While it is true that bullying affects many different people, it is statistically proven that LGBTQ+ students are targeted more than their heterosexual cisgender peers. This is a huge problem, as every generation identifies as LGBTQ+ more than the previous one. According to a newly released poll, 15.9 percent of Gen Z identifies as LGBTQ+. While, according to Gallup, only 9.1 percent of millennials identify as LGBTQ+. In addition, only 3.8 percent of Gen X identify as LGBTQ+. So, the Gen Z LGBTQ+ percent doubles the Millennials percent and Millennials almost triple the Gen X percent.
Thus, how many LGBTQ+ students are bullied? According to GLAAD, 74.1 percent of students have been verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation, and 55.2 percent because of their gender expression. Moreover, 36.2 percent of students have been physically harassed because of their sexual orientation and 22.7 percent because of their gender expression. Furthermore, 16.5 percent of students have been physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation and 11.4 percent because of their gender expression.
Not only are LGBTQ+ students bullied, but they also feel unsafe at school. 55.5 percent of students feel unsafe because of their sexual orientation and 38.7 percent because of their gender expression. What's worse? 56.7 percent of LGBTQ+ students don’t report bullying because of doubt of intervention. And 61.6 percent of the ones who actually report bullying say that school staff did nothing.
Bearing in mind everything mentioned above, it is obvious that there is a huge problem of bullying towards LGBTQ+ students. No one should be scared of going to school, of getting an education. What can you do to change this? As always, never be a bystander. If LGBTQ+ students have someone who supports them, they will most likely feel safer and more comfortable going to school. Besides that, if a teacher or anyone in the school staff isn’t doing anything, call them out. It is not fair that people feel unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation or gender expression. Homosexuality exists in many animal species, but bullying and homophobia only exist in the human species. Some homosexual animals include lions, swans, sheep and many more. Bearing in mind that being LGBTQ+ is completely natural, always be kind to everyone, but especially LGBTQ+ people. You never know what they are going through, their family might not be accepting them or they might be bullied at school. The least you can do is be kind and give them a shoulder they can lean on.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hello I'm Verónica and I am very passionate to help as much as I can to solve issues going all around the world. I think we can all do even just a bit to make this world a better place. Besides that, I love music!