Throughout the semester we have learned about numerous things that are related to our sexuality and during these last few weeks, we focus on sexual identity. Our sexual identity is comprised of three related yet distinct components, our gender identity, our gender role, and our sexual orientation.
In this second short response paper, you will first reflect on the components of sexual identity, and then take a stance on a controversial issue relating to this while demonstrating your critical thinking about the issues at hand.
Part A
Begin your paper by defining each of the three components of sexual identity and demonstrate your understanding of how they are related yet distinct.
Be sure to use examples to highlight your understanding of the three components of sexual identity (gender identity, gender role, and sexual orientation).
Part B
In the second part of your paper, you are asked to take a stance on a controversial issue relating to sexual identity. We have provided you with four different scenarios all dealing with controversial issues.
Read them all and chose ONE that interests you most. If you wish to write about another controversial issue you are more than welcome to. Be sure to present arguments on both sides of the issue and then take a stance yourself.
Write a short essay in which you demonstrate your critical thinking by reflecting on the controversial issue(s) you chose.
Begin your writing by describing the issue at hand.
State several arguments on both sides of the issue
Analyze different assumptions and evaluate the relevance of contexts.
Take a personal stance on the issue by stating your perspective
Then provide evidence to support your position.
End this section by providing a conclusion and related outcomes/consequences/implications of the issue(s) discussed.
Same-sex couples and adoption
On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court struck down all bans on same-sex marriage in the United States. On March 31, 2016, a Federal District Court struck down Mississippi's ban on same-sex couples from adoption. On June 26, 2017, the Supreme Court reversed an Arkansas Supreme Court ruling and ordered all states to treat same-sex couples equally to opposite-sex couples in the issuance of birth certificates. These court rulings have made adoption by same-sex couples legal in all 50 states.
However, if two same-sex partners have a child together, it is not taken for granted—as it is with heterosexual partners—that they are considered legal parents to their child. For same-sex couples, it is often the case that there is only one legal parent even though two people may equally parent the child and think of themselves as co-parents. This is because the status as a legal parent is automatically conveyed to the parent who has a biological connection to a child, such as a biological mom or biological dad.
The most common means by which LGBT non-biological parents establish a legal relationship with their children is through what is generally referred to as a “second-parent adoption.” A second-parent adoption is a legal procedure by which a co-parent adopts his or her partner’s child without terminating the partner’s parental rights, regardless of marital status. As a result of the adoption, the child has two legal parents, and both partners have equal legal status in terms of their relationship to the child.
This is an unequal emotional, expensive, legal process that heterosexual couples do not have to worry about. A second-parent adoption petition sometimes (this may vary from state to state) includes a list of all the places the second-parent has lived for the last 28 years along with a criminal background check, a home study, and standing in front of a judge – for them to rule if the adoption would go through. The legal fees associated with a second-parent adoption starts at $5,000+. Many queer parents are unable to second-parent adopt, because of the unreasonably high lawyer fees. Only a small slice of LGBTQ people have the “privilege” of going through this process.
What are your thoughts about same-sex couples and their legal right to their children?
Begin your writing by describing the issues at hand. Present some arguments and perspectives on multiple sides of the issues, then present your own stance on the issue and back up your arguments with valid reasoning. You are more than welcome to include references to support your arguments and validate your reasoning.
Military ban
For decades, transgender people were prohibited from serving openly in the U.S. military based on outdated and discriminatory medical standards. However, following a year-long intensive working group studying the “policy and readiness implications,” the Pentagon lifted the ban on transgender people serving openly in the U.S. military on June 30, 2016, acknowledging that it is in the military’s best interest to recruit and retain the best troops, regardless of their gender identity.
Following the 2016 policy announcement, transgender people already serving in the military were able to do so openly and were no longer able to be discharged simply because of their gender identity. In addition, transgender service members were able to access all medically necessary health care and officially change their gender in Pentagon personnel systems. In January 2018, openly transgender recruits were able to join the military for the first time, despite attempts by the Trump-Pence Administration to block them.
On July 26, 2017, President Trump posted a series of tweets in the early morning hours announcing that “[t]he United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” The unexpected and callous tweets were swiftly and widely condemned, including by more than 56 retired generals and admirals, as well as prominent members of Congress from both sides of the aisle. A month after the initial tweets, President Trump issued a formal memorandum detailing the ban and directing Secretary of Defense James Mattis to produce implementation recommendations, which he did in March 2018.
Soon after the announcement of the ban, multiple lawsuits were filed challenging its constitutionality. In response, several federal courts issued injunctions preventing the Trump-Pence Administration from implementing the ban while the cases proceed. However, on January 22, 2019, the Supreme Court lifted the injunctions, allowing the Department of Defense to implement the ban while litigation continues, without issuing a ruling on the ban itself. The Administration began implementing the ban on April 12, 2019.
What are your thoughts about trans people serving in the U.S. military?
Begin your writing by describing the issues at hand. Present some arguments and perspectives on multiple sides of the issues, then present your own stance on the issue and back up your arguments with valid reasoning.
You are more than welcome to include references to support your arguments and validate your reasoning.
Abortion
In its landmark 1973 abortion cases, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to abortion but held that states could prohibit abortion after fetal viability—the point at which a fetus can sustain life outside the womb—if their policies met certain requirements. Since then, the Supreme Court has consistently reaffirmed the fundamental right to abortion while also allowing new limits on a woman’s ability to obtain one. The composition of the Court became more conservative after the appointments of Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020, and more states are expected to challenge the protections of Roe v. Wade by limiting abortion at earlier stages of pregnancy.
What is your stance on abortion?
Begin your writing by describing the issues at hand. Present some arguments and perspectives on multiple sides of the issues, then present your own stance on the issue and back up your arguments with valid reasoning.
You are more than welcome to include references to support your arguments and validate your reasoning.
HIV Disclosure
Disclosing one's HIV status is still widely perceived as socially treacherous. During the early years of the HIV epidemic, a number of states implemented HIV-specific criminal exposure laws. These laws impose criminal penalties on people living with HIV who know their HIV status and who potentially expose others to HIV. Some of these state laws criminalize behaviors that cannot transmit HIV and apply regardless of actual transmission. As of 2020, 37 states have laws that criminalize HIV exposure. The laws for the 50 states and the District of Columbia can be categorized into five categories.
HIV-specific laws that criminalize or control behaviors that can potentially expose another person to HIV.
Sexually transmitted disease (STD), communicable, contagious, infectious disease (STD/communicable/infectious disease-specific) laws that criminalize or control behaviors that can potentially expose another person to STDs/communicable/infectious disease-specific. This might include HIV.
Sentence enhancement laws specific to HIV that do not criminalize a behavior but increase the sentence length when a person with HIV commits certain crimes.
Sentence enhancement laws specific to STDs that do not criminalize a behavior but increase the sentence length when a person with an STD commits certain crimes. This might include HIV.
No specific criminalization laws.
In our state of Hawaiʻi, there are no criminal statutes explicitly addressing HIV or STI exposure. There are no statutes explicitly criminalizing HIV and/or STI exposure or transmission in Hawaii.
Does criminalizing exposure encourage people to disclose their HIV status to sexual partners?
If someone with HIV is virally suppressed, they cannot transmit HIV to a sexual partner. Should they still have to disclose?
What is your stance on the legality of HIV disclosure? Begin your writing by describing the issues at hand.
Present some arguments and perspectives on multiple sides of the issues, then present your own stance on the issue and back up your arguments with valid reasoning.
You are more than welcome to include references to support your arguments and validate your reasoning.
