The LGBTQ+ community is a community for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and more. For many years, members of the LGBTQ+ community were shunned for loving who they loved. In some countries, it is still considered a crime, and people can be killed for their orientation. The first documented US gay rights organization was in 1924, which was founded by Henry Gerber. On April 27, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order banning homosexuals from working for the government, claiming they are a security risk. 

The Stonewall riots took place on June 28, 1969. Police had a warrant and they roughed up patrons, finding bootlegged alcohol, arrested 13 people, including employees and people violating the state’s gender-appropriate clothing statute. Angry patrons and neighborhood residents hung around outside the bar, becoming increasingly agitated as events unfolded. At one point, an officer hit a lesbian over the head as he forced her into the police car and she shouted for onlookers to act. The crowd began to throw pennies, bottles, cobblestones, and other objects at the police. Within minutes, a riot broke out. The Stonewall riots soon became a staple in the gay rights movements.

In November of 1995, the Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act went into effect as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The law allows judges to give harsher sentences if the person was selected because of the person’s race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. In May of 2012 in an ABC interview, Obama becomes the first president to openly support same-sex marriage on a national platform at the Democratic National Convention. In 2015, the US Supreme Court overruled all state bans on same-sex marriage and legalized all gay marriage in the United States. 

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that federal law protects the LGBTQ+ workers from discrimination. Later in the year, it was ruled that policies segregating transgender students from their peers are unconstitutional and violate federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination in education. In November of that year, Sarah McBride won the Senate race for Deleware District 1 becoming the first person who publicly identifies as transgender to serve as a state senator. Ritchie Torres won the House race for New York District 15 and will become the first black member of Congress who identifies as gay. Maureen Turner won the race for Oklahoma state House for District 88 and will become the first nonbinary state legislator in US history and the first Muslim lawmaker in Oklahoma.

Everybody should be allowed to have a fair chance in the workplace, no matter who they love. It shouldn’t matter who people love when they want to get a job. People should freely love and not feel discriminated against.

Love is Love.