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>.