Gay and lesbian discrimination is when someone or a group verbally abusing someone because of their perceived sexual orientation. It can happen anywhere, anytime and to anyone. The world is rapidly changing and society becomes more and more diverse and there are still many people who do not respect diversity and people’s choice own choice of sexual orientation. One large group that is looked down by the everyone else is the gay and lesbian community. Sadly, this community still struggles to become accepted as they are being criticised and discriminated today.
The big problem is not the gay and lesbian community, it is society’s negative attitude towards them. We are living in a free society, most of the time people can say their opinions publicly, this means that bad things or false statements could be made. Gay and lesbians are experiencing discrimination everyday which leads them to being depressed as well as isolated from everyone else. There are many factors which causes them to develop depression. These factors are: being harassed verbally and physically in workplaces, not being accepted by friends or families, being bullied at school everyday or feeling shame their own sexual orientation. Discrimination also have impacts on their health as they are more likely to self harm, take drugs and alcohol, have sleep deprivation, gain weight or lose weight. In some severe cases, homosexuals commit suicide due to pressure and harsh treatments by others. It is a major problem considering that the reputation of the homosexual community starts to worsen as everyone else’s perspective is looked down by others.
In 2011 a study shows that there were roughly 33,700 same sex couples in Australia. There were 17,600 same sex male couples and 16,100 for same sex female couples. Gay and Lesbian people are three times more likely to suffer depression compared to the population. Young people aged from 16 to 24 years are the most likely to hide their sexuality. 60 percent of same sex attracted people claim to have been verbally abused by their sexuality.
We can see that Captain Holt is open about his sexual orientation and he wants people to see that being gay is not bad. He wants to show that he supports gay people with his organisation, he is not afraid to show that, even when people laughs at him. At the end he concludes about what he faces everyday with being gay, discrimination. It’s a simple word that delivers his message.
The truth is that people are being more open about their sexuality but are being hated for doing so and we need to stop this and help those in need
