'It Gets Better' Charlotte

So tonight, I attended a candle light vigil to remember LGBTQ young people who are subjected to homophobic harassment. Some of them become depressed, some even commit suicide. A 2007 report from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, "LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide then their heterosexual peers." A statistic like that makes me wonder how people can ignore or be ignorant to the plight of LGBTQ youth. The vigil was very action oriented, it was a way to motivate our community to not just mourn those who have died or be upset at the continued harassment, but rather to use that as our strength, to bring us together to fight for change. The youth who spoke both at the vigil itself and at the discussion afterwards brought up so many great points. One said that although this vigil was able to gather so many people to fight for change, that it is sad that we have to even have it at all. This is such a good point, these issues are not so hard to grasp, people just want to be treated as people no matter how they are different. So why is it that people have to fight for basic civil rights? I have a sticker on my planner that carries that same message, it says, "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are not 'special rights.'"I can only hope that someday, bullying will not continue simply because of the person one loves. And when that day comes, it will be a much more equal and better place. So I will fight for change and I hope you will join me and the many others who are in the fight.