By Langston J. and Souf R.

Our country and its overall views on LGBTQ+ folk

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Two teenagers showing diversity.

Injustice towards LGBTQ+ folk has decreased here in Silicon Valley, California, but what about everywhere else? Does the amount of acceptance in a location affect the lifestyle of those attracted to the same sex?

How we’ve evolved throughout the past ten years has really impacted the community. In 2018, it is way less likely to see anti-gay acts and rallies. But, places around the world still hold these rallies year after year.

According to nbc a Mississippi law was placed and removed in 2016 which “[allowed] county clerk’s to avoid issuing marriage licenses to gay couples and protects businesses from lawsuits if they refuse to serve LGBT customers.”The law was changed, but the remnant of the damage still stands in place.

According to a map made by hrc, Minnesota was the first state in the USA to set a law which “addresses hate or bias crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity,”according to hrc. This law was placed in 1993, along with a smaller Washington State law which “addresses hate or biased laws based on sexual orientation only.” After seven years, other states slowly started following their footsteps to equality.

As of April 1, 2018, Costa Rica chose a new president, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, who won the election by running his campaign on gay rights. This is a big step, but it proves there is still places around the world that haven’t learned to accept these new ideas yet.

To this day, not all states have established recognition to the hate crimes directed towards the LGBTQ+ community. D.C. and an additional 14 states including California, Nevada, and more have high policies on LGBTQ+ hate and assaults directly targeted on their identity.

“I don’t know who is in [the community] at this school but I occasionally hear bad things about it and that is sad. [But] as a whole, I think this school has kids who look out for each other, and that is nice,” says Ms. Samadani.

Ms. Samadani thinks that although bad things are heard about LGBTQ+ folk occasionally, it is likely that at such a young age they may not understand the details of how the community are treated in today’s society.

Over the years, the states have evolved out of their cocoons and have slowly learned to accept the new ideas in society.

Interestingly, many states approve of sexual orientation compared to gender identity. 20 U.S. states have negative views on how you identify on the gender spectrum. This topic can be confusing and uncomfortable for many people but should definitely be respected in our free country.

One of the reasons why people disapprove of the LGBTQ+ community is because it might be complicated. There is an endless list of identifications.

LGBTQ+ sexualities include homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, androsexual, gynosexual, skoliosexual, greysexual, asexual (some people argue that asexual is not in the LGBTQ community), polysexual, and more.

However, the gender spectrum may confuse people more. You can really identify as anything you want without limits, and many citizens of the USA do not believe this is an okay way to change yourself.

The gender spectrum includes male, female, cisgender, your gender assigned at birth, third gender, non-binary genders, gender creative, gender non-conforming, gender fluids, a-genders, bi-gender, gender neutral, and more.

Many parents may not accept a child coming out as LGBTQ+. Some might even send them to so-called “conversion therapy.”

“The therapist ordered me bound to a table to have ice, heat and electricity applied to my body. I was forced to watch clips on a television of gay men holding hands, hugging and having sex. I was supposed to associate those images with the pain I was feeling to once and for all turn into a straight boy,”  This therapy is a hoax. (Quote and info from NY Times).

Even our country’s leaders are encouraging minors and adults to enroll in these sessions and dangerously “convert” themselves.

As our society takes further steps forward, we evolve as a population. Who knows? Maybe we’ll have full equality some day.