Gays and Lesbians – An Introduction

Gays and lesbians have been in the middle of conflict for a long time. Based on religion, cultures and norms, many people have been unable and unwilling to accept them in their communities. The rights of gays and lesbians have been a source of contention both locally and internationally. This conflict has led to their relevance to human resources on various grounds. The work of human resources is however to approach the roles concepts that surround gays and lesbians logically and practically and help in making valid determinations.

Various communities have been reluctant to accept the mere existence of gays in the community. It is the role of human resource to determine whether intervention is required in order to influence this stand. The human resources expert seeks to answer the question of whether the existence of gays and lesbianism is detrimental to the community’s values and morals. It is therefore an issue that remains relevant to human services as long as communities continue to be conflicting to gay people.

In countries where gays and lesbians are appreciated, other issues arise as to whether should be allowed child custody or adoption rights. The role of human resources is to determine whether gays and lesbians play the role of parenting properly. According to Samar (1991), the US does not approach the issue of child custody as privacy or fundamental rights issue. Instead, it is approached as an issue of the child’s best interests. Later studies have shown that in most cases, child custody issues have been approached by putting the victim to prove that his sexual orientation will not affect the rights of the child. According to scientific research, it has been proved that the sexuality of a parent has no negative influence on the children in custody. However, the research further adds that it is of vital importance to determine if the capacity to provide mental, emotional and physical support to the child (Carter, 2006).

As for the issue of adoption, the issue of the child’s best interests is still in effect. It however varies from state to state. It has however been proved that gay and lesbian parents play an equally competent role as parents. This has however not prevented the legal systems from being harsh on them and showing unequal consideration. The problem however remains as to whether gay people and lesbians will get unbiased services in the court system (Carter, 2006).

The legal systems are not exactly clear as to how the issues of gay and lesbian people should be considered. With this in mind, it becomes a concern for the human services to ensure that their rights are observed and granted. It is also the role of human services to investigate the role impact of these groups on the community. It should also strive to educate people regarding gay and human rights so as to minimize stigmatization and discrimination of services.

Human services should also strive to have better laws that govern the issue of human rights as far as gays and lesbians are concerned. In many cases, gays have met with lot of violence when attempting to get services that would often be accessible to other people in the community. While adoption and child custody have been at the top of the conflict, the conflict has been equally great in other fields such as divorce cases, access of social services and simple human rights (Robertson, 2004).

References

Carter, K. J. (2006). The Best Interest Test And Child Custody: Why Transgender Should Not Be A Factor In Custody Determinations. Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine, 16(1), 209-236.

Robertson, J. A. (2004). Gay and lesbian access to assisted reproductive technology. Case W. Res. L. Rev., 55, 323.

Samar, V. J. (1992). The right to privacy: Gays, lesbians, and the constitution. Temple University Press.