The Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage

The Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage — page 3 — to get news out is with paper copies In the Running of the Interns members of the media dash from the court to their news teams Then the news of the court’s outcome is broken to the public On this morning the court had made a decision in the case of Obergefell v Hodges This could legalize same-sex marriage across the country An intern for the news channel CNBC delivered the news first In a 5 to 4 decision the Supreme Court had given same-sex couples the right to marry The History of LGBT Rights In the 1960s many people viewed homosexuality as a mental illness Most Christians viewed it as immoral Relationships between men were illegal in many states People who were gay often lost their jobs They were treated poorly by their families and friends People in the gay community often gathered at bars There they could be themselves without fear However police often arrested many people at

The Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage — page 4 — The White House lit up with rainbow colors the gay pride emblem the night of the Obergefell ruling these bars One bar was the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village New York What happened there on June 28 1969 started the gay rights movement Usually people left bars after arrests were made However this night was different People outside the

The Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage — page 5 — bar became angry They started throwing garbage at the police In response the police officers locked themselves inside the bar They called for help As the night went on someone set fire to the Stonewall Inn The fire department arrived and put the fire out Then they rescued the police Nearly 400 people joined in the fighting The Stonewall riots were a key moment in LGBT history A year later people in major PERSPECTIVES FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE STONEWALL RIOTS Roy McCarthy lived across from the Stonewall Inn He witnessed the beginning of the riots At the time women and African Americans were also fighting for civil rights In a 1999 interview he described the mood of the community Back then in the gay community we were kinda angry that everyone else was getting their civil rights and we weren’t We were tired of the police busting in and dragging us out just because we were out there to have a good time

The Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage — page 6 — cities held parades to remember the event These events brought the gay community together Many groups were formed to help gay people gain rights Over the next few decades legal cases shaped the progress of gay rights Many states had laws against male same-sex relationships Women were rarely included in these laws These laws had been in place since colonial times They carried punishment of prison or death In 1986 the Supreme Court ruled that relationships between men were not protected by FIRST AMERICAN GAY RIGHTS ORGANIZATION The first gay rights organization was the Society for Human Rights It was founded in 1924 in Chicago Illinois A German immigrant Henry Gerber started the group He wanted to protect the rights of gay people However it attracted very few members Being gay was not widely accepted in the United States Gerber was arrested in 1925 for promoting his group This marked the end of the Society for Human Rights

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