Dear The Next President,

For years the LGBTQ community has been looked down on. From LGBTQ people being bullied at school, to people getting killed over their sexuality, either way it is a huge problem that needs to be fixed. Being LGBTQ is against some people’s religion, which in some cases is why they are so down on us. It’s understandable that if being gay, transsexual, or bisexual is against some people’s beliefs that they would not support the choice; but in no way is it okay that they are so harsh. All people no matter their size, religion, sexuality, or age should be respectful.

Ever since I was nine years old I knew that I was not normal, I realized that the normal is being only attracted to the opposite sex, but that was not the case for me. I was attracted to both male and females and to be honest it scared me. Growing up at church I was told that being gay was a sin and that being gay meant you were disobeying God. I didn't want to disobey God so I kept my sexuality a secret. I was ashamed of myself and didn't know how to handle this situation. Eventually at 12 years of age I gathered enough strength to tell my mother what had been building inside me for years. Though she supported my decision, my father did not. We got into many fights and is still a sore subject to this day. Over time I became more comfortable with who I am and shared it with the world. I started dating females and I thought everything was going great. Let’s just say, that didn't last. The kids at school would give me strange looks, make harsh comments and even physically hurt me over my sexuality. This is a problem and I am sick of it.

A writing piece on Political reasearch.org said that a few months ago in North Carolina several people where killed at a local gay bar. The man that had done it was arrested and he was asked why he killed those innocent people, his response? It was against his religion to be gay. You might see this and think that oh that too bad and move on but those people had friends and family that were destroyed on this. Innocent people were killed for what they believe in. What if people got killed for other reasons like their religion, wearing a certain type of clothes, or eating certain types of food? People most likely wouldn't support that as much as being killed/hurt over sexuality.

As I'm sure you know the LGBTQ community is affected in many, many ways. From getting strange looks from strangers, to getting neglected by parents and friends, to being killed. In a 2011 analysis of FBI hate-crime statistics, the Southern Poverty Law Center found that “LGBT people are more than twice as likely to be the target of a violent hate-crime than Jews or black people,” said Mark Potok. The LGBTQ community is more looked down upon and hated than the Jews and black people. Though those both are also huge problems in this world today LGBTQ hate is bigger. People are getting killed, teens are getting bullied, kids are getting taught that being gay is bad, is this how you want our country to be? This needs to stop.

This is hard hard issue to fix and most likely impossible to fix but it for sure needs to be controlled. This is America and people should be able to be who they are without being told that it’s bad and without feeling like they need to “fit in” with everyone else. Maybe have speeches dedicated to this problem, or make laws against it. Laws saying that if you beat someone up or say hurtful things towards people’s sexuality that you would get charged “x” amount of money, or something along those lines. People should be fined for being hurtful, they should be taught that it’s not okay to be rude, that they need to be respectful. So dear president, please consider doing something about this problem within our country.

A Concerned Student,

Alivia DeKlein