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In his May 31 letter to the editor, it appears that (the writer) may be suggesting that the rights of transgender people should be ignored because they represent only 0.05% of the population.
I thoroughly agree that the Republicans are putting way too much effort into passing anti-transgender laws when there are definitely other problems to be solved. However, using statistics in this manner to apparently minimize the importance of minority group rights just seems wrong.
Let's look at some approximate statistics for our area. Applying 0.05% to Marquette County's 66,661 residents leads to an estimated 318 transgender residents. This equates to an average of about 1 transgender individual per every 100 households, 1 per every 6 square miles. About 17.8% or 57 are under the age of 18, which averages to about 4 in each K-12 school grade.
There are 28 public and 1 Christian schools in Marquette County. Not counting home schooling. This equates to about 2 transgender students per school. Given that the kids labelled as "different" are most likely to be bullied by the "normal" students, it is probably reasonable to assume that most students have some level of awareness of who the LGBTQ students are within their school.
Clearly at 0.05% of the population, the LGBTQ people are not invisible to the majority.
(The letter writer) notes that hate crimes in the U.S. have increased by 30% over the 2021-2022 period. Nationally, during 2021, about 16% of hate crimes were related to sexual orientation and about 3% to gender identity.
It is doubtful that these statistics include every bullying event perpetrated against LGBTQ K-12 students by other students. Adolescents can be very cruel to classmates who "don't fit in."
Unfortunately, parents who talk and behave in anti-LGBTQ ways in front of their children help to perpetuate this problem by making mistreatment of LGBTQ appear to be an acceptable social "norm."
LGBTQ individuals want to survive and lead a normal, non-harassed life with the same rights and privileges as those who believe they are "normal" and "righteous."
They want to openly express their sexual orientation, love and marry whomever they wish without being demonized, harassed, rejected, arrested, or murdered because of their orientation.
If there is a god, then she created ALL of us. We are all god's children, including the LGTBQ. For those who wish to believe that the LGBTQ are sinners who need sexual identity retraining (mental and physical torture) or worse, I submit that their god is imperfect and a failure because it created an imperfect biological sexual reproductive system which results in a range of human sexuality between the 100% boy and 100% girl end members.
Fetuses cannot choose their parents, genetic makeup, sexual organs, and probably not their sexual orientation. LGBTQ individuals are born into families of all classes, religions, races and ethnic groups. They cannot help how they are made.
Because certain individuals and groups (i.e. christians, republicans, conservatives, etc.) prefer the non-existence of LGBTQ people, it is the place of the good people in governments and schools to insure protection for LGBTQ citizens. In spite of the fact that less than 50% of U.S. citizens are anti-LGBTQ, tiny republican majorities in governments everywhere are attempting to pass anti-LGBTQ laws. The fact that this happening to a group that makes up only 0.05% of the U.S. population makes it a very big deal that requires much more than a meer 0.05% of our pro-LGBTQ representatives time to fight.
Laws are needed to keep the bigots in check. School rules are needed to keep the bullies in check. This not enough. School rules and education need to openly support LGTBQ students too.
Acceptance of those who are different needs to be instilled in children beginning at a young age. This is a way to help break the cycle of bad parental behavior being passed down to their children. (69, 654)
If we allow this tiny minority group to go unprotected due to its size, then which will be the next larger minority group to be picked apart by the bullies? Catholics? Jews? Immigrants?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Bryan Hill resides in Skandia.