and the construction of a penis and scrotum, and finally the implantation of erection and testicular prosthesis. (Bracanovic, 2017)

As you can see it is not easy to get to the end for the transgender community, and once it is all done, things can get harder. For the LGBT faculty in S&E fields, they claimed they felt that “gayness” was invisible and that everyone was just assumed to be hetero. This is assumed because in the Science and Engineering community it is all that what should matter seeing that everyone would fit the “norm” of being hetero. However, this has caused problems for those who have come out in this community, some peers even coming to the point of saying “I think she’s lesbian; I’d never trust her date.” This is a precise moment of work hostility. Those who are part of the LGBT and S&E community have been faced with many difficulties of how their peers feel around them. Some even reported that they knew of peers who were even uncomfortable and anxious to be in the same room as them. These conflicts have created many consequences for them in and outside the work climates. Internally the participants in this research reported that there is a fearfulness with being a part of the LGBT community because those who are not gay have become rude and not approving of them and their work. This created an environment that pushes members to not come out because of being afraid that their action will not be taken seriously. Externally, participants made it clear that they have not gotten jobs because someone had outed them before them receiving the position. Other participants even claimed that have tried to ruin their research and collaboration with others by outing them. (Bilimoria, 2009)

To continue the discussion of harassment that transgenders must face, it is commonly known among Portland, Oregon that public transportation is not a safe place for them. Public transportation is offered throughout the city, for all and is protected under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, that prohibits discrimination on race, color, and national origin. What it doesn’t protect yet is the discrimination of the LGBT community. Several participants in the social science literature on gender, public space, and urban mobility, had told of many stories of being not being harassed anymore on these public transportation sites. Even a white transgender man (most unlikely to receive hate because of white privilege) could say that he experienced hostility almost on a daily basis when he was a female. This goes to show that until someone looks more “correct” with societies norms that there will always be a hostility accountable for. (Lubitow, 2017)

Thanks to the Pew Research Center, we can come to see that there has been an 18% increase from the decade before in the acceptance of the gay community. There has also been a 19% increase in acceptance for the lesbian community (Drake,2014). Eventually, this won’t even be a number or a thought that will cross the mind, but how can we help to ensure that the LGBT community is more accepted quicker? A few suggestions would be to speak out against any bullying you could see going on towards an LGBT member, being accepting of those around you who come out to you, and most importantly be nice. Being a part of the LGBT community is not an easy thing but with the help of everyone we can change the way people view them and accept them.

Among those who are apart of the LGBT community, there are many ways that they are able to communicate with each other in today's modern age. Like most communities, the LGBT community has a strong online form of communication. By online communication, they communicate when events are, have hotlines, and so they can express who they are. They also have holidays that mean the utmost to many members of the LGBT community. Such as LGBTQ Pride (June), International Drag Day (July 16th), National Coming Out Day (October 11th), etc. Another form of communication that can be seen throughout the LGBT community is the LGBT rainbow flag. For the LGBT community, this is an unspoken form of communication that stands for being apart of this community. Usually, those who are apart of the community have found some type of way to incorporate the flag into a part of their social media or what they wear on a daily basis.

Although with all the hate and unnecessary hostility there are great and wondrous things that come with being a part of the LGBT community. This is also known as, PRIDE! The LGBT Pride march is a celebration of the LGBT community as a whole. If you don’t know what pride is, it is a giant festival where people from all over come an celebrate what it is to be a part of the community. Coming to these events, you can expect a gay version of the Macy’s day parade. There will be people dressed in fantastic costumes, dancing, singing, rejoicing, and have a phenomenal time. The point of gathering in these festivities is different for everyone, but it can be a place where the LGBT community can stand up to the political troubles they are going through as a whole. What is most important to understand when attending one of these events is that everyone will be accepted no matter what because it is supposed to place respect and mutual understanding. As well with visiting one of these events, it is critical to know that there will always be those who are going to protest but they are not the point. What is most important to understand and take away is that no matter what your choice is and what you decide to do with it you can love anyone you would like to because LOVE IS LOVE

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