October 19th, 2016

Dear next president,

Today there are many problems within our society and yes, I know that as the president it can be hard to focus yourself on all of the problems we have in today's society. Although you can’t always focus on all of the issues I think that there is one issue that needs to be brought to your attention. That issue would be the fact that many LGBT youth can’t come out or if they do they are kicked out of there homes and have no place to go, and that can lead to the suicide rates of LGBT youth. On the website for the trevor project, it states that, “The rate of suicide attempts is 4 times greater for LGBT youth and 2 times greater for questioning youth than that of straight youth” This might seem like a random topic to talk about coming from a 18 year old boy out of montana, but I have had those fears just like every LGBT member has had.

I think the reason LGBT members have the problem of just being scared to come out is because members of the LGBT community always here about all the horrors of what’s to happen when you come out. One of the horrors is that they heave no place to turn so they think fast and do they only thing that seems reasonable to them and commit suicide. A statistic from the trevor project’s website shows that LGBT members who are coming from a family who rejects that are almost 8 times more likely to commit suicide than those who are not rejected from their family. They also hear about the abuse they face at school and at home. They even hear about how they could be kicked out of there own home with no place to go because there family has turned them away just because they feel differently about who they like, love, and how they feel about themselves.

I feel that the root problem to all of this is the lack of information being put out there. The information that needs to be put out there is yes if you are part of the LGBT community it is okay because you are your own person and are still loved and always will be. Also what goes with lack of information is that fact that many big cities like Los Angeles have LGBT centers where they can go to hang out and be themselves and they even house members of the LGBT community who have been kicked out for a short amount of time, while helping them get a job so they can be on there own. Although Los Angeles has that, many cities like in my case Billings, Montana do not have one of those. The closest thing that could be similar to that is six hours away and it is nothing like the big LGBT center in Los Angeles.

I feel that as president you are obligated to help these LGBT members. I think that you could help these LGBT member by giving every state money, but be very specific in what it is to be used for. I think that the money you give the states needs to be put forward to LGBT centers like the one in Los Angeles. These centers would help give hope to the LGBT members who have no hope, and the LGBT members could finally have a place where they could just be themselves instead of having to keep a straight face or having to hide in the closet for most of their lives.

You are the president which means you are a very busy person, but there are problems within our society and our states. Young kids are killing themselves all because they have lack of information, they are kicked from their homes, and because they have no real place to go. So next president I know you are busy but you need to care about our youth who are ending their lives for reasons that could have been avoided if they just had the help and resources they needed and could have had. Next president I propose to you that you help by giving the states the money that they need for LGBT centers to help the LGBT youth in america.

Sincerely,

Jaren P.

Billings, Montana

                                                                 Citations

Trevor Project. "Facts About Suicide." The Trevor Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.