Review the specific goals that need to be achieved to have legal equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Americans...
The following Equality Goals represent those rights and protections
needed to achieve the same human rights for everyone:
EQUALITY GOAL 1: Federal Hate Crimes Protection
Expanding the protections that other minorities have to include LGBTQ victims of hate crimes.
EQUALITY
GOAL 2: Protection from Discrimination in Employment, Housing,
Credit, and Public Accommodation
Legislating
non discrimination not only in the workplace, but in the other areas for which other minorities are protected. Include protection based on sexual orientation and gender identity and
expression.
EQUALITY GOAL 3: Military - Don't Ask Don't Tell
Lift the ban on gays, lesbians and transgenders serving openly by revoking the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, and modifying certain medical and uniform military regulations.
EQUALITY GOAL 4: Marriage Equality
Beyond gay marriage, or lesbian marriage, or same sex marriage: it is a matter of civil marriage equality now, like in Canada, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Norway. It also requires to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
INTERIM GOAL 4A: Federal Protections for Couples
Instituting stopgap equalities including social security benefits and partner immigration equality. Notice that repealing DOMA does not guarantee equal protections for same sex couples (especially in the case that they live in a state in which there is marriage discrimination). Therefore, specific federal legislation is needed to bring equality to all couples who are legally married.
INTERIM GOAL 4B: Civil Unions/Domestic Partnerships
Creating temporary solutions in states where marriage equality now is not possible due to constitutional amendments.
INTERIM GOAL 4C: Repeal the Federal Marriage Amendment Act (DOMA)
DOMA is very brief and has three sections. Secion 1 is the title. Section 2 allows states not to recognize same sex marriages from other jurisdictions (in most states same sex marriages are forbidden in the State Constitution). Section 3 defines marriage, for the Federal Government purposes, as only between one man and one woman.
EQUALITY GOAL 5: Freedom of Gender
Instituting rights and protections currently denied to those who do not conform to traditional gender roles, including transvestites, transsexual, transgendered, and intersex Americans or the many people who self-identify as genderqueer.
EQUALITY GOAL 6: Protecting Youth
Creating protections for safe schools, foster care, and the juvenile justice system for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and gay youth. It also includes anti-bullying legislation and gay straight alliances.
EQUALITY GOAL 7: Same Sex Parenting Rights
Ensuring same sex parenting rights and same sex adoption in all states. Also, granting lesbian couples and gay couples the same rights and responsibilities that
are now granted to heterosexual couples regarding adoption, foster care, child
custody and visitation, and surrogacy/insemination.
The
order of the listing above is determined by a combination of impact, reachability, and cost, and it does not necessarily imply
priority. There are two Interim Goals (Civil Unions and Domestic
Partnerships) that are not necessary if Equality Goal 4 (Marriage Equality) is achieved.
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