Avery Elizabeth Hurt - Confronting Lgbtq+ Discrimination

Published in 2018 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. 29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010

Copyright 2018 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hurt, Avery Elizabeth, author.

Title: Confronting LGBTQ+ discrimination / Avery Elizabeth Hurt. Description: New York: Rosen Publishing, 2018. | Series: Speak up! Confronting discrimination in your daily life | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Audience: Grades 7-12.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017017641| ISBN 9781538381748 (library bound) | ISBN 9781538381724 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781538381731 (6 pack)

Subjects: LCSH: HomophobiaUnited StatesJuvenile literature. | Sexual minoritiesCivil rightsUnited States Juvenile literature. | DiscriminationUnited StatesJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC HQ76.45.U5 H87 2018 | DDC 306.76 dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017017641Manufactured in the United States of America

T imes have certainly changed. Prior to 1973, the American Psychological Association (APA) listed homosexuality as a mental disorder. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. In the interim forty-two years, a substantial body of scientific research (and a great deal of common sense) finally persuaded the APA that being LGBTQ+ was not in fact a mental disorder. After the Supreme Court ruled it was unacceptable to deny same-sex couples the marriage rights afforded to other couples, many Americans attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people changed rapidly.

According to Gallups 2016 Mood of the Nation survey, 60 percent of Americans are satisfied with the level of acceptance of gays and lesbians in the United States. Thats up from 53 percent in 2015, and only 32 percent as recently as 2006. And when the survey lens is fixed on people age eighteen to thirty, that percentage jumps to 80-92. So, thats the good news. But for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or who are sexually or gender nonconforming in other ways (LGBTQ+), discrimination is still a fact of everyday life.

The Federal Civil Rights laws that protect Americans rights based on race and gender do not cover sexual orientation. A gay couple can legally marry in all fifty states, but could in many states lose their jobs for exercising that right. Not only may LGBTQ+ people (married or not) be fired, they can also be evicted from their homes, denied service at restaurants, denied credit, and excluded from juries. It can be difficult for them to adopt children, buy health or life insurance, or get into college. And in many states, all of this is still perfectly legal.

In fact, many people who identify as LGBTQ+ dont have to wait until theyre adults to learn what discrimination is like. LGBTQ+ students can be excluded from clubs and school organizations and face resistance when they try to form their own clubs. They have been mocked and bullied by fellow students and sometimes by teachers as well. Transgender students face additional problems regarding restroom and locker room access, and many LGBTQ+ students feel isolated and even unsafe at school.

Students have difficulty finding information about LGBTQ+ sexuality and other issues. In several states, laws prevent teachers from discussing homosexuality in class. In one case, when a seventeen-year-old gay student in Utah asked his health teacher about safe sex, he was told that the teacher was not allowed to talk about it. Though some schools have enacted antidiscrimination policies that protect LGBTQ+ students, many more have not. And often the policies that do exist are ignored or poorly enforced.

Despite all of this, progress is still being made. It sometimes seems that when it comes to LGBTQ+ discrimination, the United States takes a step back for every two steps forward. But those forward steps are huge ones, and if everyone just keeps marching, LGBTQ+ discrimination will one day be a thing of the past.

D iscrimination is not always bad. One definition of the word is simply the quality or power of finely distinguishing. An avid gamer would likely discriminate between various video game consoles. People are using their powers of discrimination whenever they say something like I prefer science fiction to thrillers, or I like math, but chemistry, not so much. There is nothing bad about that, though it might not be great for their chemistry grades!

One can even discriminate between people in perfectly harmless ways. You may prefer to spend time with your soccer mates on the weekend rather than your friends from schooland thats okay. Discrimination becomes a problem when it is used to exclude certain people from places and activities that are open to all others, or to treat people differently based on categories such as the color of their skin, their ancestors place of origin, whom and how they worship, whom they love, or what gender they are. When one group of people chooses to deny another their rights, they are engaging in bad discrimination.

You can find discrimination almost everywhere. When women or people of color are paid less than white men for doing the same job or when minorities are passed over in favor of nonminority job applicants, this is discrimination in the workplace. Discrimination in housing occurs when a landlord refuses to rent to black, Jewish, or LGBTQ+ families. Discrimination in education happens when college applicants are turned down for belonging to a minority, when a teacher calls on only the boys in a class (or only the girls), or when clubs or sports teams wont allow LGBTQ+ students to join. Racial slurs, insults, bullying, and hate speech aimed at minorities or marginalized groups are all forms of discrimination as well.

The phrase LGBTQ+ refers to a collection of sexual orientations and gender identities. Here is a breakdown of what those letters mean:

Lesbian: A woman who is sexually attracted to other women.

Gay: A person who is sexually attracted to people of their own gender. This term can be used by men or women, but often refers to men attracted to other men, while lesbian is used only for women.

Bisexual: A person who is sexually attracted to both men and women.

Transgender: A person who does not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.