Unequal Opportunities
Many believe that the American Dream is possible for anyone to achieve. It is supposed to be a goal that anyone can strive for and many believe if you work hard enough, you will succeed. But can anyone really achieve it? It is hard to succeed in this dream when you do not have the same opportunities as others.One group of people who do not have the same opportunities that everyone else does are the LGBT. They constantly face discrimination for their gender choice and sexual orientation and this discrimination can be deadly. This discrimination keeps them from getting the same chances that hetrosexual and cisgender people get to experience.Equal parenting for all? Parenting has become a big issue in the LGBT community. LGBT couples do not have the equal opportunities to raise children as hetrosexual families do. Caring LGBT parents deserve the same rights that anyone else has. There have been myths about the LGBT community and many are hesitant to allow LGBT couples to start a family. They believe that if a family is homosexual, that their kids will follow in their foot steps. That is not true. It is better to have two caring moms or dads rather than a single mom or dad. A benefit of having gay parents is that their children are not accustomed to normal traditions. They have more freedom to express themselves.  Same-sex couples raise children that have limited behavioral problems and also tend to score higher.  This anti-homosexual belief is crushing to those who want to start a family and have the means to but cannot due to their sexuality creating an unequal balance in the possibles that they people can have.Deathly way of lifeThere have been 2000 hate crimes against LGBT in 2012 alone and there continue to be attacks. On May 23, 2013 a homosexual couple who were walking down the street were harassed with anti-gay slurs and were attacked.   The constant fear of harassment and even worse, violence, is always something that the LGBT community have to stress about. This fear limits the potential that they have, if they can’t even walk down the street without being harassed how are they going to have the same influence that a hetrosexual could. A 21 year old transgender who was walking down the street was beat unconsciously after the attacker learned that she was a transgender and she later went in a coma and died.   This attack was fired by the fact that many people have a fear of transgenders and claim they are unnatural and do not believe that they should exist. This anti-LGBT ideal is sometimes encouraged by the churches who believe that these people are against the Bible, unnatural, and do not believe they are following the path of God. This religious ideals are often the fuel to the fire and inspire many people, who say they are following the word of God, to attack the members of the LGBT. Also, this rejection is one of the main reasons why the LGBT are kicked out of their homes and rejected by their families. 7 in 10 homeless (68%) LGBT say that family rejection is the reason they are homeless and 54% say that there was abuse in their home.Unlawful criminalizationNot only are these people getting kicked out of their homes, they often have to resort to crimes to support themselves on the street. It is known that approximately 300,000 transgender and gay youth are in juvenile facilities. Often times they are biased by the judges who tend to sentence them harder if they have strict beliefs which already causes an unfair advantage for those who are hetrosexual and cisgender. Also, transgender youth who are sent to juvenile are put in areas with their birth-gender instead of their gender they classify themselves with now which causes psychologically crushing.Not only are these young LGBT members not accepted by their family, they are not accepted by their peers at school.  According to a survey by Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s School Climate, 84 percent of gay and transgender students report being verbally harassed, 40 percent physically harassed, and 19 percent physically assaulted. They cannot even go to a school environment without being attacked for their ways and this leads to low self confidence, depression, and even suicide. This unsafe school system is already setting children up with a bad view of themselves and the world that views them.


All in all, the LGBT community has not yet obtained the full equality that they deserve. The American Dream allows anyone to achieve their dream. This is not the case for people of the LGBT community. They are often faced with discrimination for their way of life. This causes them to face hate crimes and violence that they do deserve. Same-sex parents are always looked down upon by others and are are viewed differently in the eyes of others. Besides the violence and shame that is constantly cast upon them, they face homelessness from a young age caused by family rejection. The anti-gay propaganda creates deadly ideas that being gay in unnatural and wrong and this causes many LGBT members to be attacked, rejected, and even killed. The American Dream is supposed to be equal opportunity to everyone and is supposed to allow everyone in America to succeed by how can a group of people succeed with a target constantly being on their back.