The Gay Rights movement does parallel the Civil Rights movement in the sense that both were and are signs of their times. Historical moments are historical not because of violence or volume, speeches or marches, they are historical because they are representations of society at any given moment. Consequently, it is never really possible to ever compare to events separated by decades, but it is possible to compare the impact each event had on the world. Right now, the Gay Rights movement is the new Civil Rights movement, and while blacks did suffer a kind of physical discrimination that many gays and lesbians have never experienced, the emotional and civil trauma is comparable. More importantly, the Gay Rights movement is defining a generation; it is once again taxing our ability as a people to band together and accept a minority group that maybe does not act in accordance with the status quo.

The Gay Rights movement started with grassroot efforts to demand equality. While the Constitution proports to protect all citizens, those rights are not exactly guarenteed. Before the Gay Rights movement, sexual orientation was rarely including in any anti-discrimination policies; now, like race, sexual orientation is slowly becoming a protected minority status that cannot influence employment and other enterprises. Through petitions, marches and numerous college organizations, the Gay Rights movement quickly grew into a mass attack on discrimination. Where before gay marriage was never heard of, now it is legal in two states while many other states have at least adopted civil unions. During the Civil Rights movement, interracial marriages were also illegal.

Of course, many of the arguments against gay marriage from a political standpoint contest that not much is lost for gay or lesbian couples if they are not allowed to marry. As a lesbian, I do agree with this, to an extent. Marriage is a religious creation; but because we cannot seem to maintain a separation of church and state, it has also become a political creation. In my opinion, the word marriage should not exist in any legislature if we hope to keep this separation alive. As long as it does exist in legislature, it cannot be argued that marriage is still religious doctrine. So why gay marriage? The answer is simple. Without the ability to legally marry, gay and lesbian couples are not protected. Much like blacks during the Civil Rights movement, they are not considered equal to their heterosexual counterparts. They may enjoy the ceremony, but they receive none of the benefits. Homosexual couples have no rights in terms of taxes, insurance, hospital visits or employment benefits. It is harder for them to adopt, and they are rarely considered next of kin. Civil unions often offer some or all of these benefits without infringing on religion, but the problem is civil unions do not always transfer across state borders, and societal impression is that civil unions do not equal marriage.

So no, the Civil Rights movement and the Gay Rights movement are not the same. Both groups were fighting for equality, but they were not discriminated in the same manner. However, the impacts of the movements are parallel, and more importantly, they each have definied a generation. We will be remembered not for how we discriminated these populations, but for how we learned to accept and tolerate. We will be remembered for the progress we have made, and for that reason we need to be proud that these movements have existed.