"It's not a choice. It's the way we're built"

Andrea Huang

Members of LGBTQ have historically been discriminated by society for an array of reasons – being too flamboyant with their ways, liking same-sex individuals, and simply just for being different, to name a few. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, society has also viewed gay people with a tendency to be more creative and talented than the average folk. With that being the case, in addition to gay couples not having children the traditional way, they have more discretionary income to spend than the average family.  Even though the majority of society may still be stuck in their hard-headed ways of frowning upon homosexuality, over the past few years businesses have employed the media, turned over a new leaf and started marketing towards gay people. Subaru’s slogan for the millennium, “It’s not a choice. It’s the way we’re built” speaks more than just it’s transmissions. Using Eli Clare’s experience and John D’Emilio’s analysis of homosexual’s experiences, I will have to argue that Subaru’s marketing strategy is genius in that it embraces the gay community into society, effectively relates to all gay individuals, and stimulated their sales during a recession.

            Despite societal norms and cultural taboos, Subaru’s Chief Marketing Officer Tim Mahoney decided to challenge America’s conservative views towards homosexuals. Subaru became the first American automaker to tap into the gay community in the 90’s, and brilliant for doing so (Kinsey, Matt, 2009). In the modern world it is essential to have a car in order to have a comfortable and convenient life. If one were to survey a middle-class neighborhood, they would expect to find at least one to two cars per household. In 2009, (a year into the start of the current recession we are in) Subaru sales went up 10%. Their decision to equip its vehicles with all-wheel drive coincided with their slogan, “It’s not a choice. It’s the way we’re built”, a statement easily relatable to anyone that identifies as being gay.

Naturally, human beings do not have a choice in the person that they are. People are born with a certain personality, disposition, sexual orientation. If they do change a certain aspect of who they are and how they feel, normally it is due to external pressures by outsiders, or even family and friends. D’Emilio describes the typical homosexual experience in “Homosexuality and American Society”, as one that is lonely and often painful due to the dominantly heterosexist society and views (D’Emilio, 18). This has led them to suppress and hide themselves away from the limelight, a prime example of homosexual oppression.

Eli Clare describes in her “Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies: Disability and Queerness” article, that in order to eradicate oppression one must transform their mindset from seeing disability or homosexuality as being wrong, to one that sees no harm in bodies being built the way they are (Clare, 363).  In this context, serious work needs to be done to reconstruct the belief that there is a right or wrong for being a certain way. When it comes to human sexuality or bodily defects, people need to be accepted for the way they are or it poses the threat of alienating that group of people. Subaru has done a tremendous job in using the media to market to the gay community and increase sales, not just for the benefit of profit, but because it is the right thing to do.

Bibliography

Clare, Eli “Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies: Disability and Queerness”

D’Emilio, John “ Homosexuality and American Society: An Overview” from Sexual

Politics, Sexual Communities in the United States 1940-1970. Chicago, III: University of Chicago Press, 1983

Kinsey, Matt. (2009, 10 28). GLAAD honors gay-friendly brands at inaugural media awards in advertising [Web log message].

Gay Marriage, Media, and the Tube of  You



Mason Hill


    Since Johannes Gutenberg invented the modern version of the printing press in the Thirteenth Century, people have been highly influenced by written language and printed word. Since then, media has evolved into the modern context and includes print, radio, television, and the internet. Media has taken over on how society views issues because of how images are portrayed and how information is presented. I argue that because of this power to influence the public, it is essential that the LGBTQ community have positive figures represented in the media and that Youtube.com should be considered a part of that media. In using the works of Jasbir Puar and Gayle Rubin, I will discuss media representation of the LGBTQ community and Youtube.com videos that focus on gay marriage and the family life of same-sex couples. 

Youtube.com is an internet sensation that has gone viral - daily reaching tens of millions worldwide and should be considered media because media is defined as any “means of mass communication” (Oxford Dictionaries). With this in mind, it is important to note that Youtube.com is unique in that it is controlled by the individual participants - what videos the supplier posts and what the consumer chooses to watch. This individualistic aspect of Youtube.com helps control the representation of LGBTQ community members, and is being used to positively receive support for gay marriage.

A Youtube.com video entitled “Zach Wahls Speaks About Family” has reached over sixteen million people. Wahls’ speech to the Iowa House of Representatives about his gay-raised family has been an amazing contribution to positive media representation on gay marriage. He states that much debate on the issue is about the family aspect and the question of “can gays even raise kids” (Youtube.com 2011) He thwarts these and other oppositions with personal life stories where his eloquence, intellect, boldness, family pride, and personal life success come across in the short three minutes of the video. Wahls even goes as far to announce that “If I was your son, Mr. Chairman,  I believe I’d make you very proud” and concludes with “The sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character” (Youtube.com 2011) This video of a young man speaking from the inside workings of a gay family has helped millions see how a gay couple can succeed in raising a family and helps bolster the fight for marriage equality here in America.

However, Youtube.com is only a fraction of the media as a whole. Jasbir Puar and Gayle Rubin discuss the detrimental effect that media has had on the LGBTQ community. Puar discusses the aftermath of September 11 and how the media played a crucial role in turning Americans against Middle Eastern individuals through the use of LGBTQ images. The image of Osama Bin Laden getting anally penetrated by the statue of liberty has led to homosexual hostility that totally undermined the LGBTQ efforts leading up to September 11. The media’s repetitive use of these images has lead to the “quarantining of the terrorist-monster-fag” and has encouraged “aggressive heterosexual patriotism” (Puar 2002). Had these images not been used, today’s view of homosexuality would be different, but we can only speculate as to how different those views would have been.

Gayle Rubin discusses the media’s role in creating the socially accepted idea of “sexual behaviors” and explains how the “mass media nourish…attitudes with relentless propaganda” (1993). This overkill of “relentless” media coverage is exemplified in another Youtube.com video where eighteen news stations declare Conan O’Brian officiating a publicly televised gay marriage as “pushing the envelope” (Youtube.com 2011). Through this repetitive representation of a gay marriage, the overall message and significance of the event was underappreciated and neglected. The media did not focus on the actual love between costume designer Scott Cronick and David Gorshein, but how the heterosexual world would view this marriage on American late night television.

Thus, the representation of the LGBTQ community in the media affects queer social acceptance into heterosexual society. Jasbit Puar and Gayle Rubin both express the significance and negligence of negative media portrayal, whereas Zach Wahl is one of the first positive representations of the LGBTQ community seen on Youtube.com. All in all, it is vital for the LGBTQ movement to receive positive representation in the media, and Youtube.com is the first media outlet that is being used to do so. 


Works Cited

“Zach Wahls Speaks About Family.” Youtube. 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMLZO-sObzQ

“Media Reacts to Conan’s Same-Sex Wedding News.” Youtube. 2011. Web. 22 Feb.     2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GME5nq_oSR4 

“CONAN: The Wedding of Scott Cronick and David Gorshein.” Youtube. 2011. Web. 22     Feb. 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S3lujuNV-0

“Media.” Oxford Dictionaries. 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.     http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/media

Rubin, Gayle. “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality”     from Social Perspectives in Gay and Lesbian Studies ed. Peter M. Nardi and Beth     Schneider

Puar, Jasbir. “Monster, Terrorist, Fag: The War of Terrorism and the Production of     Docile Patriots” in Social Text 72 Vol. 20 No. 3, Fall 2002.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMLZO-sObzQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S3lujuNV-0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GME5nq_oSR4
 

Bullying On and Off The TV Screen

Last year, the Golden Globe winning series Glee aired a series of episodes that addressed the issues of bullying against homosexuals.  The gay character, Kurt, ended up leaving the high school that allowed such bullying to happen for a private, zero-tolerance school.  This gay character eventually came back to the original high school and his former bully made a public apology.  This episode included songs that celebrated acceptance such as Lady Gaga’s gay pride anthem “Born This Way.”   It is noted in by an article in Huffington Post that conservatives reacted strongly to this moment of gay pride and acceptance in a high school.  Fingers were pointed toward the show’s creator, accusing him of having an agenda that goes against Christian beliefs.  Conservatives were also quoted for their concerns about allowing their children to watch this show as it presents immoral sexual orientations.  The apologetic actions in Glee were certainly not reflected in the show’s criticisms.  The want to participate in gay relationships, including marriage, is shot down at an early age.  If schools create more awareness of homosexual equality then maybe future generations will be more open to gay culture and marriage.

            This TV series brings up important issues that many LGBTQ students face in high school. Creators of Glee recognize the mass media potential of the show’s popularity and use this to their advantage by productively calling attention to anti-gay bullying.  According to Nan Stein, bullying includes “any act of meanness, exclusion, threats of any sort, as well as physical assaults.” (pg. 31) The high school which Kurt attended did not proceed to punish bullies for their repeated harassments.   This behavior is unacceptable and schools should enforce strict repercussions.  Klein explains that schools should embrace a “zero-tolerance” policy in which behaviors are noticed, commented on, and corrections are made.  I agree with Klein in that it is a schools responsibility to institute classroom education, provide support for students, and create a safe space.  Unfortunately, funding for such programs is limited.

            Not all students are as lucky as Kurt and have access to a private school that does provide a safe space against anti-gay bullying.  This leaves many homosexual students to face bullies in their own.  Theo Van De Meer states that “most of the perpetrators of anti-homosexual violence will probably never be brought to justice” and that this is often because victims do not file charges (pg. 61).  In the case of Kurt in Glee, the violent actions against him were reported, however, this did not help.  It should also be noted that the main bully ended up being gay himself, so his anti-gay actions were an attempt to hide this.  This extreme attempt to hide his true self and force attention elsewhere relates to Van De Meer who explained that within peer groups there is a need to uphold their defining features such as masculine or feminine and strong versus weak.  Kurt’s bullies, members of the football team, were trying to maintain the perception of their strength and ruling status. 

            Bullying happens in many forms and can be performed by all kinds of people; it is not just something that happens in TV shows.  Conservatives and critics of Glee should recognize that bullying should not be acceptable in schools as that was the real message of this story-line.  Instead, they neglect these issues and focus instead about how their wants as viewers are not being met.  A safe space may not be accessible at home, so it is schools’ job to create one. 

Stein, Nan. "Bullying, Harassment and Violence among Students." Teaching Beyond Tolerance Winter.80 (2007): 48-54. Print.

Van De Meer, Theo. "Bashing a Rite of Passage?" Culture, Health and Sexuality 5.2 (2003): 153-64. Print.

Zakarin, Jordan. "'Glee' 'Born This Way' Lady Gaga Episode Addresses Gay Bullying, Sparks Conservative Protest." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Apr. 2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/27/glee-born-this-way-lady-gaga-gay-conservative_n_854193.html>.

                

Modern Homosexuality

In 2009, ABC Network began airing the show “Modern Family,” which holds millions of viewers each week still today.  The hit comedy is about how three different families are all connected and deal with everyday challenges.  The most “untraditional”, and arguably the funniest, couple on the show is Cameron and Mitchell, two white middle aged men who have an adopted 3 year old daughter.  Although Cameron and Mitchell are not married on the show, their relationship presents important matters of being homosexual to a large audience. Yet, they do this in a subtle and comedic, thus accepting manner.  The producers of this show ease their way into the controversial topic by first just allowing a gay couple to be on television, never showing them kiss, and never talking about their anger at not being able to marry.  By not being so upfront about the issue, and not explicitly talking about gay marriage, they prove ways in which a homosexual couple can break stereotypes and defy beliefs about their inability to raise children in a healthy, wholesome home.  This subtle and comedic approach is a smart strategy to bring a positive view on homosexuality into American homes.

The first stereotype that this couple breaks is that all gay couples have one stronger or masculine member and a weaker, more passive member, which therefore establishes their roles during sexual encounters.  In his article “Chicano Men: A Cartography of Homosexual; Identity and Behavior,” Tomas Alamaguer writes that “Unlike the European-American system, the Mexican/Latin-American sexual system is based on a configuration of gender/sex/power that is articulated along the active/passive axis and organized through the scripted sexual role one plays” (Alamaguer 110).  In the show, Cameron and Mitchell have both masculine and feminine roles throughout different episodes, making it difficult to assign a certain role to either character.   Throughout most episodes, the show plays on comedic instances where Cameron or Mitchell’s sexuality dominates how they react to things or their interests, but  there are still episodes that display their “macho” characteristics, making it unclear as to which partner takes the role of the “man” in the relationship.  Cameron’s “masculine” scene can be seen in the episode “After the Fire” (http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi85237273/) where he wants to prove to his nieces that a gay man can drive a truck, and Mitchell’s can be seen in “Dude Ranch” (http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi441031705/) where he blows up a bird house with his nephew and actually enjoys it.  By displaying both gender roles by both of the partners, Cameron and Mitchell are proving Alamaguer’s statement and disproving the belief that most people have about homosexual roles in a relationship.

The second way that Cameron and Mitchell defy popular mentality is through their relationship with their daughter, Lily.  When discussing initial reactions to homosexual behavior in the 1950s, D’Emilio writes “it seemed to constitute an appropriate response to behavior that offended common decency, violated accepted norms, and threatened the welfare of society” (D’Emilio 23).  We would like to think that this type of mentality has died out, but it is still very alive today, and is in fact, a big argument against gay marriage.  Many believe that homosexuals threaten societal norms, especially by the fact that they cannot have or raise children.  However, Cameron and Mitchell prove this mentality wrong by raising their daughter in a respectful home with popular, “heterosexual” values.  The show illustrates an example of a problem that many parents face with their child in the episode “Little Bo Bleep” in which Lily says the “F word.”  Cam and Mitch are obviously concerned and debate over what is the best way to go about teaching Lily that that word is inappropriate (http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/episode-detail/little-bo-bleep/916288).  This episode shows that a gay couple goes through the same kinds of issues with their child as would a straight couple and that they still teach them good values.

Modern Family is media’s way of showing us that publicizing homosexuality in a humorous and nonthreatening way can lead to gay awareness and greater acceptance of gay marriage.  Acceptance of the gay couple on the show will hopefully lead to acceptance of gay couples in general in order to finally give every person the right to marry whomever they want.  And beyond that, to allow Modern Family to finally throw Cameron and Mitchell the wedding they have always dreamed about.

Bibliography

“After the Fire.” Modern Family. ABC. 16 Nov. 2011. Web

Alamaguer, Tomas. “Chicano Men: A Cartography of Homosexual; Identity and Behavior.”  Social Perspectives in Gay and Lesbian Studies. Peter M. Nardi and Beth Schneider, 1998.

D’Emilio, John. “Homosexuality and American Society: An Overview” Politics, Sexual, Communities in the United States 1940-1970, Chicago Ill:University of Chicago Press, 1983.

“Dude Ranch.” Modern Family. ABC. 21 Sept. 2011. Web.

“Little Bo Bleep.” Modern Family. ABC. 18 Jan. 2012. Web.

The Dual Role of Mass Media

The Dual Role of Mass Media

                                                                                                                Ruiqi Ye

       In the episode White Wedding in season seven of Grey’s Anatomy, the lesbian couple Callie Torres and Arizona Robbin finally get married in Seattle after they have been through all the ups and downs of relationship within two years. Although in the absence of a priest, a church, or even Callie’s parents, Callie and Arizona hold their hands and make vows. Their illegal yet romantic wedding is a reaction to the current political issue, gay marriage. By focusing on Callie and Arizona in the episode White Wedding, I will examine the dual role that mass media plays in shaping our attitudes towards homosexuality. On one hand, mass media reinforces stereotypes of gay people and favors the privileged; on the other hand, it also promotes tolerance towards such privileged group and benefits them in the discourse of gay marriage.

       The stereotypes hidden in Grey’s Anatomy become crystal clear when we scrutinize the backgrounds of Callie and Arizona. Callie and Arizona are both white, middle-class females who hold decent jobs as surgeons at the fictional Settle Grace Hospital. According to Barbara Smith, people tend to perceive gay individuals as white, middle class, and males (113). In the context of Grey’s Anatomy, although Callie and Arizona are females, they possess the major features in the stereotype, which are white and middle-class. This link between gay people to a specific race and class, as Smith further argues, “undermines consciousness of how identities and issues overlap” and ignores the minority of homosexuals who are “people of color and working class and poor and disabled and old (113).” Another stereotype presented in Grey’s Anatomy lies in the space that Callie and Arizona occupy—the big city Seattle. According to Mary Gray, urban spaces are symbolized as “dynamic”, “forward-thinking”, and “brimming with potential”, while rural is defined as “what urban is not”, “static, traditional, and inadequate” (52). In Grey’s Anatomy, Callie and Arizona are able to work as attending surgeons and hold their romantic wedding in a public garden because they are in an urban city, where citizens are characterized as modern and open-minded. Together, Callie and Arizona reinforce stereotypes about homosexuals regarding race, class, and space and contribute to the construction of homonormativity; this politics not only favors a privileged type of gay people (like Callie and Arizona) who can be incorporated into a heterosexual society, but also ignores the existence of homosexual minorities.

       Although Grey’s Anatomy rearticulates the overwhelming stereotypes of gay people, it deliberately urges us to ponder over gay marriage by presenting the conflicts between heterosexuals and homosexuals. Despite the fact that they are the privileged in LGBTQ communities, Callie and Arizona encounter tremendous difficulties in White Wedding. In part 1, Callie’s mother Lucia, a religious Christian, leaves before Callie’s wedding because she refuses to watch her daughter commit a sin. “Do you know how devastating it is to raise a child, to love a child and know you won’t see that child in heaven?” Lucia asks sadly. In addition, the priest arranged to marry Callie and Arizona is unable to show up due to his wife’s car accident. As a result, they have to move their wedding from a church to a garden. In spite of all the odds, this lesbian couple succeed in marrying each other and their marriage conveys the positive message that things will work. As their colleague Dr. Bailey says, “you do not need the law or a priest or your mother to make your wedding real” and “if you are willing…to give yourself in that kind of partnership in better or worse in sickness and in health, honey, that is a marriage(Part 2).” Ironically, another heterosexual couple of doctors working at the same hospital are getting married simultaneously, but in the marriage license office. This intentional contrast between a homosexual wedding and a heterosexual one compels us to reevaluate human rights and privileges. White Wedding challenges the prevalent denials of gay marriage and gay people as human beings who deserve a marriage license by rendering a homosexual couple visible in mass media.

       Through my analysis of the lesbian couple Callie and Arizona from Grey’s Anatomy, we can see how mass media plays a dual role in the portrayal of gay couples. Mass media restricts gay people to a particular type in terms of race, class, and the space they occupy; however, it also promotes acceptance of gay marriage and homosexuals, especially the privileged ones, via increasing representations of them in TV programs. Overall, mass media expands the visibility of the dominant group while neglects the minorities in LGBTQ communites.

Works Cited

Smith, Barbara. “Homophobia: Why Bring it Up?” The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. ed. Henry Ablelove. New York & London, Routledge, 1993. Print

Gray, Mary. “From Websites to Wal-Mart: Youth, Identity Work, and the Queering of Boundary Publics in Small Town, USA.” American Studies 48.2 (2007): 49-59. Web.

“White Wedding.” Grey’s Anatomy. Abc. 5 May. 2011. Web.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liqkc3izikI (part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=wyh12X5Cpaw (part 2)

Barney Takes a Stand

Andrea Huang

Since the late nineteenth century, when the wave of religion and conservatism swept through Western societies, members of LGBTQ have become increasingly marginalized and persecuted. Their sexual differences have been seen as unclean and are shunned upon by the majority of society. In a progressive era where racial barriers and class systems have been broken down, it is time to think about the rights for people that are part of LGBTQ. Congressman Barney Frank (Democrat-Massachusetts), one of the first lawmakers to be openly gay, continues to mark a revolutionary point in history by announcing his intentions to marry his longtime partner, Jim Ready two weeks ago. In this blog post I will use Gayle Rubin and Barbara Smith's ideas behind the history of sexuality, why it is important to think about it now, and tie it back to Congressman Frank who is taking a radical step towards liberating sexual minorities in the face of law.

Luke Johnson of The Huffington Post reports from Washing that "Barney is planning to get married to his partner Jim Ready. The ceremony will take place in Massachusetts" (2012). It seems that the wedding ceremony is to take place in Massachusetts not just because it is Congressman Frank's home state, but also because it is one of only six states, and the District of Columbia, to grant same-sex marriages. It was of great importance for the lawmaker to set a personal example for gay rights activist, as he says, "It's one thing to say 'I'm not prejudiced against a person who is gay,' it's an entirely different matter to accept that person in their personal relationships. So over the past five years or so, Jimmy [Ready], my partner, and I have made it a point to attend events together, to go to public places as a couple. It is important people see that" (2012). His public relationship with Jim Ready and his intentions to marry him is a rebellion against socially-constructed norms and behaviors that embody the message of it being a necessity to extend equality and justice to gays in the United States.

Gayle Rubin (1993, 144) asserts that the institutional forms of sexuality are a site of conflict and were created by human activity. This conclusion can be easily drawn if one were to trace back in time through history. Research and data have revealed ground-breaking evidence of a vivacious culture in prostitution existing in 70 A.D. Pompeii, Italy.  Both opposite-sex and same-sex prostitutes were available for choosing without any judgment on behavior. If this kind of sexual freedom existed so long ago, then it must be that over the course of almost 2000 years, society's attitudes have turned against the idea that there is a whole spectrum of sexuality, and set just one gold standard.

So what accounts for this shift of thought?

Is it because people have become increasingly homophobic? As Barbara Smith (1993, 113) argues, people are usually threatened by issues of sexuality, and the mere existence of homosexuals put their own sexuality in question. But say it does put our sexuality in question, a lot of us do not dare to experiment around with it because of the implications associated with that. Many Western society's current laws that sexually oppresses people date back to the moral crusades in the late nineteenth century. There was a trend towards conservatism, religiousness, and when psychology and medicine took power, they exploited the trends and redefined sexuality in a way that eliminated what they thought to be 'undesirable' (Rubin 1993, 152).

In light of this analysis on sexuality, it can be understood that human beings have tightened up the parameters of sexuality. However, sexual differences do not indicate a lack of character, morality, or mental agility as society likes to think it is. And it is crucial for America, as progressive as we think we are, to change those views, think about the forms, the politics, the inequalities, the oppressions, and any other issues associated with sexuality. The time to break down conservative sexual barriers has come, and Congressman Barney Frank makes the first-advantage move against the unforgiving society and law.

Bibliography

Johnson, Luke. "Barney Frank Marriage: Retiring Congressman Intends to Marry Longtime Partner Jim Ready" The Huffington Post 26 Jan 2012. Web, 26 Jan 2012

Rubin, Gayle. "Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality" from Social Perspectives in Gay and Lesbian Studies ed. Peter M Nardi and Beth Schneider. 1993.

Smith, Barbara. "Homophobia Why Bring it Up?" from The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader ed. Henry Ableove, Michele A Barbale, David M. Halperin. 1993.

The Social (R)Evolution of Gay Marriage: Past and Present

    The foundations of human existence stemmed from the ability for biological evolution and procreation. With this in mind, a correlation can be constructed between the biological and the social, where social evolution and the birth of new ideas have led to the emergence of a visible LGBTQ community. There is much debate about LGBTQ issues ranging from ethics to religious views to heterosexual biases; and at the forefront of today’s ‘Queer Hot 100 List’ is the issue of gay marriage. John D’Emilio and Adrienne Rich discuss such LGBTQ issues and Annie Linskey reports a new headliner that advocates to and for same-sex couples seeking to get married.
     In “O'Malley Seeks Religious Support for Same-sex Marriage Bill,” Annie Linskey discusses the LGBTQ community in Baltimore, Maryland as they are slowly beginning to receive support from their religious counterparts. A revised bill was presented by Governor Martin O’Malley that, if passed, would legalize gay marriage in the state. The bill was revised so that it would ensure “religious protections” and was specifically reworded to “blunt opposition” from religious individuals who worried about being forced to adhere to the law against their personal morals (Linskey 2012). The bill, however, would support these individuals’ religious views above supporting the gay marriage bill when future nuances arise in practice. The significance of this bill is the support that it is starting to receive from religious citizens within the community. Reverend Delman Coates of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church went to the Government House to show his support of the bill, but specified that religious others do not have to “agree with same-sex marriage as a matter of personal religious choice” just because he does (Linskey 2012).
    Although this seems contradictory, it is a significant step in the social evolution of acceptance and equality for the LGBTQ community in the eyes of America’s heterosexist society. As Adrienne Rich argues, heterosexism is brought on by social factors drawn from sexual inequalities. As these inequalities fester between heterosexual couples, they suggest to women that “marriage and sexual orientation towards men are inevitable” and are the norm (Rich 1995). This also suggests that being heterosexual is indeed normal, and not being heterosexual is abnormal. In rewriting the bill, Governor O’Malley is embarking on a journey for social equality that the LGBTQ community has already been trekking. However, because of Reverend Coates’ personal support of the bill, his shift in view is especially significant because religious individuals are hopping on board as well. Through becoming more aware of the social inequality of non-heterosexually identified people, social change is becoming more tangible to the LGBTQ community - albeit slowly, but surely. This is exemplified in Coates’ verbalization of “I think everyone is protected here” when speaking about how the bill incorporates gay marriage while simultaneously acknowledging the church’s beliefs (Finskey 2012).
    Also, at this stage in the social evolution of the LGBTQ community, it is important to reflect on the social changes in America that have led up to this particular current event. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, homosexuality was not even recognized because heterosexuality was “literally the only way of life” (D’Emilio 1983). Moving into the early twentieth century, homosexuality was beginning to be identified and acknowledged, where people were beginning to act on their sexual preferences. However, views on homosexuality were thwarted by “Judeo-Christian tradition” and society began to view same-sex interaction as a “heinous sin” in which the “inferior” homosexuals should be “punished” for their “acquired form of insanity” and “homosexual…pathology” (D’Emilio 1983). Although there are still those today who view homosexuality as a “disease” and wish to continue viewing homosexuals as “criminals,” the evolution into today’s society is apparent.
    Looking back on previous views on same-sex relations, the social change being facilitated by today’s government in Maryland is revolutionizing the way in which people are interacting with religion and sexual minorities of LGBTQ. As Reverend Coates said, he feels like the “legislation would not force his church to do something against its beliefs” and when “wavering delegates” see this, they will hopefully support the bill and further facilitate social acceptance of the LGBTQ community (Finskey 2012).   
    Thus, social evolution has been seen throughout America’s history. This evolution has lead to a revolution in the way that religious individuals view and interact with people in the LGBTQ community, while facilitating further social change and acceptance of non-heterosexual individuals.

Works Cited
D’Emilio, John. "Homosexuality and American Society: An Overview" from Sexual
Politics, Sexual, Communities in the United States 1940- 1970. Chicago, Ill: University
of Chicago Press, 1983.

Rich, Adrienne. "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" from Professions
of Desire: Lesbian and Gay Studies in Literature. ed. George Haggerty and Bonnie
Zimmermann. New York: Modern Language Association, 1995.

Linskey, Annie. “O'Malley Seeks Religious Support for Same-sex Marriage Bill.” The Baltimore Sun Jan 2012. Web. 08 Feb. 2012. <http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-same-sex-religion-20120124,0,1852313.story>



http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-same-sex-religion-20120124,0,1852313.story