What is the right response for society?

     Kristine's post on what society has come to is really interesting because is questions why America is unable to tolerate individuals with different sexual orientations:

At this moment, there are thousands of people fighting for equal treatment. These people are being constantly put down by society and everyone around them. Their rights are constantly being shot down and anything they try to do to gain their rights back lead to even more suppression and pain. These people are those who have different sexual orientations than everyone else. Whether someone is gay, lesbian, bisexual or anything else, they are still human beings. Nothing can change that. America is supposedly the country in which anyone is accepted and anyone has the same rights as everyone else. But look at where we are. Look at all the people around you anyone you know who has a different sexual orientation than the "norm" of society. They are not getting the rights they deserve.

     Kristine is making a very critical point when she states that America is a place when everyone is suppose to be tolerated because they are suppose to have equal and natural rights. Instead, there are people who are denied their rights because they have a different sexual orientation than the "general population" of people.
     Although it is understandable that individuals can be uncomfortable around others who are different from themselves, it is not correct to constraint those individuals from being who they really are. For individuals with a different sexual orientation, it is already hard enough for them to even choose to publicize their preferences because of the negativity the general society has towards them.
     I think sexual orientation is basically similar to an individual's gender. Whether the individual chooses to be what they want to be or if they were born that way, it is simply another choice or living style.
     If women and African-Americans were able to gain their rights through the changes in the Declaration of Independence when it was not included in the first place, why should individuals with different sexual orientations not be able to get their rights? The Declaration of Independence states that "all men are created equal" and not tolerating a certain group of people is not "equal" at all.