| Gender and Sexuality Essay | ETH 125 | | Codi Pragacz | 11/15/2012 |

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Women and members of the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender) community have had many of the same struggles throughout history. Each group has had rights taken away, progresses in liberations for their individual groups, as well as setbacks for their groups. GLBT people have been noticed as their own group for a shorter amount of time than women groups have but are none the less important.
It is generally seen that the gay rights movement that we currently see was started up in the 1980’s because of the emergence of aides and it was an international conclusion that aides was a disease brought about by the homosexual community. The activists involved in defending the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities united to form a stronger front against the discrimination they faced.
Traditionally the more masculine men have been seen as a more rough, emotionally disconnected and aggressive image whereas femininity has been viewed more as timid, overly sensitive, submissive, and weak. Throughout history women have taken the necessary steps to fight this image and have become seen as more assertive, independent and ambitious. While conversely today it is more acceptable for men to be more emotionally in tune, more concerned with personal appearance, and more willing to be a partner to rather than in charge of their female counter parts. Of course, there are certain people who prefer to stick to the more traditional roles rather than accept these changes.
While equality in the work place has been an obstacle to both groups, strides have been taken especially in the recent years; however, women seem to be gaining ground faster than member of the GLBT community. People in the GLBT community face many obstacles as parents that women never had to experience. Women have always been accepted as parents whereas GLBT community members not only face problems in the process of adopting but also when attempting to raise their own biological children. GLBT member spend a lot more time defending their relationships than women do, these members are not only faced with being denied the right to marry but face opposition when seeking benefits offered to straight couples (ACLU, 2010). In addition to the issues that they faced as part of the GLBT community, trans-genders tend to face a set of their own unique issues including their right to use public restroom facilities.
There are groups like the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and Amnesty International which work towards securing both women’s rights and the rights of member of the GLBT community. There are also organizations such as the HRC (Human Rights Campaign), IGLHRC (International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commition) and InterPride that focus more on the rights of the GLBT community. NOW (National Organization for Women), Women for Women Int’l and Rainbo support gaining rights for women.
Unlike GLBT member women have faced many of their own hardships that they have had to overcome, such as; the right to vote, the right to own property, the right to employment, and even the right to make personal decisions concerning their own body (Rainbo, 2006).
Women’s rights, as well as the rights of the GLBT community, seemed to play a big part in the recent elections. On the one side – the left side – you have the liberal Democratic Party, who tends to value equality over freedom. As a whole, the Democratic Party and its followers are more in favor of abortion rights (pro-choice), gay rights, and same sex marriage. In fact, this year’s Democratic Presidential candidate, Barack Obama, was the first U.S. President to ever openly support same-sex-marriage. On the other hand, you have the far more conservative Republican Party, who generally values freedom over equality. This group is overwhelmingly anti-abortion (pro-life), and largely against same sex marriage or equal rights for members of the GLBT community. This year’s Republican Party candidates raised a few eyebrows with their ideas about redefining rape, and how pregnancies resulting from rape should be handled – especially since the people commenting on these matters were primarily middle-aged white men. (McCandless & Posavec, 2009)
Women and GLBT groups throughout history have both been subjected to workplace harassment, harassment in their education, and all around community exclusion. While both groups have taken appropriate actions to gain their rights this has been a slow and hard process for both groups to overcome.

Bibliography
ACLU. (2010, January). Retrieved November 15, 2012, from www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights
McCandless, D., & Posavec, S. (2009, July 10). Left vs. Right World. Retrieved November 14, 2012, from Information is Beautiful: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/left-vs-right-world/
Rainbo. (2006). Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.rainbo.org/organizations-fight-for-womens-rights/