The fight for equality…If we give up fighting for equality now, then people will continue to abuse minority groups while acting like nothing is wrong. But something is wrong. Very, very wrong. 80% of homophobic bullying occurs at school, affecting Australia’s youth and raising depression rates to three times the previous statistics. 11% of Australians may have a diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex. LGBT+ teens are five times more likely to attempt suicide, and transgender young adults are eleven times more likely. 61% of queer young people reported verbal abuse from family, peers, teachers, and even strangers, and the reported number of same-sex couples has tripled between 1996 and 2011.
Homosexuality is more common than it appears, and if you think you don’t know any gay people, it’s probably because they’re all in the closet, afraid of being abused. This issue only affects LGBT+ people. It has no impact on heterosexual cisgender people whatsoever. Think of it like this. Your sibling gets married. They are in love with their spouse, and their spouse is in love with them. Does that marriage have any impact on you? Does it hurt you in any way? Whether or not someone gets married is the choice of them and whomever they’re planning to marry. You have no right to get involved in their wedding unless they invite you to get involved.
For years, people who love the same gender have been persecuted, abused, kicked out of their homes, and abandoned. Now that Australia has legalized same-sex marriage, many people seem to think that just because marriage is legal, LGBT+ people have won their rights and can stop fighting. But if we look at statistics, the amount of sexuality-based abuse is still quite high.
But the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin! Well, no. The Bible was mistranslated from “Do not lie with a boy as one lies with a woman” to “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman”. So really, it’s against pedophiles. And even if it was correct, the Bible also said not to eat prawns, to gouge a man’s eyes out if he looks at a woman in an inappropriate way, and to stone any woman who requested a divorce. If we don’t follow those passages, why should we follow others?
In conclusion, I believe that gay rights are human rights, and even if you don’t like gay people, you still have to treat them like actual human beings, instead of objects to be walked over, mocked, insulted, fetishized, abused, and killed. But stereotyping people based on things they can’t control, like race, sexuality, gender, or appearance, is wrong. Very wrong.