The fight for gay rights has been an ongoing one for decades. Only 17 of the 50 states in America have legalized gay marriage. These states include California, New Jersey, Washington, New York, among others. “If you’re in a committed relationship with someone for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years, shouldn’t you be entitled to the same rights as someone else?” said Raquel Charter, a teacher at the iSchool.

Although there are thousands of gay marriages in New York, many people still continue oppose gay marriage. “The short answer to why the issue of gay or same sex marriage is still persisting is because society is at that point where it's time to address the issue,” said lawyer Kim Nguyen.

This issue also extends to places such as the workplace and public areas. Studies from the catalyst.org show that 15 to 43 percent of LGBT people have experienced some type of discrimination and/or harassment in the workplace. 21 percent of LGBT employees report having been discriminated against in promotions, pay, and hiring.

These statistics show that many people in society as a whole still are not ready to accept gay couples on many different levels. Thainawan Medina, a sophomore at the NYC iSchool, is one of these people “I oppose gay marriage because it is against the bible,” she said. “But some people bully them and I don’t think that’s right. I would disagree with them but not bully them.”

In 2012 and 2013, 11 states established marriage equality and the Supreme Court struck down section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Until they ruled section 3 unconstitutional, the DOMA had excluded married same sex couples from being recognized as spouses which prevented them from receiving federal marriage benefits.


“Before the Supreme Court ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act, people in New York who were marrying the same sex did not receive the same federal tax breaks or tax benefits as heterosexual couples because the federal system and state system are two separate things,” said Nguyen.

DOMA has only been one step in a fight thats been ongoing for decades. “Gay rights advocacy or equality issues have been going around forever. Right now I would argue that the reason why marriage equality is such a big thing in society is because since generations ago we’ve been building up towards this and so right now a lot of people are recognizing that gay people in general are a part of society, and the law is catching up to that recognition,” Nguyen said.

However, just because there have been big leaps in gay rights in these past few years, this does not mean that there is not still a long way to go in the future.

“I think the fight for equality is this generation’s civil rights. It’s the recognition that we are all one. I may not believe in what you’re doing, but I have no right to judge you. We all need to respect each other,” said Charter.

There are 33 states that still have not legalized gay marriage. If a married same sex couple were to move to a state where gay marriage is illegal from a state where it was legal, they still would not get the federal marriage benefits.

In order for this issue to be resolved, a big change in society has to be made.

“We’ve become a society where we’re so quick to judge, and we shouldn’t be able to do that,” said Charter.