Equality: “The state or quality of being equal,” is the definition of a word behind every revolution, every protest, and every uprising. The LGBT community still fights for equality to this day.
Currently the fight for LGBT equality has become more urgent than ever. During April, reports started surfacing in Chechnya, Russia via a Russian newspaper, The Novaya Gazeta, that one hundred gay men were rounded up and detained in a camp where they were tortured for information about other gay individuals in Chechnya. Since then, the Human Rights Watch has authenticated these horrific claims. To make matters worse, in Moscow, twenty LGBT activists were withheld by the police during a protest of the treatment of LGBT people. The belief that because a person is gay, they are lesser, disgusting, naturally imperfect is completely unreasonable. This is due to the fact that the only aspect of a gay person that makes them unacceptable is something uncontrollable.
In America, issues are becoming apparent in the workspace as well. In a survey by the Pew Research Center, thirty one percent of the one hundred LGBT people surveyed responded that they have to hide their sexuality at work for fear of “losing co-workers and connections.” This is vexing because it is pointless to put people at fault for something that is part of who they are and has no influence over their abilities at work. So, to ridicule a community for uncontrollable differences is as ridiculous as mocking someone for something as irrelevant as the color of their skin.
Another huge issue amongst LGBT youth is bullying. Growing up is an emotionally unstable process that is common for every teenager, and adding the stress of trying to decipher your identity is hard enough without being bullied because of it. Unfortunately, the 2016 National School Climate survey revealed that 74 percent of LGBT youth experienced verbal harassment because of their sexuality. The Trevor Project, an organization that provides crisis intervention for LGBT people, reported that one out of every six LGBT students seriously considered suicide in 2016. We can take more action in school to make sure students are educated about the LGBT community and what it stands for.
The LGBT community campaigns for nothing but love, so why should its compassion go unreturned? The fact of the matter is, there are no considerable differences between people except for the choices that we make. Choosing to believe that someone is inferior solely because of who they choose to love is not equality and all humans deserve an equal chance to love and be loved.