Things within the LGBTQ Community you'd like to see addressed

The Transgender Visibility. Though Domestic violence among gay people also need to be addressed, I think Transgendered people are more vulnerable.

And specifically from where I live, I just think that people and even the local media need to really learn about LGBT. Start from the basics because apparently they still do not know that your masculinity/femininity doesn't define you being gay.

 

I think that homeless LGBTQ youth really needs to be talked about. From the statistics I've seen the three major contributors to this issue are kids running away from home due to family rejection, family kicking their LGBTQ children out on the streets, and/or abuse at home. What it really boils down to, in my mind, is ignorance on the part of these kids' families.



Echoing what tulip said: the general public really needs to be educated about LGBTQ. If people could be more accepting then we'd see less homelessness among LGBTQ youth.

 

Everything that has been mentioned and non-binary gender visibility. Some consider it to be apart of transgender visibility, but I haven't heard anything about it offline except from the genderfluid kid from school. And some don't identify as transgender.

 

I can't really disagree with anything you brought to the table. Here would be my items to focus, in no particular order of precedence.

1. Deal with the fucking racism in the queer community.
2. Deal with the body shaming in the queer community.
3. Deal with the femme hatred in the queer community.
4. Deal with people who are malicious enough to think that people who get HIV deserve it and should have been more careful (i.e. not having their partner cheat on them, which wouldn't happen if they didn't get to be fatties).
5. Actually support transgender people.

 

All the intragroup discriminating I keep reading about. I think it's harder to act together against external problems if we alienate our own members.

 

My top concerns are for gender.
1. Education on difference between Sex and Gender, Gender Identity and Gender Expression, and Gender Identity/Expression and Sexual Orientation.
2. Gender identity awareness, not just Trans. (Because, there are a lot of people who believe that Transgender is the only alternative to binary identities.)

3. Sexual and romantic orientation awareness.
4. Crime and discrimination against the LGBT+ community.
5. The chart on homeless LGBT+ youth is shocking to me. I knew that it was a problem but I didn't know that it was to that extent. There definitely needs to be more awareness on this issue. I think there should be a program that helps to get these kids of the street and placed into caring and safe environments.
6. Education on STDs and STIs, and safe sexual practices.
7. Awareness that predudice exists within our own community.
8. Domestic abuse in the community.

 

Gotta agree that biphobia and transphobia within the community is one of the biggest issues, if not THE biggest issue. How can we expect acceptance from the cis-het majority if we can't count on acceptance from our own damn community? Thankfully, this crap isn't quite as common as it is outside the community.

Another thing I have a problem with is LGBT representation in the media. For one, it's hard to find a situation where being LGBT isn't a major plot point, unless it's a romance, which still makes it an issue most of the time. Also the rating system that considers the very mention of anything LGBT related inappropriate.

 

I think opinionated people, even within our community, need to change. There's still a major problem with opinions and people not recognizing boundaries. Even with less discrimination, our community still has hatred within it. Not even we who have been disrespected for those we love can seem to respect others for what they love and believe.

Do I need to remind you that there is more than one form of bullying that can lead to suicide? It's not just anti-LGBT or physical appearance related bullying, it's any attack on any person for who they are. If someone is legitimately being hurt as a result of what someone likes, then it is acceptable to openly dislike this, and to say so to the person doing the harm, but it's unacceptable to attack someone for liking a different video game than you, or books, or being alone, or anything that you don't like! Even the little teasings, the little insults, can add up to a lot of pain.
If nobody's being hurt, it's not your business, so back the bloody hell off!

 

There's no question that #1 is important to me seeing as how many youth cannot survive on their own or barely do it.

1. Recognition of Non-binary genders. I still think there is a lot of misunderstanding about GQ folks as well as those who are bi-gender or agender. I realize people outside of the LGBT community think these are PC terms. We need to be able to see gender as a spectrum. There needs to be more committee discussions within Congress addressing these issues. The media, yes even MSNBC, could do a better job. Unfortunately, non-binaries are treated like circus side shows when they are people too.

2. The dangers of PrEP. I worry that this new generation is going to be careless while on the drug. Furthermore, there is still the possibility of liver damage. People still need to wear condoms.

3. The benefit of the LGBT community to the adoption system. We have all these children waiting to be adopted and in group homes. We have all these people wanting kids. Match them up and get away from all the bigotry.

4. The nicotine problem in the LGBT community. So many teens turn to nicotine after they have come out or during the period they have come out.

5. The mental illness stigma. Unfortunately, it seems like many LGBT folks would rather turn to drugs and alcohol than get counseling(or they engage in promiscuous and unsafe sex). More training is needed in the mental health field regarding the unique LGBT issues faced. Depression, anxiety etc. tend to be more complex as many people have suffered and lived repressed for years. They need a way to channel their anger and more compassion.

6. Continue the effort to ban reparative therapy. Reparative therapy should be illegal. HRC and others need to begin addressing this urgent issue. This is how people fall into suicide and extreme self-loathing.

The ones listed before are good too. I just wanted to add mine which haven't been touched on as much so far.

 

Youth suicide... Indiana is leading the nation in LGBQT youth suicides if I recall correctly.

Also, there's a new trend in Indianapolis of a Latino gang hooking up with gays off of social apps, then beating them, raping them, and robbing them. A single guy will hookup first, and then they threaten the mark to get money.

More needs to be done in the community to police up the predators, heard about a 15 year old getting introduced to the whole party and play scene recently. It's disgusting what they are doing to kids, getting them hooked on meth, drugging them unconscious and gang raping them.

Safety, self-defense.

 

One issue that needs more attention is the issue of gay male body image.

We are bombarded with images of wash-board abs, and visions of youthful perfection that defy reality. The levels of unnecessary plastic surgeries, eating disorders and steroid abuse in this cohort are way above the norm.

This article highlights the extremes that some, perhaps many gay males, undergo to get that perfect body, in the grip of an erroneous notion that this somehow matters, or that it will lead to happiness.

The worst part is that it is not entirely irrational to take these extreme measures. How many of us dismiss ordinary-looking guys or just look at appearances when evaluating potential dates? It's made all the worse by those location-based apps, with just the flick of a finger, one less-than-perfect person goes, and the next appears...

This is a cultural affliction in our community that needs everyone's participation to end it.

 

Obviously not saying the rest of what you said is unimportant(agree with them) but these two are ones I have to personally note, particularly the first.

That is one thing a lot of people fail to notice. Someone can be called one thing or have something you think is small said about them, but when you hear the same shit over and over, all those 'little', individual things can, and often do, add up big time.

Micro aggressions can be some really ugly, nasty things that tend to do their damage from under the radar.

Can I get temporary access to the like button with these quotes?

 

Another issue is the aged.

So many end up in homes where they have to go back into the closet because of non-acceptance. But more to the point, in our cultural worship of youth, the old no longer have a voice, they are generally excluded from the party. This was not always so, for a time, they were important mentors for people coming out and discovering who they are.

 

More visibility for asexuals, I think they are often overlooked. More visibility for transgenders AND the gender spectrum, because way too many think that one is either a guy or a girl. They don't take into account those that identify with e.g. both, or none of them. More education is the key.

 

I read the article. The person shown is sort of an extreme, as was Michael Jackson and some other celebrities.

I definitely like the "regular guy" type and wouldn't even notice the person shown in the article, or others who are too put together (hair, washboard abs), and this would have been the case when I was in my 20s. However, I don't think there's anything wrong with one or two procedures, as long as people don't become "cosmetic surgery junkies." Lots of kids are carted off to plastic surgeons to have noses reshaped or ears pinned back because the parents, hopefully after consulting with their kids, decided this was a good step for their current state (school) and for their future. Right after high school, I chose to undergo rhinoplasty (nose job). The result was mostly good, though there is a minor amount of scar tissue and I turned down a second whack at it ... free of charge. Once was enough. My parents were adamantly against my doing this. On the other hand, a person in my neighborhood and who went to school with me was carted off to the plastic surgeon after high school by his parents. He got a nose job AND a chin implant to go with it. Neither were even that pronounced compared to some I've seen with that common combination of features. Interestingly enough, he was a major homophobe who constantly commented when we were teens about persons who weren't married by the time they were 25. He got married right at 25.

The statistic is interesting and I believe it, but it would be interesting to see what motivated the estimated 75% who are straight to choose procedures, which procedures they chose, and how often they went in for a tune-up. If 25% of the men are thought to be gay, then that is disproportionate (~ sixfold, roughly). I don't care what people do, but there are so many procedures (pectoral implants, cheekbone implants, calf implants, buttock implants, lip enhancement, etc.) that, taken together, would be a bit much.

Agreed: the gym bunny culture is off putting; cosmetic surgery junkies probably have "issues."

Disagreed: a procedure or two to take care of something that really detracts can be a good thing; I do think there's a market for regular guy types, though I'd say they're conventionally decent looking regular guys more so than plainer types.

The one issue I see that needs to be addressed even more is how sexually active people need to stay SAFE. They think "oh, just once should be ok" or their judgment is impaired by substances, and they put themselves in harm's way. I've seen the amount of publicity aimed at educating people about the dangers of risky sex dwindle ... unless it is now a staple in high school classrooms. I wouldn't know.

---------- Post added 12th Mar 2015 at 09:06 AM ----------

This whole thing has elements of the Matthew Shepard situation. If they're doing this, it is obviously very sad and wrong for the victim. However, their choice of targets, and raping, says a lot about them, too. It's the classic thing that, if you strike at G/B guys, you sort of help extinguish that part of yourself. I believe that theory associated with hate crimes.

 

While everyone has raised some excellent points and issues, I think none of them can be addressed until one in particular is acknowledged, and handled:

This whole Gay Standard.

What is the 'Gay Standard'?
To put it simply, the idea, and those who perpetuate it, that if you do not do ___, then you cannot be ___:

• If you don't conform to a certain look, you cannot be ___.
• If you don't only date ___, if you are a ___, you cannot be ___.
• If you are bisexual, you are only sabotaging the movement, so pick a side.
• If you are trans-whatever, you are only creeping everybody out, and making the rest of us look weird, so shut up.
• ___ has it worse than ___, ___, and ___, so anything ___, ___, or ___ says, is not of equal merit. Oppression Olympics, as it has been called before.
• If you even have ONE thought/experience outside of your sexuality label, then you CANNOT EVER GO BACK TO THAT label. Orientation policing, as it has been referred to before.

I could go on and on, but the point has been made. To further complicate things, those who enforce and believe these types of things, tend to be those who don't see the LGBT movement as a unified front -- unless that front benefits them, and their ideas of sexuality and identity.

In my opinion, none of the other issues can totally be tackled, until this one is sniped.

 

I definitely agree with Justine. I wasn't articulate enough in the moment, but the root of the problem is a lack of intersectionality.

 

Proper sex education in schools
Stop the stereotypes of who is gay/who isn't gay based on appearance and interests
Bullying/suicide prevention