With the controversy last year surrounding the ceremonial hanging of the rainbow flag in the Colvard Student Union, Mississippi State University and the surrounding area have proven why we need to hang it again this year.
If the world were really all sunshine and butterflies and free of any kind of inequality, we should continue to have such vital institutions such as memorial day, Black History Month and LGBT History Month in reverence to those who have paved the road toward equality with blood, sweat, tears and corpses.
LGBTQ rights are not about having the right to marry who you love. It’s about being treated like a person. LGBTQ rights encompass many rights including the right to not be denied housing or employment simply because of who you are. They also include the right to not be violently abused or raped because someone wanted to prove to you what your gender or sexual orientation should be. It also includes the right to not be forced into psuedo medical “conversion therapy” which tries to turn”people straight and the right to have the same opportunities for adoption as any other couple.
A law passed by congress and signed by President Obama in 2009 amended the federal definition of hate crimes to include the LGBTQ population as a protected class. Still, a common defense in assault and murder cases used today is the spontaneous reaction, often ending in assault or murder, to finding out someone is part of the LGBTQ community. This is often called the “gay panic” or “trans panic” defense. California, according to The Advocate, was the first and only state to explicitly ban this defense in court in 2014.
LGBTQ people are far more prone to suicide due to discrimination and lack of acceptance than the general population. Also, LGBTQ people with other minority classifications are at an even higher risk. The Trevor Project, a non-profit suicide hotline made to care for LGBTQ youth, says “Each episode of LGBT victimization, such as physical or verbal harassment or abuse, increases the likelihood of self-harming behavior by 2.5 times on average.” LGBQ people, not including the astronomically high suicide attempt rates for transgender individuals, are four times more likely than straight youths of their age, grade, race and socioeconomic status to attempt suicide. Nearly 50 percent of young trans people report seriously contemplating suicide and one in four has attempted at least once. The latest trans suicide to make the news happened this past Monday. According to The Daily Dot, a transmasculine teen named Skylar Marcus Lee of Madison, Wisconsin committed suicide on Monday.
In addition to fighting for LGBTQ rights, LGBTQ people have created amazing and important progresses throughout history. Leonardo Da Vinci was famously not straight yet he created many impeccable works. Allan Turing, one of the pivotal individuals in the outcome of WWII, was famous in his ability to break the German code. Yet, he was forced to end his career due to his crime of “gross indecency,” also known as being gay. 59 years later, Queen Elizabeth pardoned him according to the Washington Post. George Washington Carver, in addition to being an African-American historical figure for his contributions to science and industry, was not straight. A trans woman named Lana Wachowski and her brother Andy Wachowski together wrote and directed the “Matrix” trilogy. Freddie Mercury was the famous bisexual singer of Queen until his death. Even one of America’s favorite songs throughout the ages, “America The Beautiful,” was written by Katharine Lee Bates, who was in a same-sex relationship with another woman named Katharine for many years, according to The Huffington Post.
This month, we remember those who have given their time, effort, money and lives to fight for the rights of LGBTQ individuals and those who are still fighting.
