Gender Struggle for LGBT Rights - Case Study Example

Introduction In today's contemporary time, people are already given their right to choose whatever sexuality they may want to belong with. It shouldbe noted that the issue of homosexuality (gay and lesbianism) was once a long issue not only in the United States, but in all other major countries around the world. Homosexuals fought, and are actually continuously fighting for their rights, to be recognized and accepted as deserving members of the society. They have fought long and hard enough that they are majority of the countries across the globe has already believed that there is indeed a third sex - he homosexuals. The United States was one among the first countries where homosexuals felt the very strong urge to initiate and actively fight for their rights. It was also in this very country where the trend and issues about homosexuality started to spread. Needless to say, it was also in this country where the majority of gay and lesbian activists started. Now another issue is starting in one of the famous cities of the America - the New York City. Reports revealed that a proposal has been filed in this city' government sector concerning gender preference which is, of course, relative to homosexuality. The question is: What could be the moral and sociological impact of New York City's new proposal regarding gender preference Homosexual Related Issues Almost all countries around the world have gay and lesbians as part of their population. Because of the vast numbers of homosexuals, it is just expected that some of the country' rules and regulations will be initiated which could either harm or protect the homosexuals. However, beneath all of these issues, challenges and plans for people with a different sexual orientation in opposed to the gender by birth, the factors affecting this increasing numbers of gays and lesbians in the land remain the same. There are basically three domains of man's development. One is the 'biosocial domain', which refers to the human development that includes physical growth and development as well as the family, community and cultural factors that affect the growth and development (Berger, 2005). The second is what we call as the 'cognitive domain'. Cognitive domain development is a part of human development that includes all the mental processes through which the individual thinks, learns and communicates plus the institutions involved in learning and communicating (Berger, 2005). And lastly is the psychosocial development, which is a human development that includes emotions, personality, characteristics and relationships with other people - family friends, lovers and strangers (Berger, 2005). With this, we can easily reflect that there are indeed various reasons why and how homosexuality is increasing. The psychological and psycho-social development of a person is affected by a number of factors. Media Effects In today's world, media has been playing a detrimental part to the people's lives. Media is a short form of the term "media of communication" that is used to refer organized means of dissemination of facts, opinions, and entertainment such as newspapers, magazines, cinema films, radio, television, and the World Wide Web (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media, 2005). Journalism and/or the news are just a part of the media, but it entails a lot of efforts already, and it presents a big impact to the majority of readers or viewers or listeners. A lot of people are very much aware that the information that they will be getting and eventually share to people will have great impact to the people from all countries. Therefore, any information, regarding homosexuality will definitely affect the minds of the viewers. These media information on gays and lesbians will either, "invite" to be part of the homosexual population or they will oppose with the idea. Effects of Homosexual Parents In Patterson's research report (1992), she cited that there are major children's perspectives on homosexual parenting. First among which talks about the phenomenon of openly gay or lesbian parents bearing and/or raising children that represents a socio-cultural innovation focusing on the present historical era; as such, it raises question about the impact of non-traditional family forms on child development. Non-traditional because, as we are all aware of, it is only in today's generation at gay relationship is being accepted - socially and legally. Patterson further concluded that as long as the homosexual parents could let their children understand the real scenario, there is a strong indication that children could very well accept and love their parents even though they seemed to be different from the traditional parents in the area. Cameron (1997) revealed that homosexual parents are not more apt to have homosexual children. He further cited that the sexual orientation of the parents - may they be heterosexuals or not - does not affected or influence the child's identity. In support to this, Golombok and Taker (1996) disclosed that although those lesbian families were more likely to explore on same-sex relationship, particularly if their childhood family environment was characterized by an openness and acceptance of lesbian and gay relationships, still the large majority of children who grew up in lesbian families are identified as heterosexuals. New York City: The Proposal "Separating anatomy from what it means to be a man or a woman, New York City is moving forward with a plan to let people alter the sex on their birth certificate even if they have not had sex-change surgery" (Cave, 2006) Some policy makers in New York city would like to set another trend, and this time, the trend will concern any gender curious individuals. This particular proposal is aimed at giving anybody a chance to change their sexual orientation in a way that they want to. A male can be enlisted legally as a female, even without undergoing any surgery or transplant. The only condition that must be followed is the idea that anybody who would want to be allowed to legally change or choose their gender preference or orientation if they have been using such gender orientation for not less than two years. Meaning they would need to provide proofs that they have been known as a female or male even if their real gender at birth is not their preferred gender. There are a number of issues that this proposal has created. First, many are questioning about the moral basis of such proposal. What rights does anyone have that he/she may be able to change his/her own sexual orientation whenever he/she feels like doing it Another issue pertains to the social impacts of such rule, once approved. Allowing anybody to change his/her gender may affect peace and stability in one's society. People with negative intentions would just try to 'change' their gender and provide falsified documents just to get away with their motives. Creating a Stand I personally believe that if people will be allowed to change their sexual orientation even without undergoing any sex-change surgery should not be allowed for it is already way out of what is normal and proper. It is not normal because rules or country policies should not be that lenient to in allowing anybody to change their gender preference. They would even like to allow anybody to erase what has been originally in their birth certificates. Socially accepting gays and lesbians is ok, but allowing them to alter what has been written from the original and only record that will provide their real identity at birth is a different thing. What will happen if a child is just affected by the media or by one of his/her parent and he/she is just a little confused of what sexual orientation he is really into Does that mean that if for a time he believes that he is a girl, then he can change his identity and become a gay, even without undergoing any sex-change surgery And if so happens that he changes his mind and realized that he prefers being male than a girl, then he can shift gender again and go back to what he originally is Is this what can anyone call normal I also think that such plan is improper because it will just create than solve problems. If this plan will be pursued, this will start more confusion and chaos. Indeed, people with undisclosed negative motives will be very confident to continue their ill deeds because they will think that they can have a 'get-away method' by just trying to change their gender. In just one click of a finger, documents and proofs can be falsified and these bad people can already claim a different identity, and of course a different gender. To sum up, the rising numbers of homosexuals is already an accepted phenomenon. But people should not be crossing another boundary by letting everyone change their gender orientation in just one snap. There should be stricter rules about altering anything from the birth certificates. This is the only paper that will provide records of what is/was the real identity of a person, and such record should not be, in any way, allowed to be altered, unless extremely necessary. References Berger, Kathleen Stassen (2005). "The Developing Person through the Life Span". 6thEd. New York: Worth Publishers. Cameron, P. and Cameron, K. (1996). "Homosexual Parents". Adolescence. Vol. 31 (124). pp. 757-776. Cameron, P and Cameron K (1997). "Did the APA misrepresent the scientific literature to courts in support of homosexual custody" . Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied. Vol. 131 (3). pp. 313.332. Cave, Damien. (7 November 2006). "New York Plans to Make gender Personal Choice" [online] Kessler , Suzanne & McKenna, Wendy (1978) 'Biology and Gender as Social Construction' in Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach, University of Chicago Press Lancaster, Roger (2003) 'The intersexed hypothalamus' in The Trouble with Nature, University of California Press "Mass Media". (2005). [online] "Media". (2005). [online] Myra J Hird (2000) 'Gender's nature: intersexxuality, transexualism and the 'sex'/'gender' binary', Feminist Theory, Vol. 1(3): 347-364 Patterson, C. (1992). "Children of lesbian and gay parents". Child Development. Vol. 63 (5). pp. 1025- 1042. Read More