L G B T Q +
What is it?
LGBT+ is the community in which everything other than heterosexuality is the way.
"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."
-Harvey Fierstein
What's the Problem?
The cold hard facts are constantly in your face about the mistreatment and brutality that people in all communities, but the mistreatment that this community is facing is especially inhumane. Why would people just like you, no more, no less, have to work twice as more and have an extremely hard time out in the world just because of a personal preference? How does it sound if you kill someone who doesn't have the same favorite color as you? It’s absurd, it’s exactly the same when your personal preference and theirs are completely and different,yet it doesn't and shouldn't affect you negatively at all, if anything it should be a conversation starter for a new friendship, not gossip to go give your supervisor in hopes of them being terminated? Now you're just being a huge homophobe and messy.
Why Should We Care?
The policy of many modern workplaces is that it isn’t “best for business” to cater to the needs of the LGBT population demographic. As the statistics show, however, there is a lot of value that gets brought to the business world. The LGBT population might be comparatively poor to other demographics, but they still have a massive amount of spending power. Businesses that work to reduce discrimination will inspire a lot of loyalty and that often results in repetitive customers.
How Can This Problem Be Fixed?
Having a personal bias is one thing. People tend to be around other people that make them feel comfortable. Someone of a different sexual preference, especially when it comes to those who are transgender, can actually create fear. What do people do when they are afraid? They’ll either attack or they’ll run away. In the workplace environment, running away means quitting a job or being fired on purpose. That affects their income and is often viewed as an unacceptable course of action. That leaves attacking as the only other option. To counter this fight or flight response, workplace educational programs and policies of acceptance can help to make everyone more comfortable because each person is held to the same standard. That’s why Fortune 500 companies with LGBT equality mandated are seeing so much success.
Confessions from the Closet
"I like to change my hair, I like to take risks with how I dress, I like girls, & I like guys (yes), I like growing, I like learning, I like who I am and I really like who I'm becoming," Lonsdale wrote in May. "Spent way too many years hating myself, thinking I was less valuable because I was different.. which is just untrue."-Keiyan Lonsdale
"My first mistake was coming out to my mother. Now, this is a woman who doesn’t handle change well and thinks being open-minded is eating baked chicken instead of fried. I first came out to her when I was 12. Through her overly-dramatic tears, she basically told me that she didn’t believe me. So I came out at 13… and again at 14. This time, she FINALLY removed the veil of doubt that she’d been married to and listened to me. We argued for about a month, and then she kicked me out."-Anon
"For several weeks, my mom acted like I would grow out of it. I felt worse than I had before, knowing my sexual orientation was now out there and not knowing what to do."-Frank