Essay on Activism for Social Change: The Civil Rights, WLM & Gay Rights Movements

Introduction

Civil rights movement, the women liberation movement, and gay rights movements are activism groups whose aim has been to make social, economic, and political changes in the society. The civil rights movement was a decade long struggle during the 1950s and 1960 in the United States by African Americans who championed equal rights under the law by ending racial segregation, disenfranchisement, and racial discrimination (Stevenson 414). The women liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of feminists and women intellectualism in the industrialized western nations that affected significantly cultural, intellectual, and political change across the world between the 1960s and 1980s. Gay rights movement, also called LGBT, is a group of people advocating for equal rights for bisexuals, lesbians, transsexuals, and gay men by seeking to remove sodomy laws that ban homosexual acts among consenting adults (Stevenson 412). There are several similarities and differences evident in the three groups.

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Similarities

The first significant similarity between the three groups is the fact that they are all human rights movements. Human rights movements are nongovernmental social movements engaging in activism on matters related to human rights. In most cases, these movements serve to improve the conditions of groups without equal rights with others in society. For the civil rights movement, the women's liberation movement, and gay rights movements, the disadvantage groups were the African Americans, women, and gays, respectively. The similarity in the purpose of the three movements occurs because of the historical links between them. For example, the rise of WLM was partly in response to the Civil Rights movement activities. The civil rights movement had shown how society was characterized by inequalities, thus enabling women to realize that they were also facing oppression similar to those experienced by the blacks.

On the other hand, gay rights movements occur as a replacement of white feminism in the WLM (Stone 460). The three groups, therefore, aims at ensuring that the particular groups that each movement represent enjoy equal social, economic, and political rights like others in the society, irrespective of their difference. The similarities in terms of the aims of the three movements seem to be continuing up until the present day.

The second similarity between the three groups is the ideologies and methodologies used to champion the right of equality. The three movements used the nonviolent direct action, particularly hacktivism, sit-ins, and street blockades. Through the nonviolent direct actions, the members of the movement seek to foster tension and create a crisis forcing a community that has refused to negotiate to confront the issue (Bloom 7). It also aims at dramatizing that the issue cannot be ignored anymore. The civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King promoted the use of nonviolent direct action in his campaigns for the rights of African Americans (Bloom 60). The same case applied to women's rights movement who used nonviolence to boycott and protest as a way of calling the government to the attention of the plight of women in society. Using civil rights tactics, WLM was able to achieve much important success. In the same case, gay rights movements are currently using nonviolent protests such as street blockade and protest to fight for equal treatment before the law. Nonviolent direct action is a distinctive feature that differentiates between human rights movements and militants who use violence.

The third similarity between the movements is the target of their activities. The three groups targeted the creation of laws to protect them and abolition of those that discriminate them. In the civil rights movement, for example, championed for equal political rights and right to vote, while the WLM fight for equal economic rights such as the right to employment. In the case of gay rights movements, they championed rights to marriage and the right to equal access to public facilities such as schools and healthcare (Chang 152). The only bodies that can facilitate the provision and protection of these rights are the governments through the legislative bodies and the executive (Stone 462). Even though the political jurisdiction covered by each movement varied, its aim of each organization is to force the government to make legal changes that will allow them to have equal rights with others in society. Governments, therefore, are the main target of the three movements.

Differences

There are, however, many differences are evident between the three human rights movements. The first difference is the type of people represented and the geographical location covered by the activities of each group. In the civil rights movement, the organization championed for the rights of all African Americans irrespective of their gender across the U.S. (Bloom 4). On the other hand, the WLM championed for the right of all white women rights in the western developed countries, particularly in the U.S. and in Europe. In the case of gay rights movements, it aims at promoting the rights of LGBT people irrespective of their geographical location or race (Chang 154). Gay right movement activities transcend across the entire world. It is, therefore, evident that the civil rights movement was a national movement; WLM a regional, while LBGT is a global movement.

Women's liberation movement, gay rights movement, and civil rights movements are different forms of human rights movements. As a result, they have some similarities and differences. In terms of similarity, first, they all championed the equal rights of their members with those of mainstream society. Secondly, they use similar methodologies to fight for their rights, and thirdly, all their activities are targeted to the government. In case of difference, however, the three groups differ in terms of the geographical area of operations. The civil rights movement was national; WLM was regional, while the Gay rights movement is global.

Works Cited

Bloom, Jack M. Class, Race, and the Civil Rights Movement. Indiana University Press, 2019.

Chang, Helen Y. "A Brief History of Anglo-Western Suicide: From Legal Wrong to Civil Right." SUL Rev. 46 (2018): 150-180.

Stevenson, Ana. "The" Great Doctrine of Human Rights": Articulation and Authentication in the Nineteenth-Century US Antislavery and Women's Rights Movements." Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development 8.3 (2017): 413-439.

Stone, Amy L. "The Impact of Antigay Politics on the LGBTQ Movement." Sociology Compass 10.6 (2016): 459-467.