Free Essay on the LGBT Movement

The LGBT movement has clearly been under attack from the all forms of government for many years. Specifically, in the American continent, the first known incident of punishment to aforementioned people was of a Spanish conquistador feeding them to hounds. In the 1950s, a movement was set up to fight for the rights of LGBT oriented people, which have since morphed into the present day LGBT movement. In this book, the authors are focusing on trying to bring up the challenges that are faced by this section of the society CITATION Joe \l 1033 (Mogul, Ritchie and Whitlock). Over the years, the legal system has been negatory towards the LGBT people. Despite the legalizing of freedom of sexual orientation in America, the writers argue that the old system has not changed. Consequently, the law technically still supports the criminalization of this group. In addition to this, the society is still structured according to the old norm. Thus, this cultural system is still in favor of victimizing the deviants from the societal norm. Thus, the writer is saying that whether you like it or not, the political, social and economic structure is designed to involve you in the victimization of those different from normal societal norm.

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The book begins by explaining how discrimination against queer people is deeply rooted in the colonization of America. It shows how colonizers used narratives on sexual deviance to justify their conquest of the American continent. Consequently, those who have received the sharp end of the blade cutting the sexual deviant have been people of color. This section goes further to show us that the archetypes used against the queer go way back in history. Some of the preconceived notions include that they are inherently violent, mentally unstable and deceptive and dishonest. The book then shows us how these archetypes go on to the legal system to victimize the queer. In American history, the book shows how violence against the deviant has been justified based on their sexual orientation. From the moment a LGBT is arrested, everyone in the society presumes them guilty purely on the fact of sexual orientation. The media is specifically the most notorious perpetrator of this notion.

The book further goes on to the groundbreaking view of how transgender archetypes are invoked in the view of their criminal psychology. In the queer killer section, the book expounds on how the queer members in the society are discriminated based on the murderous act of members of the same disposition. In addition, the archetype emerges where lesbians are viewed as murderous. It is also not uncommon to hear the LGBIT constantly mistakenly described as gleeful killers and sexually degraded predators, which is especially perpetrated by the reports the media makes every time an LGBIT oriented psychopath is found.

In the courtroom, queer people go ahead to receive harsher treatment. From the moment the prosecutor realizes that one is sexually deviant from the norm, the first perception is that the individual is most certainly guilty. This perception goes ahead into shaping the prosecution case from prospective to full blown accusatory. Thus, the case is made much harder for the accused and is borderline critical on every detail of their actions. Beside the prosecution, the decision maker is also generally affected. The judge is most certainly not an island. Therefore, he most certainly is prone to the archetypes on the sexually deviant, as he is also one of the products of this society. The juries and judges thus have the notion of criminalizing the sexual deviant. Consequently, the group in focus ends up getting higher conviction rates and harsher sentences. This is leads to collateral consequences in immigration, housing and employment that can negatively impart and shape their lives.

Aside from the courtroom, the queer also face numerous discrimination in the type of service the legal system offers to them. Subpar legal attendants and public attorneys also contribute immensely to the victimization of this section of the society. The book further reports that the transgender and queer are often faced with immense discrimination by the defense system. It is reported that the queer often receive so much criticism and disrespect from the agencies that they request to defend them that they rarely return for services to them. This is especially probable given that the defense attorneys have little education on the social aspect of the transgender. The book even goes ahead to quote a defense attorney who prevented the judges decision to send a client to a womens drug treatment facility, mistakenly citing that it would be improper.

It is clear that the first thought that would come to your mind when you think of jail is the fact that sexually deviant activities occur there. It has become a common notion that most criminals in prisons are gay. This notion especially covers the colored people. The book clearly shows that after incarceration, the queer often undergo multiple count of sexual violence in prison perpetuated and encouraged by the prison staff. This mistaken theory of using the prison system to supposedly punish and teach the queer person a lesson goes a long way in making them suffer.

In conclusion, the first five chapters of the book prove how discrimination to the sexually deviant is deeply rooted in the American system. It shows that legalizing sexual freedom without serving to make radical changes is the whole system is almost worthless and may even serve for more perpetration of violence in the name of justice.

Works Cited

Mogul, Joey L., Andrea J. Ritchie and Kay Whitlock. Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. n.d.