The unequal treatment in health care, the political system, and religious institutions of LGBT, which stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered people, is still prevalent in the United States and needs to be remediated. This is a social problem for several reasons, including the condition not only exists but is widely known, it produces harm, it has social causes and can be remediated.
First, the unequal treatment of the LGBT community is widely known. The Gay Rights Movement officially started in 1969 with the Stonewall Riots, when LGBT people fought back against the police when the police tried to arrest LGBT bar goers just for being gay (Arriola, 1). This made the problem visible as a social problem yet it was not until recent …show more content…
After coming out as a lesbian in middle school I was attacked verbally and physically. The students in the school’s Gay Straight Alliance club, that supported and advocated for LGBT rights, were bullied. One student from the club was put into the hospital after being pushed into a metal pole, he had to have four stitches above his left eye. In high school my girlfriend and I were asked to leave a restaurant on Valentine’s Day when the owner found out we were a couple, other customers cheered as were being escorted out. People would stare as we walked and held hands, because in their eyes we were different, and being different is not welcome. Junior year of high school my parents sent me to a “straight camp” in order to turn me straight. Most would claim the camp changed them in order to go home, which skews the statistics on the camp’s success that these camps then use to claim that they work. I have been humiliated, assaulted and treated as inferior for being LGBT, something I cannot control. Others have had their careers taken, marriage rights, and religious rights denied.
In conclusion, the unequal treatment of LGBT affects not only those in the community but their friends and families. The LGBT community has faced unequal treatment in the form of verbal and physical violence, inequality in health care and the political system, and oppression by religious institutions. Through awareness and education society no longer has to be ignorant of LGBT issues, and can work to reverse
First, the unequal treatment of the LGBT community is widely known. The Gay Rights Movement officially started in 1969 with the Stonewall Riots, when LGBT people fought back against the police when the police tried to arrest LGBT bar goers just for being gay (Arriola, 1). This made the problem visible as a social problem yet it was not until recent …show more content…
After coming out as a lesbian in middle school I was attacked verbally and physically. The students in the school’s Gay Straight Alliance club, that supported and advocated for LGBT rights, were bullied. One student from the club was put into the hospital after being pushed into a metal pole, he had to have four stitches above his left eye. In high school my girlfriend and I were asked to leave a restaurant on Valentine’s Day when the owner found out we were a couple, other customers cheered as were being escorted out. People would stare as we walked and held hands, because in their eyes we were different, and being different is not welcome. Junior year of high school my parents sent me to a “straight camp” in order to turn me straight. Most would claim the camp changed them in order to go home, which skews the statistics on the camp’s success that these camps then use to claim that they work. I have been humiliated, assaulted and treated as inferior for being LGBT, something I cannot control. Others have had their careers taken, marriage rights, and religious rights denied.
In conclusion, the unequal treatment of LGBT affects not only those in the community but their friends and families. The LGBT community has faced unequal treatment in the form of verbal and physical violence, inequality in health care and the political system, and oppression by religious institutions. Through awareness and education society no longer has to be ignorant of LGBT issues, and can work to reverse