LGBTQ+ Community Is Regularly Harassed For Being Themselves

Homosexuals within the LGBTQ+ community are being discriminated against across the United States and are experiencing harassment by individuals for simply loving who they love and being who they are.

For decades, the community has been treated differently as a whole, denied opportunities, harassed, taunted; and even murdered simply because of their preference of who they identify themselves as. Many who recognize themselves as LGBTQ+ or have a loved one that does, live in constant fear due to the hate crimes rates on the community that have occured in the past years.

When LGBTQ+ community ally Liliana Navarro’s brother first came out, she had no idea he was going to lose friends and become mentally and physically taunted. She expected that he was going to potentially be looked at differently, but expected he would receive some support. In reality, it was far from supportive; one might say it was closer to torture. 

“When my brother first came out as gay, he was taunted and laughed at. Members of our family said he would never be a man because of his sexual orientation,” stated Navarro. “He has been excluded from things such as job opportunities and certain activities at his high school. When he was discriminated against, he would constantly cry himself to sleep and belittle himself for being the way he is.”

Many kids who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community that are bullied and discriminated against have higher chances of becoming depressed. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation stated that, “In a 2016-2017 survey from HRC, 28 percent of LGBTQ youth, including 40 percent of transgender youth, said they felt depressed most or all of the time during the previous 30 days, compared to only 12 percent of non-LGBTQ youth.”

Eddie Beas is a eighteen year old boy who represents the G of the LGBTQ+ community; gay. He has always dreamed of becoming a teacher and was an Honor Roll student, but was on the edge of losing all of that. When he came out, he not only got discriminated against by society, but by family members as well. 

“The community constantly gets harassed for simply identifting differntly or loving the same sex, couples get attacked, and even killed for simply being who they are,” stated Beas. “When being out with my boyfriend I actually have gotten called the f slur for holding his hand in public.” 

Not only has the community been getting verbally assaulted, but it has turned into physical assault. It has become more common in America, and is what is known as a “hate crime.” According to an article by BBC News, “Two men have been attacked with bottles and had homophobic abuse shouted at them in Birmingham, police have said.” Writers were able to interview a same sex couple who were attacked, “Patrick said he ran to help his partner but someone from the car got out and hit me from behind my head and I blacked out.’”

Everth Flores, a father of two children, was caught off guard when his only son came out to him as gay. He didn’t know what to expect, nor at the time did he know himself if he approved of his son’s sexual orientation. Soon enough, he realized that he had to put his personal beliefs to the side because his son needed him.

“My son being gay does not worry me, the society we live in and their disgusting and ruthless mentailty worries me,” stated Flores. “My son was bullied for being gay at school and by his cousins, one day he was even ambushed and punched in the face while getting called slurs repeatedly.”

Research and statistics have found major academic gaps between LGBTQ+ students who get bullied. According to an article by Mental Health America named “LGBT Youth,” “Gay teens in U.S. schools are often subjected to such intense bullying that they’re unable to receive an adequate education. LGBT youth identified bullying problems as the second most important problem in their lives. LGBT youth who reported they were frequently harassed in school had lower grade point averages than students who were less often harassed.” 

“If you see something, say something. Make sure our LGBTQ+ loved ones know they are not alone in this battle for equality,” stated Navarro.