I feel like I shouldn't have to say that I support equal rights. It should be a thing that every person automatically agrees with, but unfortunately, we live in a world where that isn't quite possible. I suppose this raises the first problem and first question. It's ridiculous that not everyone supports equal rights, and why will it never be possible for the world to agree? I've been thinking a lot about this during these past couple years, and while I'd be delighted to go into a greatly detailed essay about LGBT rights, I sadly do not have as much experience as I'd like to have. In my mere fourteen years of life, I have not suffered a great deal of pain because of my uality, nor have I ever gotten into a debate with a person who opposes my beliefs (which is good, and it means that the homophobic numbers are decreasing). This essay, to put it shortly, will be about what I know best, and what I'm passionate about.

I guess I'll be honest here, but I will be vague with some "close to home" things. To start off, middle schoolers, as I've gathered, support but do not really understand LGBT rights. It's a simple thing to them that is easily associated with women's rights, race rights, class rights, etc. However, I'm predicting that they don't know the full extent of this. Women will always support women's rights, and because we are all races, we will always support race rights (at the very least, our own race, although that isn't fair). However, unless a person makes it painfully obvious, you will never know the uality of that person. If you see an asian woman walking down the street, you will know that she is an asian woman. If you see an average college student walking down the street, you won't know if he's gay, straight, etc. What I'm saying is, what a person loves is only on the inside. It is not an obvious or physical thing, and that is the reason why I like to put this topic in a slightly different sub category. All in all, I don't think my age group quite understands what they're supporting.

In the same vane of my classmates not knowing things about LGBT rights, we come to the infamous "coming out". It is impossible to sit down with your closest friends and your parents and tell them that you are an african american male if you are indeed an african american male. To admit to a racist man who hates people from india that you are indian would be pointless, as it wouldn't change his opinion at all. However, with just the simple two words of "I'm gay", you can turn a nation against you, even one that loved you before. To tell a person to "just come out", and that they "shouldn't be afraid", may sound comforting at first. Later though, when that person thinks it over, they'll only see the horrible outcomes, and fear will spread from that. In the end, your advice is pointless and annoying. At this moment, I am a close friend to two students in this very school who happen to be biual, and one of them even identifies as the opposite gender of what they were born. I think that if another student does read or hear this, they should just know that people in the LGBT community aren't rare. They are everywhere, just like straight people, which depressingly gives some a shock.

Now you must be saying, how could I know some of this? Why am I so passionate? Well, I'm going to write something that I haven't even told my parents. In fact, only one of my friends knows this thing that I'll get to in a moment. You see, you don't just wake up one morning and realize what gender you are. It just doesn't slap you in the face. Many people seem to believe that the moment a person finds out they're gay, it's a huge realization. In fact, it might be. Speaking from personal experience though, it's just something that after thinking over, you just shrug and say ok to. I've known I was biual for about two years now, and the only reason why I've just recently come to the conclusion, was because my preference has always been something so simple. Here we come to the huge statement that I always say. People in the LGBT community are simple. That's it. Why does our preference make us something special? I guess you could say that we need to be "protected" from homophobic people, but I'll say the same thing to those phobics. It's something as simple and overlooked as being born into a certain race. Does it change a person's character traits? Of course not, and if anything, it's as normal as a birthdate.

To conclude, it saddens me that such a hot topic as gay marriage, for example, has often unknown facts. There's a huge history to it, a series of books have probably been published about it. The truth that gets to me though, is that while my age group may support this cause, they are quite poorly informed about what makes the hate against it so incredibly disgusting. It's so easy to be in the safe zone by saying "I support gay marriage!" When asked why, they say, "because people, everyone, deserves to be equal." While that is correct, they have nothing else to say about it. Sure, some kids are like me, with much to explain and share. I find that mostly, they'll say a beauty pagent answer and move on, because if they don't, they'll be put into the red. Finally, I hope that this essay has gotten my feelings across. I'm usually not good with containing everything I have to say in not only the correct order but the sub topic too. I'm crossing my fingers that the reader and/or listener of this understands my feelings, and has maybe even learned a thing or two.