LGBTQ issues and awareness

LGBTQ Issues and Awareness
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LGBTQ Issues and Awareness
The “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community have faced many challenges in their fights to earn recognition and respect in the political, social, and religious realms. The most popular identity of the group is LGBT and Q is usually silent because it refers to people without a clear understanding of their sexual statuses. The global estimates of LGBTQ population are unclear and unreliable because many people hide. However, America alone could have about 4.1% of its population categorizing as any or many of the LGBTQ identities in 2016. The percentage translates to a figure closer to ten million. In 2012, the LGBT comprised approximately 3.5% of the American population (Gates, 2017). It is worth acknowledging that LGBT community faces various educational, health, and psychological or emotional issues. Fortunately, the problems are resolvable, and the group can enjoy relative peace.
One of the issues faced by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ)” community is high school dropout. The individuals identifying as members of the group face severe discrimination and isolation in schools. Some have been victims of bullying that affect their physical and emotional health. Supporting the individuals to cope with education requires that schools establish strict policies that prohibit discrimination. Such systems can frighten students against assaulting the LGBTs (CDC, 2017).

Another educational support is to create support groups like the gay-straight talk to enlighten and familiarize students with the issues of LGBT. This step can reduce the heat and the harmful controversies that heterosexuals have against the homosexuals.
The most significant health problem faced by the “lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ)” community “sexually transmitted infections (STIs)” particularly HIV/AIDs. The susceptibility of LGBTs to contract HIV/AIDs attributes to their sexual behaviors and practices. Some of the group’s members indulge in oral sex while others cherish anal penetration that increases the risk of the disease. LGBT men are 44 times as likely as the heterosexual others to contract new HIV/AIDs (Subhrajit, 2014). The appropriate support to help LGBTs to overcome the problem demands extensive sex education and sensitization. This measure requires the recognition of schools and healthcare facilities as well as families. Teachers should speak openly about STIs and HIV/AIDs.
Psychological or emotional torture is another challenge facing the “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)” community. In fact, LGBT account for about 30% of teen suicide each year. Also, about 30% of LGBTs suffer alcoholism challenges (Subhrajit, 2014). Psychological support for the team members to overcome mental and emotional problems is a comprehensive counseling program. Schools should create counseling frameworks to support LGBT members. The counseling framework should have teachers and professional psychologists involved in the execution of support services. The counseling program should also target heterosexual students that may be averse to the homosexuals.
The discriminatory issues that face the “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ)” have caused many such members to hide their gender and sexuality identity. According to Australian Human Rights Commission (n.d), about 34% of the population conceal their identities when accessing services. Approximately 42% hide identities in the community and social occasions and 39% conceal their sexuality at work. It is also worrying that about 80% of the anti-homosexual bullying occurs in educational facilities and affects their progress (Australian Human Rights Commission, n.d). Additionally, homosexuals or the “lesbian, gender, transgender, bisexuals, and queer (LGBTQ)” group have three-times likelihood to than heterosexuals to experience depression. Such examples of vulnerabilities of the people identifying as LGBTQ inform the interest to foster research on ways to remedy the issues faced by the group. It is noteworthy that the Australian condition with LGBT is similar to U.S, which is the reason for the consideration of the data.

References
Subhrajit, C. (2014). Problems Faced by LGBT People in the Mainstream Society: Some Recommendations. International Journal of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies (IJIMS), Vol 1, No.5, 317-331.
Australian Human Rights Commission. (n.d). Face the facts: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex People. Retrieved January 21, 2018 from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/education/face-facts/face-facts-lesbian-gay-bisexual-trans-and-intersex-people
Gates, G. (2017). In U.S., More Adults Identifying as LGBT. Retrieved January 21, 2018 from http://news.gallup.com/poll/201731/lgbt-identification-rises.aspx
CDC. (2017). LGBT Youth. Retrieved January 21, 2018 from https://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/youth.htm