Levi Haapala

29/Feb/2016

ENG 102

Prof. Parker

                                                Children Under Fire in the War Against LGBT

            Once again the youth of LGBT are under fire this time a very specific group has been targeted in South Dakota; transgenders. In the article, Dispatches: South Dakota Nears Dangerous Precedent by Ryan Thoreson, he tells a story of fear and bigotry focused on a target that is not unfamiliar in the fight for equal rights to live. Transgender children are at the center of a new bill trying to be sent up to the state senate that does not allow transgender children use restrooms or locker rooms affiliated with the gender that they now associate with. (Thoreson) This article is a rallying cry well put together using logos and pathos in a great balance to educate a spur action to continue to protect children in the LGBT community.

            The author begins with briefly telling the reader about HB1008 a bill that was approved by the house and is now going to the state senate for finalization. The bill as is explained lightly would not allow transgender children to use lock rooms or bathrooms with the gender that they associate with. It would in fact force them to be defined by the gender they were born as (Thoreson). Then later gives the reader an official statement made by the represenitives quoting them as saying “transgender people (are) “unfortunate” and “twisted” This piece is the best logos one could ask for in an argument it is fact they went on record to say these things and the emotional response is intensified by this.

            Mr. Thoreson then gives another great source of information on how things proceeded with this story. A first-hand account of the hearing that went on his first hand account as he attended this hearing. He tells the reader that “Transgender students, parents, educators, faith leaders, and advocates drove in from all corners of the state to testify against the bill” this is what he saw and is an indisputable fact. Again he uses pathos with logos to give the readers hope and inspires a sense of pride in the reader to have so many come to the defense of those who normally have none.

            Lastly he give any who read this a bread crumb by saying those who support the bill are out of state lobbyists who have been on the front lines and against LGBT rights of any kind. This does not hurt the argument as it should in fact is makes it stronger. Mr. Thoreson empowers the reader to fact check this small bread crumb and begs us to question why would out of state lobbyists be so aggressive towards the LGBT communities weakest members? Why would they be so intent on singling out transgenders? Mr. Thoreson does not give us the reason in fact he even tells us when these groups were asked the same questions they themselves could not even give an answer.

 

                                                                    Works Cited

Thoreson, Ryan. "Dispatches: South Dakota Nears Dangerous Precedent." Human Rights Watch.       N.p., 12 Feb. 2016. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. <https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/02/12/dispatches-south-dakota-nears-dangerous-precedent>.

Levi Haapala

ENG 102

Prof Parker

24/Feb/2016

                                                  Forward Progression in Reverse

            Moving forward on equality for those who fall into the Lesbian Gay Bi-sexual and Transgender (LGBT) community can be said that it has been an uphill battle. Sadly there are countries that have slipped, decided to climb that hill by walking backwards, or even taken the motto one step forward two steps back, thus making it harder to be treated with equality in basic human rights. In human colonial area laws make it hard to be any part of the LGBT community laws that make being anything but heterosexual illegal

Levi Haapala

ENG 102

Prof Parker

18/Feb/2016

                                        Forgetting the LGBT Youth

Forgotten youth, time stands still for the LGBT’s most important members of their community as they wait to grow up. With so many victories in the community with LGBT rights adults are making progress for adults, but what about those that seem to not be covered by these leaps and bounds as they are still growing up and not yet adults themselves. The right to marry and legally adopt children is a huge step in the fight for equal rights with adults in the LGBT community, but how does that help our young children still struggling with themselves and coping with a world that seems to be not moving forward. As adults move forward to solve adult problems with equal rights there is collateral damage on the battlefield. The adults are forgetting to also protect their youth with the fight that is globally known; equality.

 In using the Concordia University stakeholder as a reference, I came across the article “How can we make things better for LGBT youth?” by Hilary Rose. A national survey in Canada was taken by the human rights organization Egale Canada, found that depression was three times more likely found and reported by LGB kids who did not feel that fit in at school (Rose). Egale Canada has also kept records of suicide attempts in non LGB it holds at 7%, sadly with the kids in the LGB community it jumps up to 33% a 21% difference (Rose). So how does marriage equality help these kids in short it doesn’t. In fact the McCreary Centre Society in Vancouver, British Columbia has been watching this closely for the last 15 years (Rose). They have found out that homosexual slurs and discrimination has increased, especially for students identifying themselves as bisexual. Equality in marriage is a great step forward in the fight for equal rights, sadly everything has a price, and the LGBT community needs to ask are they willing to sacrifice the next generation of their community.

Hilary Rose uses Logos effectively and strongly throughout this article, she show the information that she uses and even sites the sources where she got it. Her ability to leave out ethos also strengthens her argument seeing that logic is hard to disprove with evidence.

 

Rose, Hilary. "How Can We Make Things Better for LGBT Youth?" Concordia University. Concordia University, 28 July 2015. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://www.concordia.ca/cunews/main/stories/2015/07/28/boy-scouts-of-america-hilary-rose-op-ed.html>.