The gay community in the USA: from marginal to mainstream?

Résumé du document

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.

Extraits

[...] has lead the world with the development of its huge gay and lesbian scene and its many LGBT organisations. On the one hand, images of gay and lesbian people, their lifestyles and the issues they face have become very much more visible in recent years in the American society (note that the USA has nowadays huge gay and lesbian web presence). Moreover, it is also estimated that nowadays approximately ten percent of the U.S. population - or 25 million individuals - are homosexual.32 On the other hand, all these indivduals, because of their sexual orientation are the victims of too many erroneous representations and still not have the same rights as heterosexuals. [...]

[...] The Production Code: also known as the Hays Code (because its author was Will Hays who was the head of the "Legion of Decency"), it was a set of industry guidelines governing the production of American motion pictures. The Production Code spelled out what was and was not considered morally acceptable in the production of motion pictures for a public audience. Adopted in 1930, the Code was abandoned in 1967. Appendices Tyron Garner (left) and John Geddes Lawrence (center) pictured with their lawyer in 1998 (AP photo) From http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/gayrights.htm Status of same-sex union laws in the United States of America From http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/righttomarry.htm CBS News poll conducted February 24- asking: "Which comes closest to your view? [...]

[...] Focusing on the lives and loves of three gay men living in Manchester, the series was highly rated not only by the gay community but also by the mainstream press. The series was not without controversy—some people complained that the subject matter was inappropriate and others were upset that one of the characters was only 15 years old. Still others worried that it portrayed gay men as over-sexed. Many people see the success of Queer as Folk as evidence that lesbian and gay shows can still be enormously popular and profitable. [...]

[...] This is valid with gay serving in army (see above) and also with gay parenting. Today, as they are becoming more visible in the U.S. society, they are considered more seriously as potential adoptive parents (in 1990, between 6 and 14 millions of children had a gay or lesbian parent in the United States9). Many studies have been done on same-sex couples in order to see how their children are being raised. The studies, often conducted by individuals or organizations, are biased and contradictory: gay and lesbian groups show positive results on the children while religious or conservative groups show negative effects (see next chapter). [...]

[...] The primary relationship for both gay men is with the heterosexual female characters. In fact, this seems to be an emerging trend. In the past few years, Hollywood has developed a new genre: the gay/straight romance. The television shows Will & Grace portrays a gay man and straight woman as the "perfect couple". While some critics have suggested that this trend represents an attempt to include gay and lesbian characters, others state that such representations still marginalize and silence the experiences of gays and lesbians. [...]