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Colorful June is sweeping again! Everywhere you can see rainbow elements, posters, banners and flags, and so on. This beautiful Pride Month is to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, which is a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. Now it has developed as a huge event attracting millions of participants worldwide, including pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia, and concerts, referred to the Library of Congress.
Donations
The event gathers the traffic and the traffic produces profit. Not only doing business among LGBQT+, participating in Pride Month but also will help to build a healthy brand image of caring and responsible, which is a smart investment in the long-term value. So brands and companies are more and more enthusiastic to join the event, launching various campaigns and making a bunch of donations to nonprofit organizations. According to a list from a recent report about the 2022 Pride Month campaign, many brands have donated a lot to organizations or projects to help empower the LGBTQ+ group or to cope with the urgent problems among LGBTQ+ people, like suicide. And the highest donation on the list is from Abercrombie & Fitch, which has committed to giving away $400,000 to The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people. But besides campaigns and donations, we can do more to truly help the needed group, which requires a joint effort from all the social sectors.
Legislation, economic and education efforts will be discussed later, but other aspects relevant to the LGBTQ+ community’s life, like medical and police-related, still need to be concerned.
Legislation
Law is the foundation of social life. And it covers every aspect in life, including rights after birth and education, employment, and people’s interaction in daily life. Law should protect each citizen who observes the law without exception for LGBTQ+ people.
Between 1996 to 2020, the United States Supreme Court has addressed five landmark ruling for LGBTQ+ people, invalidating a state law in 1996 which protects class recognition based upon homosexuality and does not satisfy the Equal Protection Clause, ruling the sanctions of criminal punishment for sodomy committers unconstitutional in 2003 nationwide, confirming Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act which denied federal recognition of same-sex marriages, against the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment in 2013, making same-sex marriage legal nationwide in 2015, and prohibiting employment discrimination against gay and transgender employees in 2020.
But that’s not enough. As Levy said, “We need to continue to make progress, so that everybody is fully embraced and supported for being whoever they are,” who is the first openly lesbian U.S. district judge in the Eastern District of Michigan. Besides marriage and employment, discrimination happens in other places, like campus and communities, and a full and complete legal system should be set for helping these people. What’s more, keeping a healthy and caring legislation system is a long journey needing continued effort. Because society is changing.
Economic
Badgett from UCLA has made a macro and micro analysis of the relationship between LGBT inclusion and economic development in emerging countries. The macro-level analysis reveals a clear positive correlation between per capita GDP and legal rights for LGBT people across countries and substantial evidence exists at the micro-level that LGBT people under physical or mental pressure will be less productive, which will damage the development of the economy in the long-term.
Economic activities for LGBTQ+ groups go beyond employment. The latest data show that there are 1830 LGBT business enterprises getting certificates from the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), a US not-for-profit advocacy group that aims to expand the economic opportunities and advancement of the LGBT business community. Its premiere report about America’s LGBT economy reveals that the LGBT economy has contributed over $1.7 trillion to the U.S economy and the top 3 LGBT business industries are consulting (general), marketing, and professional services (general). It is undeniable that these figures are just a few drops in the bucket but we have to admit that they have a huge potential with more and more voices entering the community.
People are the root of productivity growth, no matter heterosexuality or homosexuality. Respect people’s gender and sexual preference and build a kind and inclusive workshop and social environment. Anyone with any gender identity will be encouraged and filled with full productive enthusiasm. And bar employment, a healthy business environment equal to LGBT individuals will stimulate more business types and more creative entrepreneurs.
Education
A campus is a place where various confrontations happen. A study shows that LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience stress and fear than their non-LGBTQ peers, which is associated with verbal harassment, physical harassment, and physical assault. All related parties should work together to improve the school climate, guided by parents and teachers and cultivated by school disciplines. All youth have the same rights to a safe, supportive, and caring learning environment. Except for these external pressures, some students have to face the hardest struggle with themselves at such an immature age. Some youth will doubt and detest themselves and finally deny themselves as human being. They need not only from the outside physical world but also need supportive mental care. Society and schools need to make efforts to foster safer and more supportive environments, such as cooperating with some nonprofit organizations like GLSEN. LGBTQ+ students should learn to accept every natural impulse themselves. Being whoever you are is not guilt.
All kind hearts going for the LGBQT+ community are to give a helping hand to those suffering pain and unfairness, for those whose lives are too heavy to live happily, for those who are just common people as others, helping them enjoy the same rights, acquire personal autonomy and relax in the freedom of expression and association. Everyone deserves equal rights.
June of every year marks a celebration for the LGBQT+ community’s fight against biased and brutal gazing, comments, and injuries. But they have not won yet. There is still a long way to go, for LGBTQ+ groups, charity organizations, and for the whole society.
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