TO QUESTION YOURSELF every day because society dictates your identity is gruesome. No one deserves to be under fire for merely being faithful to one’s self. Yet why is it a different narrative for the LGBTQ+ community? Is it because they prevail to be a sight to behold, considered by some as less a human, more a spectacle? All humans are equal, and everyone is entitled to equal rights. So what’s with the indifferent look in their kaleidoscope eyes?
If humans were just a spectacle, then the LGBTQ+ group would have the advantage for a show. Suppose society is generally characterized by a shade of black, white, and sometimes gray. How could one ever think of winning when competing against a multifaceted community as they are multicolored? It’s not fair, isn’t it? The same is true for rights. No color is deemed a basis for human rights because all colors bleed the same humanness.
The United Nations (UN) international human rights laws have safeguarded the equality and non-discrimination guarantee for all people, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or “other status.”
In addition, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Resolution 17/19, which recognizes that acts of violence and discrimination that are being committed against LGBT persons around the world, and even issued a joint statement calling on States to act urgently to end violence and discrimination against LGBT adults, adolescents, and children.
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is also considered an essential document as it sets the grounds for the international protection of LGBT rights, particularly in article 14, where it strongly suggests that the enjoyment of rights and liberties shall be secured without discrimination.
Yet despite these rights and documents that protect the LGBTQ+, ironically, when everyone is appreciated for simply being alive, the LGBTQ+ community is instead thrown into the shade for their mere existence.
Some crimes committed against the LGBTQ+ community include rape, sexual assault, aggravated or simple assault, homicide, gay bashing, and even the pre-conceived notion/stigma against the community, ultimately affecting their way of living.
Consensual, loving same-sex relationships are criminalized by more than a third of the world’s countries, and some even went further by forcing transgender people to undergo medical treatment, sterilization, or meet other onerous preconditions before they can legally recognize their gender identity.
Needless to say that equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community must be firmly upheld to justify the ‘humanity’ surrounding the fundamental foundation of why human rights were being established in the first place.
It paves the way for our LGBTQ+ friends to live and experience the limelight – not to be the subject of public criticism, but to be an inspiration for the myriad of success stories and wisdom that they can contribute in the pursuit of establishing a community where being faithful to one’s self isn’t a crime.
Equal rights would also help create a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community to express themselves freely and be recognized by their multi-hued identity from family structures, relationships, and peers.
Promoting equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community would even help combat the mental health problems experienced by queers; on a global scale, it would bring about a powerful message of solidarity and support, fostering change and progress worldwide.
Presently, violations against the LGBTQ+ community are deteriorating due to the voices of the new generation, who have become spearheaders in amplifying the voices of the minority out of respect for human dignity. However, this does not imply the fight for the LGBTQ+ has concluded.
Bedans, opening the red gates and welcoming diversity in the name of hospitality, we can also strive to make further efforts in upholding the value of the LGBTQ+ community. Preserving their prominence of being a sight to behold – not for shame nor be the subject of a cautionary tale, but a sight to behold the pride and glory of loving the truth of each identity and each hue that makes a beautiful kaleidoscope.
(with Gian Marcel Chiu)
