I know it's long( at least 9 pages), but i decided to put it up here in case anyone is interested to read it. I'll salute you if you read the entire thing! Imagine driving by a country road in Laramie, Wyoming, to see what seems tbe a scarecrow tied to a fence. However, it’s a real person, beaten and unconscious. This is Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, that was brutally beaten by two men, Russell A. Henderson and Aaron J. McKinney, for being gay. After being severely beaten to the head, Matthew was tied to a nearby fence in very cold weather, and was left there. He was declared dead five days later in the hospital. This incident is one of thousands that have occurred to GLBTQ individuals. GLBTQ (gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, and questioning) individuals have been victims of intolerance worldwide because of various reasons, ranging from religion to abnormality, ever since they were acknowledged. The most known reason for gay/lesbian harassment in all of history is religious views against them. Many religious groups often call homosexuality a “sin””(Carreon). Christianity, for example, cites verses from the Bible that justify their opinion. However, Christianity isn’t the only religion that denounces homosexuality. According to Imam Rashed, “The Koran teaches that sexual relations between men, or between women, are not acceptable. to say such a thing is not harassment“(Hutcheon). Muslims also see homosexuality as sinful, and therefore, the predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East, such as Afghanistan, are mostly anti-homosexual. Religious views are often the number one reason of intolerance towards the GLBTQ individuals. Another reason that intolerance occurs to GLBTQ individuals is how “abnormal” they look in our society today. Being different in today’s society often brings intolerance: Gay, Lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning(GLBTQ) youth face tremendous difficulties in a society where heterosexuality seems to be the only acceptable orientation. Homosexuality is regarded as deviant, and variation from cultural concepts of “normal gender” often evokes hostility or violence ( Earls). If someone wasn’t heterosexual, then they’d be considered abnormal and forced to live in a society where you’d be harassed, hurt, or even murdered. Hate crimes towards the GLBTQ are based on the differences of sexual orientation. “Homosexuals are often characterized by hate groups as sexually promiscuous people who spread the AIDS virus throughout the world”(Able 17). Due to this stereotype, homosexuals are seen as the culprits and are persecuted. In today’s society, those who are not heterosexual are more susceptible to intolerance from many hate groups. Harassment of any kind can lead to hate crimes, and GLBTQ crimes are no exception. Hate crimes occur because of the attacker’s hate of the victim’s gender, race, sexual orientation, and religion. A certain incident that happened in the United States opened the eyes of many Americans, even worldwide, to the real dangers of gay/lesbian harassment. On October 17, 1998, in Laramie, Wyoming, Russell A. Henderson and Aaron J. McKinney robbed and brutally beat Matthew Shepard, a gay college student. After the attack, they tied Mr. Shepard to a fence in subfreezing weather. He died Five days later. The attackers allegedly targeted their victim because he was gay ( Able 15). This incident affected many people, and also made them realize the real troubles that GLBTQ individuals face very day. However, as bad as it sounds, some people actually rejoiced his death. Reverend Fred Phelps of Kansas has gone to funerals of GLBTQ people, with members of his church, and protested homosexuality in general with his infamous slogan, “GOD HATES F***!”( “Anti-gay violence“).This angered many, but by the Constitution, protesting is perfectly legal under freedom of speech. Even today, he still goes to GLBTQ funerals and protests in them. Looking back, in the Holocaust, thousands of homosexuals were killed, and were also stuck with a pink triangle to show that were gay, or at least perceived to be(“Anti-gay violence“). This shows that homosexuals were also persecuted alongside the Jews. Closer to home here in California, 26-year-old Satender Singh was harassed due to his sexuality at Lake Natomas by a Russian-speaking group(Carreon). The attacking group is thought to be part of the Slavic Evangelical Church, which participate in anti-gay protests in the Sacramento area (Carreon). Since he was perceived to be gay, Singh was punched once in the face, falling backwards, which cracked his head. This ruptured a part of the brain stem that controls most of humans’ functions. He died four days later( Carreon). Satender was a victim of a hate crime only because some people didn’t like how he was acting in the park. Also in California, 15-year-old Lawrence King died after he was shot by a classmate on February 12 who shot him based on his perceived sexual orientation in Oxnard, CA (Raja). A fellow student went as far to shoot his classmate just because he was perceived to be gay. It should be clear by now that harassment should be taken seriously, because people are dying now due to sexual differences. It may even be happening to someone right now, somewhere in the world. Gay/lesbian harassment can and/or will undoubtedly lead to hate crimes, which will make GLBTQ acceptance even harder to gain. As with any form of harassment, the results can be just as deadly as the incident,and GLBTQ incidences are the perfect example. In terms of GLBTQ harassment, homophobia directly influences GLBTQ youths’ rates of suicide, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, violence, and HIV-related behaviors( Earls). This means that with every incident that occurs to any gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, and questioning individual, the more depressed they become, turning to substances for relief, or even resort to suicide to escape their problems. School is usually seen as a safe learning center, but that’s not the case for some GLBTQ students. GLBTQ Students who experience verbal/physical abuse at school have poor grades and truancy, which forces them to repeat the school year( Earls). This can hurt a GLBTQ student’s chances of succeeding in school. Also, the harassment towards one gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, and questioning student can affect the people around them as well. Some GLBTQ youth usually commit suicide( or at least attempt to) because of early awareness of sexual orientation, stress, violence, lack of support, school dropout, family problems, homelessness, and substance abuse (Earls). Adding to the list of effects, a family member that is either gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, and questioning will make others sad once they’ve gone. The results that appear after gay/lesbian harassment can be ever-lasting and be more painful that the actual experience. The results of yesterday’s intolerance towards GLBTQ individuals will somehow impact the world today. In today’s world, different ethnicities impact homosexuality: “Many ethnic minority communities reinforce negative cultural perceptions of homosexuality“( Earls). Because of this, GLBTQ youth of color are more likely to be ashamed of their sexual orientation, and do anything to try to please those who believe their culture should be a certain way. Also: GLBTQ youth of color usually take in bad messages from society about sexual orientation, and eventually hate themselves, as well as suffer from social and emotional isolation(Earls). The physical/emotional isolation from others often results in depression, or even suicide. Specifically, in the Latino communities, masculinity and Roman Catholicism causes homophobia and stops GLBTQ Latinos from getting much-needed HIV prevention information( Earls). Of course, this doesn’t apply only to Latinos. GLBTQ youth of color face both homophobia and racism for being part of an ethnic minority, which makes things twice as bad( “Black and Gay”). The definition of homophobia is the hate/prejudice against homosexuals. Homophobia happens to most, if not every GLBTQ individual on this planet, on every part of the globe. The effects that gay/lesbian harassment can have on the world has a direct impact on the world and its peoples today. The issues that appear due to gay/lesbian harassment changes the cultures in our world today. Homosexuality in general has, well, scared people into thinking that the love between two men and two women will sway from the average heterosexual family lifestyle. According to Matthew Staver, “ Same-sex marriage would result in the Abolition of male and female by making gender irrelevant, and the abolition of gender would have devastating effects on children”( Richman). Basically, the legalization of marriage equality will anger some, but enlighten others. Another statement claims that: “We must not rest until we once and for all defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the United States Constitution“( Richman). People are really against marriage equality and homosexuality in general that they want to establish it as a constitutional right to declare gay marriage as abnormal. Now, the world is split between those who support marriage equality, and the there are those who fight to abolish it legally, socially, and religiously. In the end, the issues that homosexuality brings slowly, but surely changes the world’s present culture. In conclusion, gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, and questioning individuals are constantly harassed because of how they are perceived, either as a sin or abnormal, all around the world. However, all the background, facts, results, and specific incidences all lead to one overall idea/theme. We, as human beings, have to treat every other person, whether they’re family, friends, or strangers, as we would want to be treated. GLBTQ individuals should be no exception to that idea. Also, if you are one of those people who use the word “gay” as a reference to something being “stupid”, just don’t do it. You wouldn’t say a racial slur to a friend of yours, so why should you use “gay”? Accept people for who they are. Hopefully, harassment against GLBTQ will eventually come to an end so that they can finally live peacefully in this world. You Made It! :icon_bigg In the end, I got an A-!!
The only criticism I would have is to be a tad bit more passionate in your writing. But that might just be because I'm overly-passionate in my writing. And on the subject of GLBTQ writing... this is an assignment I did early this year for my English class. The prompt was to write a persuasive essay about whatever you wanted. xD I had a lot of fun with it.
Very good paper. Sounds like something I would write. Congrats on the A! Change the world and get good grades. Killing two birds with one stone, I see.