Personal Narrative: The LGBT + Community

This past year, I have been apart of Naperville Central’s brand new Special Spaces club. When my friend approached me and asked me to join, I agreed even though I had no clue what I was involving myself in. In retrospective, I can honestly say that becoming a part of Special Spaces has been one of the most meaningful, fun, and fulfilling experiences I have had in high school.

In light of the recent election putting a man with questionable morality in the powerful seat of President, many in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community are fearful of the repercussions this will cause. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, “867 cases of hateful harassment or intimidation [were reported] in the United States in the 10 days after the November 8 election”, and swastikas adorned people’s cars and homes in angry graffiti, accompanying words such as “white power” and “fag”, “he she” and “die” (Yan). While the American legal system has come a long way in granting the homosexual community their natural rights, the present climate gives many a fear that things will go back to the way they were before, with homosexuals being oppressed and persecuted for simply loving who they love.

They have had to deal with numerous inequalities throughout time. After slavery they were not given equal rights. There were many rights rallies and according to the statistics, they are still not receiving equal pay. There used to be restaurants that would not serve a person of color and they were even told they could only sit in the back of buses. Though we have overcome most of this we have not overcome hate crimes. Every group has encountered unequal or cruel treatment based on nothing more than a characteristic about them. Though the hate crime rate had dropped in 2007 there was a rise of anti-gay crime. Now with the new election the hate crime rate has risen again. This shows the problem is not diminishing and that we need to find a way to get this under control.

According to Child Help, “a report of child abuse is made about every 10 seconds.” It has also been found that parents of the same gender have a higher tendency to abuse their children. (Lamerial McRae). LGBTQ is a term for a community of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and people who question their gender. This dillema of LGBTQ rights has been a hot topic lately because members of this community have been changing laws and trying to change different codes, including bathroom codes.Many people in America do not agree because of personal beliefs or maybe just because of how they were raised. People involved with the LGBTQ community should not have the same rights as other citizens, because it hurts other religions, they tend to be violent, and equal rights has turned into special treatment.

I am passionate about help making a difference within the LGBTQ community. By improving the well-being of the LGBTQ communities. My underlying goal is to help serve the HIV’ AIDs community in order to help loved ones. My reasons for wanting this internship is to become an allied for both LGBTQ and HIV/AIDs communities. I will do this by having an open mind and being mindful of how others view individuals within these communities. I want to help to spread knowledge and awareness around AID/HIV and help get rid of the negative connotation around the LGBTQ community. I am passionate about helping individuals get their voice back. With my crisis intervention skills, and caseload experience, I believe I will be a great assess for this

For centuries, many political and civil rights activist have taken a stance against the growing racial tensions that have persisted with in the United States. Even though the racial problems facing this country today are not as transparent as in the past, the underlying prejudice still remains. For instance, President Trump's campaign used disapproving religious and racial views to gain support which subsequently escalated the already strained racial relations. Even though political elections are anonymous in the eye of the public, society has shaped anyone out who voted for Donald Trump to essentially be Caucasian. Therefore, this presidential election has caused for any progress regarding racial relations to be questioned due to the blatant

For centuries it has seemed that African Americans have been fighting a never ending battle for acceptance in society. Although this is somewhat true, it appears that the rest of minorities being discriminated against are left in the shadows. I understand African American citizens might have an immense population of people that are being discriminated by the authorities, but people need to also understand and realize that it is not only African Americans. Instead of the recently popular quote being “Black lives matter”, it should instead be, “All lives matter”. Society must take into consideration that it's not just african americans that have it rough in the world we live in today. There are countless times where hispanic americans, Muslims,

Discrimination is a problem in our world today, but a majority of our population has taken it and distorted it to be a bigger problem than it really is. Recently in the United States, there has been a lot of attention from the public eye, that has been turned to this issue. With the recent election of Donald Trump to be the President-elect of this country, a lot of people are voicing their opinions about how they believe he is a racist, and how the whole country will be worse than it was before when it comes to discrimination. Racism and discrimination toward African-Americans specifically has recently gotten a lot of attention from the media as well. The formation of the group “Black Lives Matter,” reignited the historic controversy in America about African-Americans and the reality of their situations.

Everyone, including Whites, feel some sort of oppression after the election. ________ expresses his feelings of oppression as a transgender person, “My friends of color said to me, ‘now you know how it feels’” although she is White. This shows that the election affected everyone, such as transgender people and not just people of color. Although University of Oregon claims to be a diverse campus, it is still a predominantly White school. But knowing that there are White people at UO who are willing to use their privilege to stand up for non-Whites, I am hopeful for a post-racial

My coming out went really smoothly. My grandma is totally chill with it. I first told her in 3rd grade when I liked Kennedy. I honestly can not remember a thing about it, but I do know now that I talk to her about it quite often, and she does not care. She supports me.

The LGBTQ community is one that is often forgotten and over-shadowed by the predominant heteronormative society, in which they live. This results in violent repercussions throughout every aspect of their social lives, it effects the quality of support and services they receive, from both their loved ones and through formal institutions. This causes serious harm for this minoritized community, as shown through the prevalence of mental disorders amongst the population. The increased awareness of the LGBTQ community, calls for the social work profession to change its approach to better serve the LGBTQ people, such as a gaining of knowledge, self-reflection, and the elimination of hidden biases or prejudices against its members; though the ways in which these modifications take place vary across the field of social work.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, also known as LGBT population have experienced a great deal of oppression worldwide. These particular individuals undergo discrimination from society, whether for reasons of ignorance, fear or intolerance, this population faces challenges in multiple areas of social justice sexual. Although the LGBT culture has made some strides in the areas of state and federal legislation, there is still a wide range of criminalization that takes place within our culture. Understanding the LGBT community and the history of their oppression may be the first step in becoming culturally competent. For many years this culture was denied their basic constitutional rights that were afforded to their equal heterosexual peers. Basic rights such as, adoption and marriage were uncommon to this culture until the 20th century.

This research paper has made use of interviewing members of the LGBT community in order to examine how LGBT couples feel performing public displays of affection in different spaces. This analysis pulls several reoccurring themes from each of the conducted interviews which feature one Bi women, one Gay man and One Lesbian women. The analysis will combine these interviews and theme with previous academic and scholarly research in order to try and provide an accurate look at the emotions and experiences of LGBT public displays of affection and how or if it has affected the ways in which they may interact with themselves and others in those spaces.

What keeps me up at night is endless because the world has a lot it needs to change, however, the one topic that never leaves my mind is the LGBT+ community. My life is centered around the community because I am a member of it, and no matter what I say about my sexual orientation and gender identity and romantic orientation not being the main focus of me as a person, it does make up a lot of what I am. Outside of just me, I have countless friends that do not identify as the regular heterosexual cisgender person. To me, it does matter if transgender people get the right to enter whichever restroom matches their gender identity. It is important to me that the community gets the right to equal employment, and protection from discrimination in the workplace. It is important that the entire community get its rights, no matter how long it takes.

Given that the LGBT community and Muslims had a hard path to go through, majority of society learned to accept them. For instance multiple cities