Gay And Lesbian Rights

The issue of marriage is an important one to gay and lesbian couples, and one that has been at the forefront of gay and lesbian rights media coverage in the past few years. Currently, gay and lesbian couples only have the right to marry in a handful of states. Gay marriage is an important civil rights issue but is not the only one facing gay and lesbian couples. The don’t ask don’t tell policy still prevents gays and lesbians from being open about their sexuality if they want to serve in the United States military, for example. Sexual relations between people of the same sex are legal in every state because of the 2003 Supreme Court ruling. However, in most other areas of gay and lesbian rights, there are significant differences among the states. For example, there is no federal protection against employment discrimination for gays and lesbians, although some state laws do provide employment discrimination protection for homosexuals. Likewise there is no federal law to prevent housing discrimination on the basis of homosexuality, but some states offer this important legal protection.