In this day and age, you would think that society would have evolved far more than it has, but many communities still face biased and unjust challenges: women, African American, Latinos, LGBT, etc. This past weekend not only did America witness the new President of The United States inauguration, but also the challenges that all these communities face currently being talked about through marches nationwide. Someday the hope is that all these people coming together to protest what is right will make a permanent change.
Many of us thought that the acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transvestite community was more evolved, but then as the race for president began a year ago, parts of America’s true colors came out and the truth is that the both sides of the coin have been showing straight aggression towards the community. In a country that has been known to be the “land of the free and home of the brave”, the American dream has been nothing but an illusion for these people because they are constantly judged, looked at, and pressured to feel like less of a human because of nationality, gender, skin tone, and even sexual beliefs.
The hard truth is that we live in an America where my gay friend cannot be open about his sexuality to his own family due to fear of disownment, and harsh judgment. Where a person’s happiness is disregarded because just being seen with another male is “wrong, ugly, disgraceful.” So with everyone is this community being shamed out of freedom and freedom of expression, how do they earn respect and real rights? I don’t know if it will make a difference, but if everyone who does accept people as they begin to talk to their families and friends about how a person’s happiness should top another’s disgust, maybe in the near future we could actually make a difference. A real difference so that everyone feels comfortable to walk in the streets and show their partner affection and be able to hold their hand without getting dirty looks.
The root of this ongoing issue comes from older generations such as Baby Boomers, then these older generations passed their thoughts onto their children and so on. Now we are in 2017 and although gay marriage is legal, that does not give couples complete freedom to express themselves. Therefore change needs to happen, change is difficult because many people are set in his or her ways but it is the only thing that will truly get the LGBT community their full rights. So talk to your friends, family and start spreading the word to change the world for the good of happiness.