Once Upon A Rejection

This photo displays a group of people celebrating their pride.

My project is about the inequality, injustices, and (mental) health of people who identify as LGBTQ+. The LGBTQ+ community experience a lot of judgment, because of their sexuality, which is then inflicted upon the way the person who’s judging treats them. People who are against LGBTQ+ display their hatred and unacceptable behavior towards them through the law, hospitals, careers, jobs, and much more. The judgments and hatred upon members of the LGBTQ+ can be rooted in religion, beliefs, traditions, stereotypes, society’s norms, or maybe even from someone’s assuming and hypocritical ignorance. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I want to make it my goal to learn more about my community’s history. Over the course of decades, the LGBTQ+ community has experienced great oppression, hatred, ignorance, injustices, and some of the problems listed beforehand have even led to some being murdered. If I make an attempt to learn about LGBTQ+ history then I am making an attempt to educate the ignorance that’s been placed within the mindsets, religion, beliefs, traditions, and societies of humankind. I want to make a change because it is hurtful and painful watching the way the world treats and views LGBTQ+ members. A person should not be shunned, because they are not straight. Everyone deserves the right to live their life truthfully instead of feeling like an outcast to society. People have hidden who they were in fear of rejection and hatred from family, friends, loved ones, and including the oppressors. Living a life where you are forcing yourself to be someone you’re not can lead to depression, sadness, a (mental) health downfall, or even worse suicide.

This is a picture of someone displaying their pansexuality during a photoshoot.

I am interested in such a sensitive and important topic because as I stated before I am a member of the LGBTQ+ community. I identify as pansexual, which is not the same as bisexual although some people believe. The prefix “pan-“ means “all.” Similarly, pansexuality means that you’re attracted to people of all genders. This also includes people who don’t identify with any gender(agender). Note this, pansexuality doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re attracted to every person. For example, heterosexual males aren’t attracted to every female, and vice versa. This word pansexual simply indicates that you find yourself being attracted to people of all sorts of genders. Acknowledging the injustice and sorts of neglect that the members of the LGBTQ+ community face make me feel the pain and hurt that they feel.

In this picture, there’s a group of people protesting for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. In this case, there are preferably protesting for transgender rights of protection and freedom.

It is important to me to be able to speak about these things, because if one fears all fear. I want to be the voice of those stitched and frightened mouths. I want people to no longer live in fear, but live with who they truly are: beautiful. This topic is important for everyone to be educated about because it is best to vocalize all inequality, not just the inequality that they just see. As humans, we were “created equal,” but nobody cannot be equal if we have rights being taken away from a group because of their identity. It is important for humanity to begin placing themselves in the shoes of its victims because where one cannot sympathize is where one cannot care. We cannot pick and choose who to give freedom, rights, privileges, advantages, etc too because doing so is like making a snowman and forgetting its eyes and mouth.

This picture of the snowman refers to my comparison of creating a snowman without its mouth or eyes.

This is data displaying the insurance of LGBTQ+ members.

This topic on LGBTQ+ inequalities and health is significant because the system is failing to treat everyone as if we were all created equal. Someone’s sexual orientation should not dictate how important and how much freedom one has. The view of how society treats a person can also affect that person’s health. The feeling of not being wanted, because of who you are, is dreadful and can lead to you becoming depressed, anxious, self-hating, suicidal, etc. People should be able to acknowledge the warning signs and how inequalities that people who identify as LGBTQ+ feel. When it comes to the comfort of speaking on sexual relationships, it is often a very sensitive topic towards LGBTQ+ because of how badly they are treated within clinics and hospitals. The level of discomfort keeps them closed off and silent about the things that should be normal, but because of their sexual orientation and identity, they are looked at as if they’re not normal. A person shouldn’t have to keep something in and stay closed off, because of their difference to the world. We need to normalize everyone not being straight because there are different sexualities and relationships. When it comes to my research, readers can be educated with the data, statistics, definitions, and explanations of each individual topic that has been researched. The research would explain stereotypes, data, and the meaning behind the different injustices and oppression that LGBTQ+ face. You could collect valid information and data by reading the articles and my analysis of each article.

This photo displays health behaviors in 2009-2015.

So far, my research has given me a better understanding of how the stereotypes and problems of the LGBTQ+ community start. From the beginning, I knew some things about how stereotypes begin and who or what creates them but I didn’t know about how little it takes for that stereotype to pass on. I’m wondering about who specifically started the stereotypes and inequalities towards this specific group of people. I question society because how can people just become so hateful and unaccepting because of someone’s sexual orientation. I just don’t understand how someone’s identity can bother other people when everyone wasn’t made the same. Moving forward, I hope to learn more about the data and statics of health, suicide, depression, anxiety, homelessness, and neglect.

This photo shows an LGBTQ+ protest.