equal but different Essay

equal but different Essay equal but different Essay Equal but differenthomosexuality Blasting Gangnam Style and waving pink and blue flags, hundreds of thousands gathered at supreme court these days to protect the foundations of the family they had been told were under threat. However, â€Å"a sharply divided supreme court gave a double-barreled boost to gay and lesbian rights this Wednesday, upholding a California ruling that legalized same sex marriage in the nation’s largest state and striking down a federal law that denied benefits to those already married in 12 states†.[1] â€Å"There were rallies, cheers and applause all around Ohio Wednesday. There was a celebration outside Cleveland City Hall†.[2] Reaction from the community and officials here are being more closely watched as the city prepares to host a big global eventthe Gay Olympicsnext year. It all means Ohio's gay marriage movement is picking up momentum. And the Supreme Court rulings add to that. Frankly speaking, I think homosexuality is a natural phenomenon. We human beings should respect everyone has right to choose whoever they love. From male killer whales that ride the dorsal fin of another male to female bonobos (dwarf chimpanzee) that rub their genitals together, the animal kingdom tolerates all kinds of lifestyles. Homosexuality as an unnatural phenomenon can now be rejected scientifically. â€Å"With more than 1,500 species displaying homosexuality.†[3] The idea, however, is rarely discussed in the scientific community and is often dismissed as unnatural because it doesn't appear to benefit the larger cause of species continuation. "I think to some extent people don't think it's important because we went through all this time period in sociobiology where everything had to be tied to reproduction and reproductive success," said Linda Wolfe, who heads the Department of Anthropology at East Carolina University." If it doesn't have [something to do] with reproduc tion it's not important." However, species continuation may not always be the ultimate goal, as many animals, including humans, engage in sexual activities more than it's necessary for reproduction. But what percentage of the people is actually gay or lesbian? With the debate over same sex marriage again and an emerging fault line in American political life, the answer comes as surprise: a lower number than you might think, and a much lower one than most Americans believe. In surveys conducted in 2002 and 2011, pollsters at Gallup found that members of the American public massively overestimated how many people are gay or lesbian. In 2002, a quarter of those surveyed guessed upwards of a quarter of Americans were gay or lesbian. By 2011, that misperception had only grown, with more than a third of those surveyed now guessing that more than 25 percent of Americans are gay or lesbian. Women and young adults were most likely to provide high estimates, approximating that 30 percent of t he population is gay. Overall, "U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25 percent of Americans are gay or lesbian," Gallup found. Only 4 percent of all those surveyed in 2011 and about 8 percent of those surveyed in 2002 correctly guessed that fewer than 5 percent of Americans identify as gay or lesbian. Such a misunderstanding of the basic demographics of sexual behavior and identity in America has potentially profound implications for the acceptance of the gay rights. On the one hand, people who overestimate the percent of American gays seem likely to also wildly estimate the impact on social life of same sex marriage. On the other hand, it suggests that a triumph of gay or lesbian movement in the past decades long fight. Of course, gays or lesbians are not the only minority population that has an extensive place in the American imagination. People also â€Å"overestimate the percentage of fellow residents who are foreign born, by more than the factor of two, and the percentage who are in the country illegally, by a factor of six or seven.† according to a 2012 Wall