-As one who has lived in Asia for the last, 5 almost 6 years, I really don’t understand things in my home country
Not a right.
I’d agree with this personally, but find many americans think the BSA is a far right crypto fascist religious organization with a gay-bashing agenda. Thus I have included it as a prime example as media coverage makes the BSA position clear, and the objections have also been well spelled out.
You know, I don’t have access to the resources at this moment to check all “civil codes,” but I doubt there are very many statutes specifically barring a person from doing any particular thing due to their sexual orientation.
And that is a big part of the problem.
Because, if there is no specific law against it, then any blocks or denial are personal and not institutional. Institutional discrimination is relatively easy to identify and fix, you just need to change the law
Casual, personal discriminatio is much more difficult. Sexual orientation is not a protected class everywhere, and so it is perfectly legal to deny Gays access to or benefits from any number of things without legal repercussions.
The problem is not so much that gay people are being legally denied rights, it is that the denial of their rights (based upon sexual orientation) is not specificaly illegal.
-During the civil rights era, there were hundreds of obvious cases of blacks being denied their rights. Voting, Jim-Crow, Sunset Laws, etc etc. Yet gays can vote, buy a house, go to college, get a scholarship, and so on. What is being actually legally of limits to them? It is still legal to call the president of the US a dumb ____er. Yes it’s rude, stupid, and mean, but not illegal.
-For example if a patron sits at a bar, says “I’m gay” does that mean the owner doesn’t have to legally serve them? I really don’t know, as I’ve been denined service at a bar in america. I was drunk.
-In other words we hear “gay rights” but aren’t we already at the point where we really mean “enforcement” and not “new legislation?”.
You can be fired or thrown out of a rental for being gay. That’s a bit of a problem.
If you’re drunk, why would the owner believe your claim?
By the way, if you’re drunk, in most US jurisdictions, the owner is legally obligated to deny service and can lose licensing if they serve a drunk person. It doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, a woman, a Muslim, a Republican, or gay, if you’re drunk, you can be denied service at a bar.
Anyway, no, there’s no legal obligation for the owner to serve you if they don’t want to serve gays. In most states, they can deny service for pretty much any reason, as long as it doesn’t involve denying service to a protected class, which includes race, gender, religion, ethnic background, and a couple other things. Sexual orientation is not a protected class, so you can (in most states) be denied service based on it.
For example, a bar can’t enact a “No Blacks” policy. But a bar can enact a “No Gays” policy.
Not necessarily.
According to Wikipedia there are many states where a gay man can be discriminated against in regards to housing. There are no protections for them. Want to hang up a sign “House for Sale - No Gays Allowed”? It’s cool.
Many states also lack employment protection. “Help Wanted - NGA”
NGA? Please.
“No Gays Allowed” I presume.
In a few states a gay man, even in a long-term relationship, cannot adopt. They don’t have automatic inheritance rights or hospital visitation rights like married couples do. They don’t have the types of anti-harassment or anti-discrimination protections that protected classes have.
The are almost all state-by-state policies and procedures.
That’s arguable. BSA holds itself out as a private organization but it’s chartered and governed by federal statute.
Inheritance rights. If I died, the home I have purchased with my partner could be taken by my family, not my spouse.
IIRC, there are states were straight people can legally have anal and oral sex, but gay people can’t.
Assuming a private setting, this is no longer true after Lawrence v. Texas.
Well, yes. That is pretty much the point. Most legislation on the issue of gay rights is to legally ensure that they are not denied the rights and services that heterosexuals enjoy.
“Aside from getting married what more do gays want” is like saying “Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the musical theater?”
Marriage is what allows partners to make medical and funeral decisions, or visit a sick partner in the hospital, or automatically inherit an estate.
Not just the house, but everything in it, regardless of whose property it was. The surviving partner can be left with nothing more than the shirt on his back, if that.
Whoosh, I believe.
Wear those pants with that shirt!