Fighting for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning(LGBTQ+) people is an extremely prominent issue in our society today, and although I am in complete agreement with giving everyone equal rights, it seems as though we are too focused on issues regarding the LGBTQ+ community. The United States currently has military troops in 150 different countries, we have a debt of over $18 trillion, we have one of the highest rates of national child poverty in the world, there is a tragic shooting seemingly every week. Despite the fact that all these major problems are going on, if one doesn’t immediately know or understand what ‘pansexual’ means, he or she is open to being called a bigot or not aware of the LGBTQ+ discrimination that frequently happens. I speak from a personal standpoint, as situations like this have happened to me on several occasions. With all this being said, I must restate that I am in no way against the LGBTQ+ community, I just choose to acknowledge the fact that there are issues of equal or more importance that many people simply refuse to address.
“When we accept them [the LGBTQ+ community], people basically jump on the bandwagon of accepting them publically, which is a good thing,” said junior Jesus Ramirez. See, but there lies the problem. Talking about the pressing issues that we face makes people think for themselves, but is generally only applied to issues involving the LGBTQ+ community. If we viewed any and all major political, social, and economic problems with this same outlook, there would be even more positive change occurring in our society.
“The conversation of issues like same-sex marriage overshadow issues about more important things. Obviously same-sex marriage is important and the national legalization was a huge step, but it’s not necessarily as important as the safety of transgender teenagers or LGBTQ+ people of color,” said junior Eleanor Johnston Carter. This coincides with my point. We tend to give so much attention to the basic issues that fall under the LGBTQ+ spectrum, while there are more important issues that lie within just the LGBTQ+ spectrum itself.
Sources:
Forbes
CNN