If I Were President I Would Protect the LGBTQ+ Community
February 5, 2021
If I were president, I would start by addressing the violence against the LGBTQ+ community. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects (NCAVP), nearly one in ten LGBTQ surviors of domestic abuse have been sexually assaulted by those partners. Between the hypersexualization of people within the community, the stigmatization, and internalized homophobia, LGBTQ people are at a higher risk for assault, poverty, and violence.
Within the LGBTQ community, transgender people and bisexual women face alarming rates of sexual violence, and it often begins before adulthood. The 2015 U.S Transgender Survey discovered that 47% of transgender people are sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime, while transgender people of color, including Native Americans(65%), multiracial people (59%), Middle Eastern people (58%), and African Americans (53%) who responded to the U.S Transgender Survey, have most likely been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Nearly half of the bisexual women surveyed (48%) have been raped between the ages of 11 and 17.
Due to the stigmatization of the LGBTQ community, people who are a part of it are often hesitant to ask for help from the police, hospitals, or shelters. According to the NCAVP, 85% of health care workers and victim advocates reported having worked with an LGBTQ survivor who was denied service because of their sexual orientation. This is extremely off putting, as this nation is supposed to protect every citizen, regardless of their sexual orientation.
Unfortunately, it does not stop there, as the LGBTQ community has been denied services from stores, landscapers, and even wedding planners. Based on excerpts from the Religious Institute, Victoria Rodriguez-Roldan and her wife were forced to keep their relationship hidden for her wife to keep her job at a tutoring center.
“My wife actually had to make up a fictional male fiancé and later husband to account for the wedding rings to anyone who asked,” wrote Rodriguez-Roldan. “The business claimed to be supportive of us but did not want to ‘upset the parents.’”
The continued mistreatment of the LGBTQ community is unnacceptable. As a nation, we should be able to support and encourage everyone’s differences. If I were president of the United States, these issues would be brought to light immediately, as everyone needs to recognize that who a person is and chooses to love is not, and will never, affect anyone else’s existence. The United States of America should be a safe place for everyone, not just for people who fit into society’s definition of “normal.”
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kellin burr • Feb 11, 2021 at 12:51 pm
This is really well written, and it’s so important that this is talked about.
Marissa Parent • Feb 11, 2021 at 11:49 am
I agree completely. Us LGBTQ+ kids need to feel safe in our own environments, and accepted by our peers. It’s sad what we have to go through for just being ourselves. Thanks for spreading this message, you’re amazing! <3
lexee ogoley • Feb 10, 2021 at 9:14 am
morgan this is very well written and said. people of the LGBTQ+ community get treated worse and than someone who isn’t apart of it. there are many homophobic people out there and this needs to be fixed and talked about. good job!
Kayleigh K. • Feb 10, 2021 at 9:13 am
Morgan has a great point. So much has happened to the LGBTQ+ community that no one talks about. It needs to be addressed more head on and not pushed to the side. This is a hard topic to cover so great job bringing this to the attention of others. There is still so much internalized homophobia out there and people need to accept others for who they like.
Jocelyn H • Feb 10, 2021 at 9:00 am
I agree 100%! i really think everyone in the LGBTQ+ community are human beings and should have the right like all humans do. There are no difference of a human and a LGBTQ+ person its just different lovers.
Kaileigh Letourneau • Feb 10, 2021 at 7:36 am
Very well said Morgan. I agree and think that these issues are not talked about more because people in the LGBTQ are gaining more acceptance. But there are still issues that need to be talked about and taken care of, there is still homophobia towards LGBTQ people and it needs to be said. This is a hard subject to talk about and I am glad you did. Great job!
Quinn Suomala • Feb 8, 2021 at 7:08 pm
I definitely agree with Morgan here. LGBTQ+ people experience discrimination in far too many places, it is illegal to be a member of the community in about 70 countries, and you can still face the death penalty in 12 of them. I think that while the United States has taken many steps it still has far to go.