This is a Collaborative Learning Community assignment.Complete a 750-1,000 word rough draft of your research paper on a controversial topic involving a cultural identifier and the implications for K-1

Jason Duesler

EDU-330

Dr. Spellman

5-19-19

The cultural identifiers discussed in the articles

Rollins (2018) defines a culture identifier as a cultural or a group’s identified and describes how an individual is affected by his/her belonging to a particular culture or group of individuals. The three journal articles (In Daniels 2016; Frank, 2017; Rollins, 2018) describe the culture identifiers such as sexual orientation and gender.

The historical background of sexual orientation and gender

Sexual orientation and gender have been conflated historically and used interchangeably on a daily basis.  In recent years, the "sex is biological, gender is social/psychological" distinction came into vogue in part as a way to avoid that conflation and explain the transgender experience.  An easy way to describe being transgender (and specifically, transsexual) to someone who has no trans experience is to say that that person's "sex and gender don't match."  Thus, organizations such as the WHO use this distinction and further linguistic distinctions such as male/female for sex and man/woman for gender. Even more recently, this binary has been challenged by queer theorists, gender theorists, trans people, and others, as both sex and gender are more complicated than the simple distinction would imply.  The utility of "sex" as a concept has come into question, particularly among trans people and allies who argue that gender is the relevant thing and "sex" is both difficult to pinpoint and often not relevant to the discussion.  Even if we say "sex is biological" it might refer to physical anatomy, hormone makeup, chromosomal makeup and processes such as menstruation, ejaculation.

These characteristics vary more widely in the population than some might think. Anatomy can be altered surgically but also varies naturally, there is a fairly wide range of hormonal and chromosomal options out there (even beyond intersex conditions, one might consider common hormonal differences such as PCOS in women), and not all men and women go through processes that are supposedly typical of their sex, such as menstruation.  Trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) often argue that people should be categorized by physical sex in the restroom, for example, because using gender as an identifier is unfair to those who identify as female but have a very butch presentation.  The challenge to this argument would be that not everyone can be neatly categorized by sex, whereas people can self-identify by gender.

Arguments for and against gay marriage

The controversial topic linked to sexual orientation and gender identifiers in these three articles is gay marriage. Gay marriage (sex marriage) has attracted both sides of the argument as some people support it while others are against it. In Daniels (2016) argues that marriage is not just a religious term, but it is very practical and defines, before the government as well as before the rest of a person’s family, the relationship between one person and his/her partner, as well as the relationship of the two of them and the rest of the world matters a lot. Therefore, everybody deserves that and no one should get to take that away from anybody because they believe in an omnipotent mythical creature. According to the author, marriage is just a basic civil rights issue and homosexual couples should have the exact same rights and privileges that heterosexual couples have.

On the other hand, presents a counterargument about gay marriage and argues that gay marriage should not be legalized because the society will spin out of control and lose all their inhibitions. Society will degrade to the point that everybody will only think about themselves and to hell with everyone else. This will open the door to violent and economic crimes, countries will start going to war, then the nukes will come out and the world will be devastated all because gay marriage was allowed. The author accepts that this might not be because of gay marriage, but at some point, people need to say enough is enough and stop letting their traditional social norm be turned upside down and made uncomfortable for a few minorities.

The injustices arising from gay marriage

Rollins (2018) argues that gay people deserve the right to have their unions formally sanctioned and honored in society because they are our fellow human beings and denying them that tantamount to injustice. In fact, though people lack the sight to see this, they are often others colleagues, friends, siblings and, yes, more than people would ever imagine, our mothers and fathers (Rollins, 2018). Many gay people get corralled into straight marriages and family life early on, then discover late in life that they have been fooling themselves and their families all along and they later come out to start life all over again with the same sex partner they've always known was their natural desire. 

Both teachers and students are often affected by sexual orientation and gender, and the issue of gay marriage. For example, various societies across the world still focus on boy child at the expense of girl child. This makes girls be denied equal education opportunities both by their parents and their teachers in places like the Middle East where girl child is taken to be inferior while boy child is perceived to be superior (Rollins, 2018). On the other hand, the issue of gay marriage has also caused problems in these societies as gay students have been forced to leave school due to discriminations and stereotypes.
Solutions to injustices same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage should be legalized and documented in various constitutions across the world to solve the issues of stereotype and discrimination against gay people being witnessed across the world today. Marriage is state recognition of a relationship, that confers certain rights and responsibilities with regard to inheritance, next-of-kin decisions, immigration, taxation, family law, and so forth.

References

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In Daniels, G. (2016). Married same-sex couples: Religious objection, social security, and tax treatment issues.

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Frank, N. (2017). Awakening: How gays and lesbians brought marriage equality to America.

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Rollins, J. (2018). Legally straight. Sexuality, childhood, and the cultural value of marriage. New York: New York University Press.

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