Dear Future President:

The LGBT+ community faces a lot of discrimination, which truly needs to stop. Granted, no one can say it’s illegal to be homophobic. People are allowed to have their opinions, but those opinions should not get someone fired, those opinions should not kick someone out of school, and those opinions certainly should not harm someone. The LGBT+ community needs support, we need help in order to continue on with our lives. All I ask, is for the LGBT+ community to be added onto the list that will make it illegal for a person who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or something else, will be unable to get dismissed from work because of who they are.

The LGBT+ community is presently one of the most hated upon demographics in the world. According to Kurina Baksh, from Huffington Post, “The LGBT workforce continues to face widespread discrimination in the workplace with 21 percent of LGBT employees reporting that they have been discriminated against in hiring, promotions and pay.” It needs to stop. Having 21 percent of LGBT employees being singled out and discriminated against is not okay. And those 21 percent of LGBT people, are only the ones who openly show who they are. I am a 13 year-old bisexual girl, and after doing the research in order to properly write this letter, I am scared to “come out” when I eventually go get a job, when I eventually go to high school at the end of this school year. How can I be myself if people, fellow students, might hurt me, bully me, and anything else I don’t even know about. It needs to end, so many more people are out there in the U.S. in need of dire help.

Discrimination against the LGBT+ community needs to at least be slowed down, I understand it would be extremely difficult to out-right stop hatred against an entire demographic. “In 28 states, it is legal to fire someone based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity,” said by Jennifer Calfas, from USA Today. That is 28 states too many, plus about 90 percent of transgenders get almost double the normal employment rates. Transgenders get much more discrimination than their LGB counterparts. It’s not right how people can hate of people, just because they have a different sexual orientation, or identify with a gender they weren’t born with. They’re human too, and they should be treated just like anyone else.

Thank you for reading my letter and, hopefully, taking it into consideration. All of the discrimination against the LGBT+ community should be stopped, one small step at a time. One step has been taken, the legalization of same-sex marriage, which I am ecstatic about. The next step should be adding the LGBT+ community to the anti-discrimination laws.

Sincerely,

Marina B.

Citations:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kurina-baksh/workplace-discrimination-_b_10606030.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/31/employment-discrimination-lgbt-community-next-frontier/29635379/