Pro-Gay Rights

         One of the most controversial issues that we talk about nowadays is gay marriage and discrimination. Yet this issue is one of the most important ones. You may have heard of Proposition 8. Proposition 8 was a constitutional amendment in California that was passed in 2008 eliminating the "rights of same-sex couples to marry". When Prop. 8 elections were held, more than 50% of us voted yes. The proposition was put into effect the very next day, restricting about 4 million people's rights.
         I believe that it is unacceptable to refuse one's right to love. Those who supported the proposition argued that if they leaved the constitution unchanged, public schools would teach their kids that gay marriage was fine. But guess what? If their kids don't learn it at school, they'll learn it from somewhere else. But what's wrong with gays in the first place? It is perfectly natural for two people to love each other, no matter what their gender is. But this proposition votes against the right of two people who love each other to marry.
         Gay discrimination has also driven many gays to suicide. On September 19, 2010, Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old, was found unconscious with his neck in a noose in the backyard. In a week, he died at the hospital. At school, kids had bullied him and called him a faggot. Four days later, Asher Brown, an 8th Grader, shot himself in the head after he had been kicked down the stairs at school because he was gay. There were two other anti-gay bullying suicides that month. But gays are not only discriminated at school.
         Same-sex discrimination employment is also a big problem. But what has America done about it? Only twenty-one states ban same-sex discrimination in employment. That's less than fifty percent of the U.S.! Martin Luther King once said, "A right delayed is a right denied". He was the leader of the African-American Civil Rights movement. He strongly fought against the discrimination that was given to the African-Americans. Years after, we have finally accepted African-Americans and learned that they, too, are humans and have as much right as we do.
         So has discrimination stopped? No. We may feel good about ourselves because we don't discriminate African-Americans anymore, but do we remember that people out there still discriminate gays? Are gays not human? Do the first three words of the U.S. Constitution, "We the people", not refer to gays and lesbians and therefore they do not have any rights? They have as much rights as we do. "We the people" refers to all citizens of the U.S. The ninth amendment of the Bill of Rights states that "The enumeration in he Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be constructed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Unless the Constitution and the Bill of Rights weren't signed by our Founding Fathers, the government has no right to deny the right of marriage.
         Taking one's right of marriage is unconstitutional and definitely not ethically right. Yet many people ignore the fact that five teenage gays have killed themselves within three weeks, that discrimination still exists in employment, and that only a few states in America have done something about it. My hope is that you will be more aware of what's happening around us. The Rainbow Pride Connection or any other gay pride organization won't be able to bring back gay rights without you supporting them. Thank you.