The LGBTQ Community
Right now, in 2016, the amount of Teenagers wanting to come out and identify themselves as a part of the LGBTQ Community is awe-inspiring, yet how much media glorifies the concept are making more and more people hesitant to show who they really are.
Dear Madam or Mr. President,
I am a Teenager going to a school district in Boston, Massachusetts. I’m particularly active online as well, participating in media forms such as DeviantART, mainly to chat with friends from afar. The reason this topic is important in my mind is because of how many people I’ve met, both in reality and online, that have identified themselves as a part of the LGBTQ community. All of them are awesome people, and amazingly generous and kind-And I’m not the only one in the entirety of the U.S who’s seen a change in the amount of people coming out of the closet and identifying as Gay, Bisexual, and more. This lifestyle and preferred identity of the LGBTQ community is opening up to a lot of young adults in this time, and it is widely appreciated.
For instance, an article made from the news source CNN described the media source, Facebook, having claims of support for the ones hesitant or shy in the LGBTQ Community, but this did come out with some consequences. Even though the LGBTQ got supported, many other people who legitimately needed help and reassurance did not receive it in these times. People who couldn’t be seen as verified or who were survivors of a violent situation chances of getting help were getting slimmer and slimmer on Facebook, making things harder and harder. Another example was this Ask Poll in the Washington Post describing a transgender teenager who was afraid to come out to her parents. It’s unknown if she got any help or not after this article was published, but the author of the Ask Poll, Amy Dickinson, did give them some support and even showcased a certified Transgender Arts Teacher to help this teen with their cause. These two examples are how supporting LGBTQ can both be helpful and supportive, but equally toxic and selective.
The call to action, and what I wish for the next president is to change the way how you could spread awareness and support in the LGBTQ community. Like I mentioned, support for the LGBTQ community can get toxic; up to the point where it can even be selective. So what I wish is for the message to give support to these people be subtle, and not let the idea be forced to the people. You don’t need to have multiple stickers or events parading around the idea of Pride-We have one main event, a Worldwide-Pride Day, and one announcement is enough for people to be aware and have support for others. Forcing an idea or concept into one’s face just makes the entire concept useless, and obsolete to pay attention to, which for the people struggling with their self-proclaimed identity, it can be difficult to hear that people just don’t care about hearing it over and over; The concept of Bullying went down this road, and if the LGBTQ Community goes down this route too, things may not be so well.
SOURCES:
http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/30/technology/facebook-name-policy/index.html