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Gays In America

Acceptance of homosexuality is a continuing problem in The United States, and as opposed to going down as tolerance is on the rise, hate crimes have actually started to go up in the past years. In a study of 5 metropolitan areas, there was a 31% increase in anti-gay hate crimes from the previous year alone, and those were just the ones that were reported. Those were just the ones that were reported. There are hundreds upon thousands of cases more that are never reported each year, simply because the victim feels that there is no point to reporting the crime, or that they feel that nothing they do can be helped. Due to this, there is a huge number of crimes, beatings, even murders, that are unsolved, and no one comes forward to speak out of them because of the fear that if they come out about it, there will be even more of a backlash against themselves. In 39 states across America, it would be legal for a gay person to be fired just because of their sexual orientation, and for no other reason. Some states and cities have even made laws that ban gays from being included in anti-discrimination policies. Even in schools, there is bullying, and harassment. In a recent study, 29% of principals were said to have rated their staff and teachers as poor, or just under average at being trained to deal with issues such as anti-gay bullying, or harassed. More needs to be done to prepare teachers for the harassment of gay students. Training, classes, and new strategies to combat the harassment are all ways to help fight what is happening to the gay students in America.

For those that say 'gay kids should just stay in the closet,' read this fact. "One study involving 350 gay adolescents between the ages of 14 and 21 reported that 54% made their first suicide attempt before coming out to others, 27% made the attempt during the same year they came out, and 19% made the attempt after coming out. (Gay Rights.Change.Org, 2008)" That statistic alone is overwhelming. 54% of gay...