Killings of Our Protected Rights

LGBT Equality

No matter what our differences are we are all human. People seem to forget about that. LGBT people all over the U.S are being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. There are constant debates on whether LGBT people should have the same rights as those who are not LGBT. No one should be made unequal because of their differences. The point of the constitution is to protect each individuals rights. By discriminating against others, and creating laws to restrict others based on their differences is unconstitutional. In November, California voters approved Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage, thereby overturning the state Supreme Court decision that gave gay couples the right to marry. How is this any different from when African Americans were discriminated against, and outlawed certain rights?

In the U.S. 75% of students have no state laws to protect them from harassment and discrimination in school based on their sexual orientation. In public high schools, 97% of students report regularly hearing homophobic remarks from their peers. LGBT teens around the U.S are committing suicide because of anti-gay hate groups, bullying, and no laws to protect them from the harassment and discrimination. In the month of September alone, there were at least 10 male suicides.

• Billy Lucas, age 15, September 9, 2010. Indiana
• Cody J. Barker, age 17, September 13, 2010. Wisconsin
• Seth Walsh, age 13, September 19, 2010. California
• Tyler Clementi, age 18, September 22, 2010. New Jersey
• Asher Brown, age 13, September 23, 2010. Texas
• Harrison Chase Brown, age 15, September 25, 2010. Colorado
• Raymond Chase, age 19, September 29, 2010. Rhode Island
• Felix Sacco, age 17, September 29, 2010. Massachusetts
• Caleb Nolt, age 15, September 30, 2010. Indiana

These teens committed suicide because they didn't feel safe, didn't feel protected from the harassment and discrimination that they were going through each day. Millions of people of every race, gender, and age are going through some sort of harassment, and discrimination like these 10 teenagers did, whether they are LGBT or not. How is democracy helping the society if a majority of people vote for a law that outlaws the rights of others, even when the constitution was purposefully made to protect each individuals rights instead of restricting them?

To confront this issue there needs to be a combination of law and “societal retraining”. A law that protects differences (sexual orientation, age, gender, race) from any sort of harassment and discrimination to help “retrain” society to realize that harassment, and discrimination is hurtful not just mentally but mentally and physically. There needs to be a Say NO to Love Underneath Violence and Say YES to Love NOT Violence act.