America is constantly bragging about being a nation of equality. Stating, 'All men are creating equal' a phrase known by all Americans. Promising equality to everyone... except gays. Heterosexuals have 1,138 more rights than gays. Over 1,100 for just having a different sexuality. The LGBT community faces many challenging obsticles such as civil rights, marriage, and social discrimination as well.

Gays lose many important rights that every human should have. Gays lose Joint adoption and parental rights of children. This is wrong because for children of same sex couples, they only have one legal mom or dad. They also are denied domestic violence protection against a partner or former partner. Gays lose the right to make burial decisions for their loved ones and are denied automatic inheritance if a will is unavailable. Another important right gays do not have are joint taxes. A same sex couple cannot file taxes together, which means taxes for them can be higher than an opposite sex couple. Not having the same legal protection as heterosexuals can dramatically change the lives of thousands of homosexuals.

Another major obstical gays face is marriage. All fifty states allow opposite sex marriage, while only five allow same sex marriage. Even in states that do allow same sex marriage, most marriage benifits do not apply. Gays don't vote against straight marriage, what makes straights vote against gay marriage? Religion also has a big impact on gay marriage. Considering many religions do not accept homosexuality, gays are not able to get married by the church no matter how devoted they are to religion. Same sex couples who want to get married are constantly getting the bible thrown at them, but yet the bible does not explicitly define marriage as between one man and one woman. If two people are in love, happy, and devoted to one another, why should their love happiness and devotion have to be legalized and accepted in the first place?

The final big example of inequality among homosexuals is social discrimination. Coming out is one of the hardest challenges many people face, especially to their parents. Many children are kicked out of the house because they are gay. Other people act as if i'ts a lifestyle choice. Gays are often asked or told, "when exactly did you decide to be gay?" "when are you going to tell your parents your gay?" or "it's ok if you're gay just don't flaunt it in public." Heterosexuals are never asked or told "When exactly did you decide to be straight?" "when are you going to tell your parents your straight?" or "it's ok if you're straight, just dont flaunt it in public." Double standards are all around us. The media is one of the biggest. On TV you see a man and woman on every channel doing some form of public display of affection. Its very rare to see two men or two women, and on some channels its prohibited. Bullying is one of the biggest problems, many states do not have protection from harrassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation. Discriminating against someone does not make you look better, it just makes you look ignorant.

A perfect society will never exist, but equality can if Gay is legalized. Start empathizing and put yourself in someone else's position. If you don't like getting your rights taken away, don't take away ours. Gays are human too, there's more to us than just our orientation. Truely a label shouldnt decide which rights a person are entitled to.