LGBT movement is a social movement to help homosexual people gain equality. The LGBT movement fights for the acceptance of gay people into the community. The biggest goal that they are fighting for is social equality. Part of the fight for social equality is the right to have gay marriage acknowledged. To have gay marriage legal so that they can get married like any straight couple.
To gain marriage equality LGBT uses the strategy of legal action. For example the law DOMA, which gives the right to not acknowledge gay marriage, would be part of legal action to vote against it. Another movement that uses legal action is the Indian Freedom Struggle. When Gandhi goes to negotiate with the government about the demands of the Indians. For these strategies to work the these two movements would need the help of their allies. For LGBT their allies would have to vote against DOMA. For the Indian Freedom Struggle their allies in the government would have to convince the other government official to give in to some of the Indians demands.
In life there are things that influence people on how to live their life. This quote helps teens learn how to take power in their lives. Mia asked “did DOMA (defense of marriage act) play a role in your marriage process? Miss D’amato answered “Yes and no. We decided to get married in June 2013, whether or not we could legally marry each other. We knew that the Supreme Court was going to rule… June on DOMA.” This quote helps show how to take power in their lives. It shows the unfairness towards homosexual people and that people are so against them that gay people need a law to get married. This quote helps reveal the struggle for homosexual people that wants to get married and one strategy that a couple was going to use to get married if they were not legally allowed to get married. This quote tells teens that if you want something enough you will go for it.
In life people have to be aware of the people and environment they are surrounded by. If something against those peoples beliefs happen they will act positively or negatively towards it. Another question asked was, “When you decided to get married, how bad was the discrimination of the same sex marriage?” D’amato said “It really depends on where you are, and who is around you. I grew up in Virginia, and historically the discrimination there is pretty bad. Last summer my childhood dance studio had a reunion show, and I participated, but while I was there I heard so many offhand homophobic comments. The leader of my dance group also was a vocal supporter of Chic Fillet because of their anti-gay stance - she and I are no longer Facebook friends because of that. Most people in San Francisco are much more accepting than that - but even some families within our school are still homophobic.” The direct meaning of this quote is be careful with the people and the environment you surround yourself in. If something goes against what those air quote friends then they will start bullying. That would also affect the future decisions you make because you could end up killing yourself because of the bullying. For example a boy who killed himself because of people bullying him about being gay. This quote helps to point out that in different places there are different reactions to gay people but there will always be someone against you.
Some homophobic people are the result of watching people bully gay people and they also become bullies not wanting to admit to being homosexual. Mia asked “What are your thoughts on people who don't support gay, lesbian, bisexuals? Why do you think they think like that? The answer given was “ in other cases, it has to do with insecurity. Often, people who have some homosexual feelings but don't want to admit them are REALLY homophobic - because they want to make sure that no one mistakes them as being gay.” Some people, not all, who are homophobic may be gay and are insecure about admitting it so they turn to being against gay people so that no one finds out. The homophobic people who are secretly homosexual are not embracing who they are and this is a negative effect of bullying.Those people become bully themselves and those are probably the people who don't want marriage equality to happen.
There is a connection that marriage equality has with the Indian Freedom Struggle. Another question asked was “how bad were you discriminated and did you have supporters? The answer to this question was “I think homophobia is so part of our culture, that I MOST remember moments that legal discrimination ended, rather than when it started. For example, I very very clearly remember the day that Obama made a declaration about visiting rights in long term hospital stays. It was in about 2009 Obama said that the patient decides which people are allowed to visit them - which could be their same sex partner or just a good friend - rather than having separate rules that privilege straight married couples. This announcement was the first ever made I had heard a major politician talk about gays and lesbians as people who deserve equal rights, rather than just a problem or social issue. I heard him make the announcement while I was at work at my office job and I was so shocked that I started to cry.” There are people in power who do care about inequalities of others. This is like in the Indian Freedom Struggle, Gandhi was a man in power, he was a lawyer and he used his power of negotiation, one of the strategies used in the struggle, to help the Indian people going through the struggle of inequalities.