Last Fall Semester, I worked overnight shifts at McDonald's to pay for my apartment. After a long night of hard work, I wanted nothing more than to crash in my bed. As I walked outside through the clear glass doors, I heard, "Hey you faggot" behind me. I turned around and saw a red truck with two guys in the deserted parking lot. "Yeah, you," they said. Terror is the only emotion I remember. Petrified that they would verbally and physically assault me, I simply walked away. To my relief, they didn't follow my steps.
This is the reality for many in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community. While their friends, families and allies may support and comfort them, hostility toward homosexuals is widespread in our society. As a gay student at Ball State, I found my own circle of friends, fellow students and faculty that accept and embrace who I am, but I occasionally run into hate and intolerance.
Additionally, not everyone has the support that I do. LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexual youth, according to the Trevor Project, an organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth. LGBTQ individuals raised in hostile environments are more likely to be severely depressed, more likely to use illegal drugs and contract HIV or other STDs.
As a gay man, I find it hard to believe that my heterosexual peers can truly understand what some LGBTQ people go through. But luckily, there is a program here to educate LGBTQ allies - Safezone.
To feed my curiosity, I attended Safezone training Monday evening at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center. The most interesting aspect of the training was observing and listening to what straight allies had to say. I watched as they learned the different definitions of sexual minorities. I particularly enjoyed the discussion about heterosexism, because they comprehended what societal mold LGBTQ people live in and must adapt to. They learned about LGBTQ history and all the privileges heterosexuals have that the LGBTQ community doesn't.
I came into the training thinking that I would not learn anything new, but I was so wrong. Same-sex couples, families and marriages came into the discussion.
As a 21-year-old college student, marriage and family don't cross my mind at all. However, there was a list of different situations same-sex families may deal with, most of them quite unfortunate. One circumstance that stuck out to me was, "raising children without worrying about people rejecting your children because of your sexual orientation."
I'm not sure if I even desire a child in my future, but would I really want to bring an innocent soul into my life when they are rejected because of who their parents are? There was another question. "What happens to the children if the biological parent dies or is incapacitated?"
Let's say my future partner is the biological father of our child, and he suddenly passes away. As our state and federal government doesn't recognize same-sex relationships, unions or marriages, what would happen to my child?
These questions bring serious issues to my future, but this is already the reality so many people, couples and families across our country deal with.
There are always sympathetic people with no action, but taking action for your peers, friends and family is the trait for the ultimate LGBTQ ally. Educating oneself with the current reality and becoming an activist for LGBTQ rights is the only way we could help.
There are two more training sessions this semester, on Oct. 30 and Dec. 5.
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