您现在的位置: Language Tips> Audio & Video> Normal Speed News  
   
 





 
DC gays celebrate progress, demand equal rights
[ 2009-06-15 12:54 ]

Download

June is Gay Pride month in many cities around the world. This year the celebrations mark the 40th anniversary of an event that sparked the modern homosexual rights movement in the United States. In Washington D.C. on Saturday and Sunday, people celebrated the progress of the movement so far, but also demonstrated for the rights of gay people to legally marry.

A marching band called DC's Different Drummers turned Washington's streets into a dance party as thousands of people packed the sidewalks for the Capital Pride parade.

DC gays celebrate progress, demand equal rights

Steven Miller and his partner Richie Farmer traveled from West Virginia, a politically and religiously conservative state a 5-hour drive away. Miller says the drive was worth it.

"It is great to see just the huge variety of people in our community. You know we are not just one type of stereotype."

Gay pride parades take place every year in June to celebrate the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

The celebrations, which began in 1970, commemorate the Stonewall riots of 1969. That is when patrons of a homosexual bar in New York's Greenwich Village fought back against a police raid. The demonstrations marked the start of the modern gay-rights movement in the United States, and around the world.

At this year's parade in Washington, spectators watched as flatbed trucks carrying dancing, shirtless men drove through a downtown neighborhood.

Further down the parade route, conservatively-dressed gray-haired men and women waved and tossed candy to cheering spectators.

Nearby, mothers and fathers walked side by side with their sons and daughters. They held posters saying, "I love my gay son," and "You are all our children."

Being homosexual, bi-sexual and transgender has become increasingly accepted in U.S. society. But it was not always that way.

In the 1950s, '60s and '70s, gay Americans were the targets of police harassment and many were barred from government jobs.

A pioneer in the gay rights movement, Frank Kameny, says in those days, gays and lesbians were faced with a relentless onslaught of negativism.

"The government and the law said we were criminals. And the psychiatrists said we were psychologically sick, that we were 'loonies.' The religious people, as they still are, said we were sinners. There was absolutely nothing one heard at all to offset that."

Kameny, now 84-years-old, helped end that discrimination by founding the gay rights movement in Washington. He stumbled into activism when he was fired from his government job in 1957 for being gay.

"I was being hit by something. You fight back! How could I possibly sit back and let them do this to me?"

Kameny and another gay rights pioneer, Lilli Vincenz, led the Capital Pride parade in silver convertible automobiles.

Behind them, gay couples waved placards calling for the right to marry. Six states have legalized same-sex marriage, a major victory for the gay-rights movement.

But gay rights activists and their supporters still face many obstacles in their fight to legalize same-sex marriage around the country.

Justice Department lawyers from the Obama administration recently went to court to uphold the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The law prevents homosexual couples from enjoying the legal benefits that married heterosexual couples enjoy.

Parade spectator Steven Miller says activists like Kameny and Vincenz have made it easier to be gay in the United States. They say now the next step in their struggle is achieving equal marriage rights.

"Because we are no different than anyone else. And we should have the rights to do everything that everyone else does."

Gay marriage is a deeply divisive issue in the United States, where many conservatives say it degrades what they call the natural institution of marriage between a man and a woman.

The debate will play out in churches and courthouses around the nation, as activists on both sides fight to uphold their way of life.

transgender:变性

stumble into: 无意中走入,偶然卷入

Related stories:

上海举办国内首个同性恋节

长期饮用塑料瓶装水使人“不男不女”?

哈佛大学设立首个同性恋研究教授职位

美国:加州通过禁止同性恋结婚提案

(Source: VOA 英语点津编辑)

英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883631联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
相关文章 Related Story
 
 
 
本频道最新推荐
 
男性钟情普通身材女性 不爱模特女郎
小金库英文怎么说?
贝克汉姆代言广告 半裸出镜性感无敌
不能直译的常用词汇及句子
Deferred Happiness Syndrome
翻吧推荐
 
论坛热贴
 
人格分裂如何翻译
工龄的英文怎么说?
看Marley & Me 学英语
漂亮女孩最爱说的10句口语
余光中《尺素寸心》(节选)译