It’s Time To Teach Our Children About LGBTQIA+ Matters

     People who dislike the LGBTQIA+ often forget that, while the scripture is valid in its prolific moral arguments, particularly on the part about how to treat fellow human beings, it was written 2,000 years ago by people in a different world. Gay marriage was practically unheard of, and defining it as between that of a man and a woman is to be taken in the same context of the overly-specific language in bills that is often not enforced to the letter as time moves on and people progress as a species.

     Among the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQIA+ community are children, who also fall victim to campaigns of hate and misinformation that irreparably damage their lives. Hate is not inherent, but an evil that is passed from ignorant parents to their children. It must become nothing abnormal if the children are to be treated as fellow human beings judged by their character rather than who they love.

     I often hear the misguided question: How do you even know until you've actually done something? The answer is very simple: How do you know you're straight if you haven't done anything? It's a feeling you get, an intuition that attracts you to someone. Treating people differently this way may seem like a harmless ignorance, but it is this very notion that is the root of all inequality. 

     As I have aforementioned, using the definition of love proves that educating children on this issue is in no way vulgar, for love is love. If you take it entirely in the context of sex, then your perverted way of seeing love is perhaps the root of your deep-held resentment for people happy enough with who they are to share it with whomever they love.

     At a certain age, however, sex education is responsible to teach adolescents who may soon begin their adult lives. In this arena, teachers need not describe the semantics of it, but should acknowledge its existence and explain the variety of resources that are available to help people be comfortable with who they are as well as those designed to meet the special needs of the LGBTQIA+ community.

     This is not the only aspect of LGBTQIA+ matters that needs to be taught. Similarly to the civil rights movement, there have been activists who have fought for the limited rights cherished today, and oppressive government policy that continued into the 1980s, 2010s, and even today is rarely mentioned in textbooks. The thought of teaching the civil rights movement at segregated schools in the 1950s was an impossibility, but an appreciation for the struggles then and now allows us to ignore skin tone and help people of color ignore those who see it until such racism disappears. The same can and must be done for the LGBTQIA+ community.

     Until all people are seen as people, regardless of race, religion, creed, sexual identity and orientation, etc., are seen simply as human beings rather than categorized, all the rights in the world won't matter and intolerance will persist into the future.