The previous slate post is an introduction to my topic that I have picked to focus on and why. Throughout the first post, I explained why LGBTQ+ inequality and health are important and should be discussed more often than it is now. I was able to find the most fitting words to express my passion and personal experience to develop the idea of change needing to be done. The inequality and health of the LGBTQ+ community should be taken just as seriously as any other society and world issue. People shouldn’t have to feel the need to hide because of the way they are viewed in society. We cannot make a change without putting in the effort to try to make a change and we must start in our own communities before we start in the world.

In my ongoing research, I am witnessing people speak about this topic more and raise more awareness. A few old classmates of mine are telling me that their schools are having groups or discussions about the injustices that members of the LGBTQ+ face and how it has been an eye-opener to many. I have also seen people donate to organizations of the LGBTQ+ community and make sure people are educated on such a sensitive topic. Throughout these couple of months, I have witnessed more people open up about their experiences of being LGBTQ+ or having a family, friend, classmate, or associate who experienced trauma and became proud of being who they are. I think this message of being yourself is sprouting more in the LGBTQ+ community and this is reflecting on people coming out more and being proud. The more that people speak upon topics, the more people pay attention and reach out to anyone about the issue and its importance. I know that this may not be a big change, but it is a change and that’s what is important. To be able to show pride and be happy with yourself is such a beautiful thing and to see people begin to unite, against the oppression and injustices, is something that sparks a movement; maybe even something greater.

This is a list of organizations you can donate to that supports the LGBTQ+.

When it comes to change there isn’t a correct way for it to happen. The different ways of spreading awareness for change that I have seen are powerful and very impactful towards people who are a part of the LGBTQ+ along with people who are outsiders. To me, I feel as though that the more methods the more urgent change is going to happen. When you have a group of people aiming towards the same goal, but using different methods, you begin to see the motivation and the urgency of an issue. It doesn’t matter where or how you start, when you are aiming towards a specific goal or obstacle, you will end up in the same place as those who started somewhere else. The most important step is changing yourself first because you cannot change anything else if you cannot recognize who you are and want to be. I wouldn’t say that it starts with self-love but it does start with confirming self-identity and that is very important especially in the LGBTQ+ community. Once you know who you are when you begin to educate people, then those people educate others and now you have people spreading the issue. After the issue is spread, you go and unite people to plan out a way to change your community and after all, is said and done you go out to change the world. Change isn’t always about physical action, sometimes it’s about how you impacted an individual and made them feel.

List of LGBTQ+ members who made a change in LGBTQ+ history.

For my agent of change, I decided to educate my advisory class about the inequality and health of members who identify as LGBTQ+. I took this step because I didn’t want to go into the world making a change if people didn’t know a lot about this issue. I decided to take a step back and talk to people about this issue that hits home to me because I am also a member of the LGBTQ+ community and not a lot of people know that. Being able to share and speak on a topic that has been in the back of my tongue is very brave of me knowing that it is against everything I believe in. Verbal and emotional change is something I was hoping to make happen and I believe that I did just that. I decided to speak about it to my advisory because those are the people I will be seeing for the next three years and I want them to know how important it is to me that this issue will be changed. My experience was very different because there are so many different thoughts and opinions yet all of those opinions are about change. This experience is something I would be open to experience again because of how great and comforting it was. To be able to sit and talk to a group of people about something that hits home to you and for them to be invested is such a blessing and an amazing experience. I enjoyed every moment of my presentation. I was effective in making a change because I took my own personal experience and combined it with something that people who are like me struggle with. Being able to speak on something that a small percentage of people who are in your community and surround you is very impactful. I was in the ice breaker because so far this year I have not witnessed anyone, in particular, speak on this issue and share their personal experience. As I mentioned before, change isn’t always about a physical act, sometimes it’s about how you motivated someone and made them change the way they thought or felt. I feel as though I touched a lot of classmates because I was the source of understanding for them. I placed myself as a target in order for them to understand how strongly I feel about change towards the LGBTQ+ community.

I felt great while doing this project, it actually helped me step out of my comfort zone and open up more to people I have never met in person. I learned how eager I was to make a change and how different I am compared to others. I say this because I am a Christian and Christianity is often the trigger behind homophobia and all of the horrible things that the LGBTQ+ community deal with. This project has influenced me to step out of Christianity and be who I know that I am and Christian is not one of them. I started to live my truth and be who I know that I am: Aylin. I think that others also impacted me because people often tell me how much of a great person I am and I never saw it until I placed all of my religious things to the side. I like myself better without religion and I feel as though that is what is holding me back, but not any longer. I live by two quotes now that state, “I rather live one day as a lion than live a hundred years as a sheep. I rather reign in hell than serve in heaven, live out my dreams in reality and not in my sleep.”-Lukas Graham. The other quote is,‘ “Someday, we will all die, Snoopy!” “True, but on all the other days, we will not.” ‘-Charlie Brown. These quotes stood out to me and are now something I live by because if I was born to die then I don’t want to live my life for anyone else. I want to be in control of my own life without worrying if I am going to heaven or hell just by a sin. I learned that others can also help show you who you are and that is what happened throughout this project. I feel as though I could have managed my time better, but if I had the opportunity to redo this project I wouldn’t because I like how it’s done and what I have experienced along the way. What is left now are the physical steps of change which are to begin to protest, create organizations, and make speeches about this issue and how can we, as a community, fix it and help those who are in need of help.

This documentary is about LGBTQ+ history and the meaning behind pride.

Authors note: In life, you cannot always try to fit in somewhere you do not belong. It’s better to fit into nothing than fit into something that you don’t belong in. It is better to be yourself than to be someone you are not because being someone else is more difficult than being who you actually are. You are living life for you so live it to your best capability. It doesn’t matter who or what you are be who you know you are. Life may come with troubles but you have to live to overcome them. I wish you a blessed life and I pray you continue to be you and be brave! -Aylin E.

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.

This piece of writing was created on Wednesday, November 11th at 10:00pm. I created this piece on a laptop at home, with the help of google docs. I made this piece come to life, by applying my thoughts and feelings into a brief, yet powerful, essay. My writing relates to the theme of being a teenager during this tumultuous year, because I was able to dive down into the core of a topic that’s not being talked about as much as it should. This topic of racism is being ignored, yet pushed to the point where people want it to be forgotten: ignored. Being a teenager in this generation is not as easy as one may think. There are a lot of consequences, injustices, oppression, chaos, and much more that my generation faces. I have chosen to use my voice to speak on something that others may fear to speak on; afraid of the threats and hatred that will be planted onto them making the eyes of the oppressor watch them. I have decided to speak on the world pandemic, no not the coronavirus but the other racism. I want you and others to know that BLM is more than a trend, that we are just as worthy as our oppressors.