Homosexuality, or being gay, has always existed. Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be, because it is biological nature.

Homosexuality has been ridiculed and in some places, punishable by death. Though in the United States we have seen better treatment of people who identify as homosexual than in many other countries, there has always been mistreatment of these people. It is hard to truly go back to the beginning where the oppression of gay people started, as it has happened for several centuries, but it should be a known fact that it has been happening for countless years.

However, though mistreatment and ridicule of gay people continues, there has been an obvious shift, where instead of being shot in the streets, though there has been some cases of that still happening, there are parades in the biggest cities of almost every state celebrating homosexuality, as well as every other member of the LGBT+ community. These parades include rainbow clothing, fundraisers, brilliant color and lots of music.

So what caused this shift? There are several riots that went against the status quo of mistreating homosexual people, including the Stonewall riots, which were a catalyst for several adjustments in society in regard of gay people. Laws have been implemented solely for the protection of homosexual people, and to lower the rate of which hate crimes are committed against them.

Many people celebrated this shift, which made sure that gay people have complete protection under the law, but some people were not so happy about this. Many people claim that homosexuality is against their religion, and support the idea that they should be persecuted for their “sins” or publicly shamed into not being the way that they were born to be anymore. This resistance has caused a divide within the United States, and has created a nation divided on love and identity.

Before the shift occurred, people who publicly displayed their homosexual relationship were shamed and made to feel extremely uncomfortable. Several other things played a factor as the “before the shift” and I will get into that in a later post. After the shift, homosexual relationships may still get strange looks, but very rarely is there a public shaming over these people in a loving relationship like there used to be, and if a hate crime is committed against them, they have more protection under the law then they did before.

This shift has impacted the government in several ways, as they are now forced to address circumstances such as equal marriage rights, equal protection under the law, and the overall view that they have the power to establish of homosexual people. The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Love is Equal, and provided equal marriage rights to those in homosexual relationships. This was an incredible win for gay people, and I am sure made the people in the Stonewall riots incredibly proud.

Two very observable paradigm shifts throughout today’s society is the paradigm shift of the LGBT+ community and the tolerance surrounding it, as well as the use of more psychiatric medication in order to help mental illness.

The United States’ tolerance of homosexuality has most definitely shifted throughout the years, ever since written word existed in America. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, as well as several other people who identify within this community have faced countless adversity throughout the years, but have also experienced some wins for the community. The community has had a very long history of needing to lie to their family members about who they are, how they identify, who they love, but also feel like it is necessary for them to “come out” and share their vulnerability with their families and friends. There was a point in time where members of the LGBT+ community would be killed for their identification or who they love, and obviously, the United States has come a very long way. There has been a definite change when it come to the view of the LGBT+ community, as in modern day there have been Pride parades and festivals that celebrate the LGBT+ community and those that represent it. Back when even our parents were our age, that type of parade or festival would have been unheard of.

A paradigm shift is also very evident when it comes to treatment using psychiatric medication including anti-depressant, anti-psychotic, and anti-anxiety medications. Modern day has presented many accomplishments for Psychiatric practices, as improvements in medication have presented themselves, as well as practices in order to treat mental illness, including therapy, clinics, and advanced hospitals. More information is able to be discovered as our technology gets better at scanning the brain and truly understanding what is going on inside of it and effective ways to treat it. Older generations find it very hard to understand the different types of treatments available in modern day, because when they were younger, they were told that some people are just crazy and should be in a hospital, when in modern day, these ill people can be treated in effective ways to make their everyday life better.

New York State Senator Diane Savino agrees that love has no labels.

When the New York State Senate was voting on the Marriage Equality bill, Diane Savino made a very passionate speech as to why she is voting for the bill, and why her fellow Senators should do the same. This speech took place in New York in December of 2009, when the state Senate was initially voting on this bill. Diane Savino is a Democratic politician acting as a state senator who actively speaks out about her support of the LGBT+ community. This speech, obviously, was created and spoken as a result of the voting being done by the Senate about this specific Marriage Equality bill. Unfortunately, Senator Savino’s speech did not reach every single person in the Senate like I believe it should have, and at the time, the Bill was not passed.

Senator Savino made several strong arguments throughout her speech, such as referencing several relationships in her life, some of them being heterosexual, and some of them being homosexual. She speaks about the true meaning of marriage, and how it is a devotion of one person to another, and that it should not matter the gender of each individual devoting their life to someone, rather it should matter the quality of the relationship.

Senator Diane Savino made several more arguments based on logic and factual evidence than Ad Council’s video, ‘Love Has No Labels’. As we have discussed before, the video mostly targets the emotions in the audience watching the campaign, while Senator Savino heavily relies on her credibility as a speaker as well as the logic she puts forth to her audience, which are fellow members of the Senate. Ad Council is able to present a completely different experience to the audience as they are able to use visuals, and very little words, while Senator Savino must rely on her words and the arguments she is able to make.

For Ad Council, I believe that their campaign was effective and reached their goal of being shared millions of times across social media dashboards and through YouTube. Ad Council was able to reach their audience using the love displayed at the time as an encouraging factor instead of relying on their words and arguments that they might have had to make in order to get their message across. Senator Savino, however, did not have the availability to use visuals or truly touch on the emotions of her audience, as they were in a very official setting. She had to rely on providing reasoning and logic in order to make her message heard to her audience, which are just as respected individuals as herself, as they were all elected into office. Allowing her message to be heard was slightly more difficult, as she had a limited amount of time and did not have the luxury of sharing it all over social media.

These artifacts are very similar in the fact that they talk about how love does not discriminate over who it is shared between, rather it is the quality of the love shared between the two people. Senator Savino makes a very valid argument as she points out that the relationship between another fellow Senator and his boyfriend is not any different than the relationship between another fellow Senator and his wife. The only difference, Senator Savino says, is that legally, the one Senator and his boyfriend are not allowed to get married, and yet the other Senator and his wife are.

Senator Diane Savino, in December of 2009, had she known that in 6 years this video by Ad Council would have been produced, she would have wholeheartedly backed it up, as they share several of the same commonplaces. All of which are rooted in love, acceptance, and fairness.

Senator Diane Savino giving her speech as to why she is voting for the Marriage Equality Bill.