Gay rights in America still lagging behind other nations

I love being an American. I have always loved my country, and up until the last couple of years, I had never thought about wanting to live or work in another country. However, I have a sour taste in my mouth when it comes to feeling equal or having rights within America.

American is lagging behind other developed nations when it comes to offering any type of equal rights to American citizens. Talk of lifting the gay ban in the American military gives me hope that maybe this might be the first big step in a long uphill battle many Americans have been fighting, long before I entered this fight.

One of the biggest issues currently being debated when it comes to gay rights is gay marriage. There is a massive difference between civil unions and what many of us hope for one day, gay marriage. Federal law always trumps state law. With that being said, the biggest drawback of civil unions is even though it's legal in a certain state, the federal government doesn't recognize the union. While a couple can enjoy many of the state benefits, they can never enjoy many of the federal protections such as filing joint taxes, being protected from testifying against their spouse and obtaining survival social security benefits.

Even on the state level many states are lagging behind with allowing any type of union. Living in Texas at times can be difficult. While I plan to move from the south upon my graduation, I still have a few months to go. A year ago I was in the hospital, seriously fearing for my life. The worst part about my experience in the hospital was knowing that the person I was planning to spend my life with had no legal right to know what was going on. I could have entered emergency surgery, and the doctors would have told her she had no legal right to know my condition.

One of the worst parts to me about the current condition of gay rights are situations like the above. There are many privileges, rights and freedoms that the common person takes advantage of on a daily basis without realizing that a portion of the society here in America may never know these benefits during their life time.

Currently only 19 states and the District of Columbia have laws barring discrimination based on sexual orientation. Fewer then half of the states in America protect all of their citizens. A few years back I remember reading my textbook for a philosophy class. A large portion of the class covered homosexuality. I remember vaguely skimming the book until I came upon a passage that absolutely horrified me.

A majority of jobs are unprotected in America for gays. Police officers, teachers and government workers are just a few of the many vocations where a person can be fired on the basis of being gay. How idiotic is that? Suddenly my ability to be a police officer is in question because I am gay? Did I suddenly prove myself to be inadequate in any way? Being uncomfortable with someone's sexual orientation is in no way an acceptable reason to suddenly hinder their life.

There are so many areas that are covered under gay rights that it would be impossible in this opinion to cover all of them. They range from hate crime protection, gay marriage and don't ask don't tell to harassment and discrimination in school. There is a lot of inequality occurring in America. This is a fight that I and others will be fighting for decades to come.

I'm not asking for anyone to suddenly accept my being gay. The last couple of years I've dealt with backlash I have received from loved ones, friends and society as a whole. What I and so many others are asking for is to be treated like human beings, to be given the opportunity to live my life according to my standards, the standards that every other hard working American has.

I'm asking for rights. Not too long ago African Americans were asking for the same thing. Just because the biggest racist in America may hate a certain race doesn't give him the right to take away anyone else's right. Americans accept that different races and different religions should be offered the same rights. So how long is it going to take for Americans to wake up and realize sexual orientation shouldn't be a deciding factor in whether or not a person is given rights?

]Jennifer is a public relations senior from Rice.