For Once, I Believe In Scare Tactics
With the recent Proposition 8 fiasco in California, I’d like to bring into light a subject that is not talked about when the term homosexuality comes up. That term is suicide. The term alone makes you open your eyes and can send shivers through your bones. Believe it or not, with the passing of Prop. 8, there could be more suicides than ever in the United States.
In the late ‘90’s a study was performed by the National Institute For Mental Health http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-the-us-statistics-and-prevention.shtml to find the statistics of suicide. The outcome was, alarming, to say the least. Gay teens are six times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual counterparts as they make up 30% of all teenage suicides in the nation. Not to mention that almost 37% of the gay population has admitted to attempting suicide. There have been leaps and bounds over the years to allow homosexuals to be comfortable opening up not only to themselves, but the World. Sadly, we are not even close to where we need to be.
The United States as a nation is a very homophobic one. There are a few exceptions such as inside larger cities where one can be more open than say in a rural area. Homosexuals are literally scared to death to admitting they are gay. They would rather take their own lives, than come out to even their family and friends. By the time the truth is realized, it is too late.
With slander like “homo”, ”faggot,” and “dyke”, can we really blame them for being scared to come out? In schools they are looked down upon, scowled out. In the office, gossip swirls and bigotry rules. Without a supportive surrounding, how is one supposed to be comfortable with themselves? They turn the T.V. on and hear horror stories like that of Matthew Shepard, and protesters marching while two homosexuals get married telling them God will send them to hell. This will only cause them to throw themselves farther into the closet, where it is a dark place, and they feel there is only one way out. Suicide.
We need to have civil rights for those of any color, creed, and sexual orientation. Telling a whole culture of people that they cannot be legally married is the real blasphemy. If you believe in God, you believe in love, and marriage throughout the centuries has become the ultimate testament of love. Not allowing two people to show their love for each other goes against everything our Constitution stands for. Unfortunately the phrase,”Where all men are created equal,”; is not even close to being realized.
