LGBT issues addressed on campus
Audrie MacDuff
Issue date: 5/8/09 Section: News
Anthropologists and sociologists abroad acknowledge the reality of this harassment based on gender stereotypes and strive to educate people that there are more genders than just the western perspective of being either male or female.
Education on the prevalence of hate crimes against LGBT students is vital. All too often, people state that they are "tolerant" of LGBT culture, but the problem comes when acceptance is not visible. Tolerance is not enough.
Last week, after much debate, the United States House of Representatives passed the Matthew Shepard Act which will protect individuals from being discriminated against based on sexual orientation. Despite this huge win, there is still a great deal of misconception surrounding the topic. Virginia Foxx, a republican representative from North Carolina, stated, "The hate crimes bill that's called the Matthew Shepard Bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that the young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. The bill was named for him... but it's really a hoax."
This statement just goes to show that there is a lot of education that still needs to be done on the topic. Ignorance in this form will never lead to bliss.
Education on the prevalence of hate crimes against LGBT students is vital. All too often, people state that they are "tolerant" of LGBT culture, but the problem comes when acceptance is not visible. Tolerance is not enough.
Last week, after much debate, the United States House of Representatives passed the Matthew Shepard Act which will protect individuals from being discriminated against based on sexual orientation. Despite this huge win, there is still a great deal of misconception surrounding the topic. Virginia Foxx, a republican representative from North Carolina, stated, "The hate crimes bill that's called the Matthew Shepard Bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that the young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. The bill was named for him... but it's really a hoax."
This statement just goes to show that there is a lot of education that still needs to be done on the topic. Ignorance in this form will never lead to bliss.
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