Gay marriage is now fully legal throughout the United States which is definitely a huge victory for LGBT persons in the US. However, marriage equality is not the only issue that we have and there are dozens of other issues that need to be addressed. So, in this article, we’ll be looking at a few other pertinent issues that we all should be paying attention to as a society.
The first one that we’ll look at is violence. Violence against LGBT persons is nothing new but it has to stop. Do you know that LGBT persons of color are more than twice as likely to experience violence? As a matter of fact, in 2012, 73.1% of hate violence was against LBGT persons of color. Now, in 2016, anti-gay violence is still rampant and is even made worse with racism. This systematic ill-treatment of people due to their race, sexuality or any other factor is simply unacceptable. We may have marriage equality, but more needs to be done to reduce LGBT hate and facilitate acceptance and love in all communities.
Next, another issue that needs to be looked at are LGBT migrants. This group is discriminated against even twice as much since they have to go through discrimination from being a minority, immigrant, queer and also being rejected by their fellow migrants who are typically very anti-LGBT. According to estimates, 2.7% of all immigrants in the US are LGBT. They not only have to go through discrimination from all sides, but are usually the most affected by deportation and detention. They are more susceptible to harassment and abuse from fellow migrants and officials, especially if they are transgender.
A third issue that we will now discuss is health care. Currently, over 82% of heterosexuals have health insurance in the US and only 77% of LGB persons have insurance. 57% of transgender persons have health insurance which shows that transgender persons are in great need of health care and assistance. It is critical that LGBT health care is expanded and made into a priority.
Next, we will look at employment, economic inequality and homelessness. It is no surprise that a significant number of LGBT people live below the poverty line and are employed in low income jobs. This is due to the fact that the LGBT are very vulnerable and usually lead stressful lives due to discrimination. Discrimination at work often causes them to not progress above low income jobs in addition to a lack of support from their heterosexual families. The children of gay and lesbian parents are now twice as likely to live in poverty in comparison to children in heterosexual homes. So, as you can see, much needs to be done to improve the economic issues that LGBT persons face.
In closing, we have just taken a quick look at some of the major issues affecting the LGBT community. There are dozens of other issues but these are the main ones that need to be addressed right away. Marriage equality was an excellent step in the right direction, but we need to keep addressing these other issues so that the lives of all LBGT persons can improve.
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