I came across this short article which is another reminder of how important it is to get trans-inclusive ENDA passed, and how much bigotry people in this country still face on many levels.
Seventeen year old Zikerria Bellamy filed a job discrimination complaint against McDonald's in Orlando, Forida, alleging she was discriminated against on the basis of her gender. I've written about this type of thing before where I addressed discrimination's effects on people.
It's looking more and more like ENDA won't be addressed til next year, if at all; it's an election year after all. Who wants to address "gay issues" in an election year? People don't see gay issues as family issues, and they don't realize gay issues affect everybody.
I don't have the statistics right in front of me but there have been a few reports released lately that revealed some truly horrifying truths. It's probably good I don't have them - I'd just end up throwing numbers at you. A million homeless kids. GLBT kids who are four hundred per cent more likely to attempt suicide.
And on and on.
Here it is without the science-based emotionless statistics: kids fucking get abused, assaulted, killed or commit suicide from these things. Before they have a chance at a real life.
We're talking about the nastiest, most evil shit you can imagine.
Kids become homeless at an alarming rate because of a lot of reasons people don't seem to want to know about: parents kick their gay kids out. Make them go somewhere on their own. They just stop loving their kids because of something that's not a choice. And if it were a choice, it's not one that should make someone stop loving their kid. And kick them out of their homes so they can die on the streets or turn to prostitution. Or start doing drugs.
When these GLBT kids go to shelters they're often picked on or attacked there.
I guess if you're gay, there's no safe place for you right?
If a remarkably large number of kids getting kicked out because they're gay doesn't piss you off enough, there are the kids who leave home because of sexual abuse. Their family decides the kid is a disgusting pervert, so shit, why not take advantage of that? And these kids get sexually assaulted, raped, violated, and their only recourse is to leave and try to make it on their own.
You think their schools or communities will listen to them? Imagine this happening in a conservative area. Could you really see anyone getting the help they need in these places?
And that's just the sexual assault.
Then there's physical, mental and emotional abuse. From family. Friends. Classmates. Shit, even teachers sometimes.
My friend I wrote about who's in college now still has to deal with coming out to his teachers and hoping they don't humiliate him. Some have been pretty awful.
And this is just one person. In college.
Coming out as gay is stressful enough but you'd be surprised at how much violence there is at people who come out as transgender. That really screws with people's perceptions. And apparently it's enough for people to go nuts on transgender people.
I can imagine you learn who your real friends are pretty quickly. I'm thinking it's not pretty.
And this is all before jobs.
I looked up the number to the other finding, and I will use it here just because it's amazing:
97 percent of the respondents reported being mistreated or harassed at work, and nearly half (47 percent) said they had lost their jobs, were denied a promotion, or denied a job as a direct result of being transgender. The Task Force is partnering with the National Center for Transgender Equality
That's insane.
I mean these are PEOPLE. Who are already dealing with god knows what the fuck else. The last thing they need is to be fired or discriminated against at their jobs.
Especially kids! Who knows how many of these kids need these jobs to get out of their homes - or shit, just to have an escape from being abused for a few hours a day? And to face THIS when you apply for a job is unreal. That's an example of the kind of discrimination and mental abuse even kids deal with.
There needs to be much more understanding about these issues that affect everyone: kids, adults, everyone. And yes, FAMILIES.
Gay issues are family issues.
Even the people who are seemingly interested enough to talk about the subject are unaware of their accidental bigotry:
The 17-year-old Bellamy is male but says she has been living as a female for about six years.
No, the seventeen year old is female and has been able to live that way for six years.
Nobody should be forced to live or work in any kind of situation that's mentally, physically and emotionally intolerable, including identifying yourself by a gender you're not.