Make Us Proud
Dear straight men and women, I am here to ask you to proactively support the LGBTQIA+ community. As a gay man, I want you to know that we need you to stand with us. You have the power to reach your straight friends and family members, as well as homophobic and bigoted people in your lives or who respect and even look up to you. Many will listen if you choose to use your voice.
LGBTQIA+ people have a pride month because many of us and those who came before us have struggled to feel accepted or even safe in the world. The brutality inflicted on the community has been devastating and although things are improving, the rates of murder against members of the community are higher statistically, as well as rates of suicide among bullied queer people.
As a bullied child myself, I was a victim of hate crimes and lived in fear. While raised in Idaho, I was chased through a park with a truck, I was hit and taunted, and my name was written around school, and even graffitied on the entrance driveway with homophobic slurs. I know just how scary it can feel for people who aren't straight to be in your presence. We don't always know who we can trust. We worry when we apply for jobs that we will be discriminated against. We often hide to fit in and worry about opportunities we might lose or retaliation we might face for being ourselves.
The facts:
LGB youth seriously contemplate suicide at almost three times the rate of heterosexual youth.
LGB youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth.
Suicide attempts by LGB youth and questioning youth are 4 to 6 times more likely to result in injury, poisoning, or overdose that requires treatment from a doctor or nurse, compared to their straight peers.
In a national study, 40% of transgender adults reported having made a suicide attempt. 92% of these individuals reported having attempted suicide before the age of 25.
LGB youth who come from highly rejecting families are 8.4 times as likely to have attempted suicide as LGB peers who reported no or low levels of family rejection.
In 2020 the Human Rights Campaign, which has been tracking transgender deaths since 2013, said it had never seen such a high number of deaths. 44 Trans people were murdered in 2020.
This can change through your action.
Here are some ways you can help.
▫️Stand up when you see someone getting bullied. Say something or do something.
▫️Let community members know you are an ally.
▫️Post in support of the gay community. It shows your real strength when you use your power to help.
▫️When you hear a homophobic joke shut it down and tell the person it's not funny.
▫️Practice empathy by imagining and feeling what it would be like to be trans, gay, or another member of the community. Think of how you would feel if you were being denied rights, hated for loving who you love, being thrown in jail in many parts of the world, and even murdered for being who you are.
▫️Spend time with members of the community.
▫️Donate to great LGBTQ+ causes like The Trevor Project, The Los Angeles LGBT Center.
▫️Educate yourself, watch programs, read books, learn the history of LGBTQ+ people.
This pride month, make us proud of you too.
Kaden James 🏳️🌈
Life Strategist, Bestselling Author, Business Coach
Sources:
1, 2, 3- CDC. (2016). Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health-Risk Behaviors Among Students in Grades 9-12: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
4- James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality.
5- Family Acceptance Project™. (2009). Family rejection as a predictor of negative health outcomes in white and Latino lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults. Pediatrics. 123(1), 346-52.