Julian Watson
Ms. Trebtoske
Period 2
December 3, 2014
Research Paper
Currently, there are countless acts of discrimination toward the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgender (LGBT) community. As this injustice has existed for ages, it occurs in the form
of military, employment opportunities, and in the day to day lives of the people in the LGBT
community. This issue needs to be addressed by creating harsher penalties for those
discriminating towards this community and raising a higher degree of awareness and education
not only for our youth, but for our country as a whole.
Occurring in many forms, this injustice is experienced mainly in school and work
environments. Historically and currently, lesbian, gay bisexual, and transgender students and
staff have felt unsafe in many school environments because of their sexual and gender
orientations (Wright 2). This shows how in the school environment there are acts of
discrimination so disrespectful that some people often feel uncomfortable or apprehensive to go.
As this environment consists mainly of kids and young adults, this injustice still seems to occur
frequently with adults. No current federal law adequately protects lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender workers from employment discrimination (Fact 1). This really shows you how the
people facing discrimination in this environment cant really do anything about it, since it is
technically alright to do.
Specifically, the workplace today has some of the harshest discrimination acts towards
this society. One in five LGBT public sector employees has experienced workplace
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation according to a 2008 study; a 2009 study found
that 13% had reported such discrimination in the past year alone (Study 7). Proving how this
issue occurs even in a place full of professionals, this statistic poses the question of how horrible
it must be if the people in the LGBT community arent in a workplace where a job has to be
done. Today, only 18 states and the District of Columbia have laws explicitly protecting LGBT
workers from being fired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity (Fact 6). As this
quote gives you a hint to how much this injustice can occur in this environment, it shows you
how far we have to go in terms of solving this problem.
Since this injustice is getting out of hand, some people and organizations in the U.S. are
trying to find ways to address this. ..Organizations, like the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight
Education Network, have surveyed students and staff to understand the school experiences of
LGBT students and staff and also to understand what supports positive school experiences for
these populations (Wright 3). Hearing the voices of the people in this environment is a great
step toward addressing this issue. From hearing multiple perspectives and attitudes towards this
issue, it gives the U.S a chance to really understand what is going on and what the next step
could be in terms of actually fixing this problem.
In my perspective this injustice should be addressed by spreading a lot more awareness
and knowledge towards this exact topic. Spreading more awareness to our country about this
injustice could occur in the forms of educating the youth in schools and putting more information
out on the news and more popular social media applications. Not too many people truly know
what these people in this community have to go through on a day to day basis, and hearing what
they think towards this from their perspective could help people think otherwise toward treating
someone this differently. Harsher penalties like fines and the cost of losing jobs could also help
people to stop discriminating and disrespecting these people. LGBT-supportive policies and
workplace climates are linked to greater job commitment, improved workplace relationships,
increased job satisfaction, and improved health outcomes among LGBT employees (Fact 7).
This proves how much more we can accomplish by accepting this community for who they are
and treating them like any other citizen in this country.
Currently, there are multiple acts of discrimination against the LGBT community in the
U.S. This injustice occurs in the forms of military, employment opportunities, and in the day to
day lives in the LGBT community. Through the use of harsher penalties in environments like the
workplace and school, and increasing the spread of knowledge and awareness to the people
hopefully we can create a country that can adjusts to this issue and realize how we can benefit
tremendously as a nation when we can.
