Millions of people around the world face discrimination and inequality because of who they are, how they appear, their sexual orientation and who they love.  Sexual orientation and gender identity are important components of our identities that should never be discriminated against or abused. The LGBTQ+ community includes, but is not limited to, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people. These people have differing aspects compared to the norm that we as society have set which leads to many unjust actions such as torture, killings, and executions based on sexual orientation and gender identity that have occurred around the world, as have arrests under unjust laws, unequal treatment, censorship, medical abuses, discrimination in health, jobs, and housing, domestic violence, child abuse, and denial of family rights and recognition.

In order to prevent such discriminations millions of peoples and organizations have stood up to raise awareness for their rights, hold pride marches and revoke unjust laws under which people belonging to the LGBTQ+ society members are unequally treated. While homosexuality has existed for centuries the talk about its awareness and rights started around 1924 when the first documented gay rights organization; The Society for Human Rights was founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. After this many organizations emerged and this lead to Illinois becoming the first state to decriminalize homo-sexuality. Soon after the first US televised documentary about homosexuality aired in California. As police raided the stonewall, protests and demonstrations began and this later became to be known as the push for the gay civil rights movement. In 1970 New York City residents marched through the streets to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots. In 1973 Maryland became the first state to ban same-sex marriage.

This was followed by both ups and downs which included Kathy Kozachenko becoming the first openly LGBTQ American to be in public office and the first federal gay rights bill being introduced however it was never brought in for consideration in the judiciary committee. In 1979 the first national march on lesbian and gay rights took place which drew an estimated on 75,000 to 125,000 individuals. This was followed by Wisconsin becoming the first state to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation. In 1996 president Clinton signed the defense of marriage act which banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage which was a low point for the movement. However in recent times with the use of social media etc. the general group of people has been better accepted into society despite federal and governmental acts failing to do so.

Pakistan on the other hand still has a very large stigma around the idea and was one of the 14 states that voted against the UN resolution that was opposing LGBTQ+ discrimination. According to the President of the Neengar Society, their organization offered emergency medical, shelter, and psychological help to 145 LGBTQ individuals between January and November 2014, including 50 from Karachi, 10 from Lahore, and two from Islamabad. He claimed that family members had abused and threatened to kill LGBTQ people in every case, but that no one was ready to file a police report for fear of being arrested because of their sexuality. Pakistani society has also highly stigmatized the idea of sexual orientation with most kids having limited idea as to what it is, almost no school giving sex-education and the general patriarchal society unwilling to change their back-dated mindsets.

As it can be see the international community and generally under-developed countries like Pakistan need to play their part in de-stigmatizing the community. There is nothing wrong with having a different sexual orientation and it is when we as society are more inclusive that legislators and lawmakers will help the society on a larger level. It is important for us to carry out a series of steps in order to help the society which include listening to the society; especially its youth, being a rode model for kindness and inclusion, taking action at a smaller communal level to create safe spaces, showing people that they can be authentic, staying informed and supporting organizations that are helping people part of the LGBTQ+ society.