Similar to the civil rights movement of the sixties, our country is once again seeing a rise in civil hate crimes and a rise in discrimination against a particular group of people. In our present day and age, these crimes are occurring against those that chose a sexual orientation or gender identity outside the norm. By doing this, they may accidentally invite a lot of hate into their lives.

In order for gay civil rights to be recognized and respected, it will be an uphill struggle, as is demonstrated in the history of gay civil rights. For example, the struggles that homosexuals have had just to be recognized as a legal family unit, and other governmental entities do not recognize gay marriages as equivalent to traditional different-sex weddings. Even though the couple is committed, the government entities will not permit them to have a legal wedding, like heterosexual people do.

There have been improvements in legalization of civil rights for homosexuals. Acts have been passed to ensure that there are non-discriminatory housing and job opportunities and making sexual discrimination illegal. Although this is certainly a step in the right direction for gay civil rights, it is still no actual guarantee that homosexuals will get exactly the same treatment as heterosexuals. Companies have found means to circumvent these statutes, particularly in so-called "right to work" states.

Statistically, gay hate crimes are in decline. However, that doesn't necessarily indicate that they are happening less often. Since the struggle for homosexual rights is still very much ongoing, many gays are frightened or embarrassed to notify authorities when they are victims of such incidents. For this reason, while the numbers related to reported violence may be right, many occurrences are never talked about or are called in as another type of illegal behavior.

Conservatives present the largest opposition to the overall gay movement. These people, who believe in one particular way of doing things, are very hard to change. Usually these conservatives are based in some hard religion that does not allow changes. Gays are viewed as an abomination. Because people think like this, people die every day.

Homosexual civil rights are becoming a prominent issue in the lives of many individuals. There is no reason for intolerance. Violence against an individual for reasons of sexual orientation is not acceptable. While prejudices will always exist, much can be learned from the past concerning acceptance and tolerance. When a bright light is shown on those doing wrong, it becomes much easier to eliminate such evil and those that responsible.

In our present day and age, these crimes are occurring against those that chose a sexual orientation or gender identity outside the norm. By doing this, they may accidentally invite a lot of hate into their lives. The history of gay rights shows us that it will be a long and tedious project to obtain total equality and equal gay civil rights. The battle that many of these people are fighting is seen in the war that gays have fought to simply be a family. Many areas still do not see gay marriage as a legal binding contract.