"Gay rights" is typically shorthand for "getting rid of the discrimination and persecution faced by gays and lesbians." This includes:
- Repealing laws that criminalize sex between two people of the same gender
- Forbidding employers from firing someone for being gay (just as employers are forbidden from firing someone based on race, religion, and gender)
- Allowing same-sex couples to marry
- The fighting crime that is motivated by hatred and fear of homosexuals
- Directing resources to issues particularly relevant to gays and lesbians (for example, research into AIDS in the eighties and nineties).
