Hello there!
Won't you follow me down the "rabbit hole"? I have so much in store to teach you! There is much to discuss and analyze about the story of how our country became how it is today. So come along!
This is where our adventure begins...
You see, my US History class was challenged to create a blog following one of the six topics given to us for each unit. There was a buffet of choices such as: freedom, democracy, racism, exceptionalism, immigration, and the American Dream . However, I chose my own path so to speak. To me, in every History topic I have ever learned and within events that happen today, the common theme is DISCRIMINATION. I don't mean just racial or religious discrimination, but more recently LGBTQ+ discrimination too. I chose this topic in particular because it is a modern problem as well as an Old World problem. I wanted to show how diverse discrimination can be, and how it can be found in nearly every topic within History. I myself am a part of the LGBTQ+ community, as are most of my closest friends, so whenever there is an incident or a public figure speaking negatively about the community, I am affected. Fortunately no matter how many small minded politicians speak out negatively against the community, we are moving forward in getting equality, and not just within the LGBTQ+ community, but within groups dealing with religious discrimination, sexist discrimination and racial discrimination. I want to show how discrimination has been evolved throughout History and how it applies to events today. How far we have come, and how we are getting even farther every day.
http://polis.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=5032
The link posted deals with discussing how even though the United States is deemed to be a symbol of "equality of opportunity for people of all races, origins, religions and creeds", the US has a history of denying rights to certain groups. It talks about how LGBTQ+ people are denied many rights that other communities have. Fortunately we have come far with things like LGBT-inclusive hate crimes passed by Congress in 2009 and marriage equality getting passed in 2015, but the community still faces issues. It goes on to talk about the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, that commits to ensuring the safety of LGBTQ+ people around the world, and the Equality Act that prohibits the discrimination of someone based on sexual orientation in things like employment, education, housing, public accommodations,jury service, credit, and federal financial assistance. It pairs them up to receive equal rights along with groups that are discriminated against based on race, gender, religion, or national origin. The next section talks about education, stating a poll that 8 out of 10 LGBTQ+ students report harassment based around their sexual orientation. Nearly one third skip class once while three tenths report skipping entire days because of harassment. That is when Jared introduced the Student Non-Discrimination Act which works to prohibit discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability status. Next Jared has the Transgender Equality Task Force in mind, focusing on making the challenges faced by transgender individuals known and working to eliminate violence and discrimination against them. Jared has brought up many bills to help further the protection of not only LGBTQ+ youth, but other groups that are known to be discriminated against as well.
When it comes to my opinion on the article, I can honestly say that I am hopeful for these bills and I hope that they begin to further eliminate discrimination of certain groups of people. Looking at the polls in the article, it is devastating what effect discrimination has on the community. In 2015 alone, nearly 21 transgender women were murdered. 21 women. That is not okay. We need to end these acts of hate crimes and discrimination. It is making children afraid to go to school, and it is causing adults to worry about doing basic things like buying a house and seeking financial help when there should be no reason to. The United States may have come far in staring to spread equality among groups, but I say we go even farther and try and stop discrimination in every way possible to make this world a less scary place to live.
Now, come join me in the fight for equality, and be ready to explore your roots, because this is only the beginning...
