Lgbt Acceptance and Tolerance Around the World

The people of the lgbtq community have been fighting to be accepted around the world since the mid-late 1800s, and even today we are still struggling in this area. As of spring 2019, there are still places around the world that have a less than 20% rate of who say homosexuality should be accepted by society. Lgbt acceptance and tolerance are two separate things. It is important to know and understand how they differ and how they can affect the community, so that's the aim for this lgbt acceptance essay. 

Tolerance and acceptance are often used together and interchangeably but these words are by no means the same thing. Tolerance of our community is your willingness to exist with them being who they are, when you don’t necessarily agree with them or their behavior. Acceptance, however, is allowing and embracing someonething whether you particularly “like” it or not, and not making a big fuss about and not trying to force them to change for your liking. The people of the lgbt community are incredibly used to being simply tolerated. People who tolerate us basically see us but don’t mention us or even sometimes speak to us, almost as if we are a secret that they don’t want out or like we have a sickness of some kind. They tend to be able to “deal” with people of the lgbt community but not much more than that. This happens in many situations, like in the workforce. To this day, lgbt people are still being simply tolerated and mistreated in the workforce for being who they are. As mentioned by Williams institute .law.ucla.edu, being discriminated against in the workforce leads to negative mental healthwell-being along with a decrease in commitment to their job and satisfaction with their work. “Over 40% of LGBT workers (45.5%) reported experiencing unfair treatment at work, including being fired, not hired, or harassed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity at some point in their lives.” Being treated this badly at work has caused many people in the community to hide their identities, changing their appearance to make themselves more “acceptable”. This can also lead to a decline in mental health and general self-esteem because of having to hide who they are to avoid being treated badly. There are many things I could go into about the differences between tolerance and acceptance because there is so much on the topic. This treatment not only occurs to adultsyoung adults but also to the younger people of the community, like children in school.

Whether someone of the lgbt community andor if the lgbt community as a whole is tolerated or accepted has many factors. For example, younger adults tend to be more accepting of the lgbt community than older adults, but younger adults (including teens) are also often looked down upon for being part of the community and are told that they are “too young to know” and “don’t know what they are talking about”, which is extremely harmful to them especially when most of the time it’s the adult telling them this who aren’t educated in the topic enough. There are very recent events that have happened that are damaging to the acceptance of the community, like the “Don’t Say Gay” law that has gone into effect in Florida and some other states are trying to enforce it. This bill is listed as Parental Rights in Education, and states that any lessons about sexual orientation are banned in kindergarten through third grade, along with other grades unless theyre “age and developmentally appropriate”. This would make parents be able to sue schools if any one of these so-called rules are broken. This is due to go into effect in Florida July 1st, which is immediately after pride month (June). This law alone is so harmful in so many ways. Teaching kids early about sexuality and gender is so important so they can know what they are dealing with if they are ever questioning themselves, or if they have friendsfamily that are anything other than cis and straight they will be more educated on the topic, no matter how “early” it may be. Even if they’re under 18, children should still be accepted instead of just tolerated when questioningcoming out as a different sexuality and gender. Even if they’re under 18, children should still be accepted instead of just tolerated when questioningcoming out as a different sexuality and gender. Especially so early in their lives, they need all the support they can get and should be welcomed with open arms. Many parents have trouble understanding when their child comes out, simply because they don’t know enough and don’t know how to go about it. Some parents, instead of actively trying to understand their child, will ignore their coming out or just tolerate them but not speak muchat all of the fact. Instead, these parents can help their children feel wanted and accepted by just talking with them about interestspreferences and such, proving support and listening to them, and by not withdrawing from their role as a parent. Showing that you aren’t even willing to try to listen and withdrawing is probably one of the worst things a parent could do for their child in this time. We now know that tolerance and acceptance affects people of the lgbt community of all ages in many ways and that acceptance is better to give, but now lets talk about some negative ways tolerance can affect the community.

Acceptance is incredibly important, and it towers over tolerance. Tolerance can be harmful even if it seems better than nothing at all, and while tolerating the lgbt community you still aren’t doing much good other than the bare minimum. On the other hand, actively accepting them makes them feel valid and like we belong in society along with the rest. They shouldn’t be viewed as “weird” or “disrespectful” for presenting differently than what some consider “normal” (cisgender and heterosexual). Sometimes, someone’s reaction to a coming-out can decide how the other’s general health in the future. For example, circling back to the last paragraph, if your childfriend comes out and you only tolerate them being part of the lgbt community, that shows that you aren’t all that accepting and you view them as less which is incredibly hurtful, especially when your response shows that directly, which can affect someone in many ways. In a research study held by Dr. Caitlin Ryan to record how a familys acceptance or rejection affects the childs well-being. These studies showed that whether parents are accepting or rejecting can affect the childs mental and physical health entirely. When the child has a family that has highly rejective family were 8 times more likely to have attempted suicide, six times more likely to have depression and three times more likely to abuse drugshave unprotected sex. But in the study of lgbt children with accepting families, helps protect them from depressive mental states, suicidal behavior, and substance abuse. Along with these, they are also reported to have higher self-image and overall health. There are many ways in which tolerance does more bad than good for the community, and shows why acceptance is much more appreciated and generally feels better than simply being tolerated.

It is very important to know how tolerance and acceptance are two very different things with different affects on others. Acceptance of the lgbt community is just generally better and makes others feel more valid and wanted in society. Tolerance can be harmful in multiple ways stated through this paper, and its good to understand and learn how you can steer away from just having a tolerance of the lgbt community. In conclusion, the lgbt community is continuing to fight to be accepted instead of just tolerated. Now that you have learned the differences and meanings of each, maybe if you know someone in the lgbt community, you can help them feel more accepted in todays world using this information.