Cross-Cultural Blog

This assignment was created by students at The City College of New York for the Freshman Inquiry Writing Seminar, Web Discourse. Students are researching a social issue in one of four large topics: Urban Life, Public Health, Immigration, and Education. This will result in a final research paper that explores both how the conversations surrounding the issue are enacted and how a CCNY student may enter that conversation in a meaningful way.

In New York City, people from all over the world gather as one not only to share their culture, but to learn from other cultures as well. However, one culture that is not always welcomed by others is the gay culture. Life in the city can be difficult, and many can argue that the gay community has it the worst, especially in the more urban areas of New York.

This topic is important to me because I feel very strongly about it. As a witness and victim of homophobia on several occasions in and outside of school, I feel like I can write about the subject matter from all points of views. Although the main idea of my topic is to study and research city and urban life for homosexuals, I can also delve deeper and discuss discrimination of other cultures as well, and compare it to that of the gay community.

In psychology class, I have learned about how the environment of an individual can alter the way the person behaves. In an urban setting, homosexuals would most likely be more wary of their surroundings, and are capable of fending for themselves if danger arises. In a more gay friendly location, homosexuals would more likely be more easy going and less cautious because there is a very little chance of encountering homophobia, and the fact that they feel accepted in the community.

I have already found a couple of sources for my research paper, two that are already on the Ning blog. These two sources talk about discrimination against gays in the workplace and how employment can be complicated for homosexuals to acquire.

This topic can connect to the theme of my group (urban life) because it deals with the living conditions of homosexuals in urban locations. I hope to inform my audience about how much of an issue this is. Fortunately, in this day and age, people are becoming more and more open minded and more accepting of gay people. Unfortunately, there are still those that discriminate towards homosexuals throughout the city everywhere and everyday. Hopefully, my research paper will be able to change the minds of those who are homophobic and make an impact on the LGBT social movement.