Speech

In recent years and times long ago, social movements have been big driving
forces for people to fight for what they believe is right and for change to happen.
Two major socials movements that are great examples of fighting for change is the
Indian Freedom Struggle and the LGBT movement. Starting from 1857 and ending
in 1947, the Indian Freedom Struggle took place in not only India, but what is now
Pakistan and neighboring regions. This movement was started because the native
Indians felt that the overlording British was using their authority to make sure that
Indians could never come to power and never having a voice. On the other hand,
the LGBT movement is a movement in the US and across the world where
gay/lesbian couples and allies are fighting for equal marriage rights and disbanding
laws that restrict their rights as people in the whole country and eventually the
world.
In both movements religion was and is a major driving force and a major
barrier as well as being a very big topic for discussion. During the Indian
Freedom Struggle, religious unity helped bring together the people of India to
fight back against the British government and British missionaries trying to
convert people into christians. On the other hand, Muslims and Christians are
fighting to restrict the rights of LGBTQ people because some of their religious
doctrines say that LGBTQ people are lesser people which is a major barrier
because of the amount of people who follow them.
A strategy that both of these movements used was to untie together.
During the Indian Freedom Struggle, Gandhi led his followers to use religious
doctrines of of Hindus to unite against the British who were trying to convert
many of them into Christians. This strategy was very effective because it had led
native Indians to gain a sense of nationality after years and years of the British
trying to tell them that they were an inferior people compared to them. In the
LGBTQ Peoples Movement, allies and couples alike united together to lead
protests against injustices that they faced because of homophobia and religion
which helped them gain many supporters such as the Christian Pope Francis who
advocates that because they are people and some of them may be Christian, they
should be regarded as equals to a straight couple. Therefore, unity of both

Indians LGBTQ supporters helped them gain many rights and freedoms that
they would have not gotten alone.
In both movements, the quality of having Integrity is and was very
important because even if a group of people face hardship, they will never give
up. For example, Mahatma Gandhi had lots of integrity because even though he
was beaten and thrown in jail multiple times for protesting and speaking against
the British, he never gave up and eventually got freedom for India and its
neighbors. In the LGBTQ Peoples Movement, all of the people who are fighting
for equality need integrity because many people attack or harass them because
they are in the LGBTQ group and because of integrity, they never gave up and
gained more and more rights. Therefore, because of Integrity, these movements
would have fallen apart very quickly.
The movements that I had studied were movements that I already knew
things that they had done but it turns out that what I knew was just a very small
part of the entire movement. I had learned about strategies like protesting and
how it was used effectively and peacefully. For example, Gandhi led peaceful
protests to show the British and the world that they were being treated unfairly
and they want change.