Now that we're well into the 21st century, one would think that that the majority of Americans have become more accepting - open minded - to men, women and teenagers who are homosexuals. Despite the fact that our citizens are beginning to acknowledge the importance of equal rights for gay and lesbian individuals, the pace in which this is happening is comparative to crawling; a slow, trudging, unfair and unkind process. .
In the United States, nearly 20% of hate crimes are an aggravated response to the sexual orientation of the victim (2010 Hate Crimes Statistics). National hate crime statistics show that members of the LGBT community are "far more likely than any other group in the United States to be the victimized by a violent hate crime." The ongoing, rampant homophobia in our society is largely due almost entirely to the lack of knowledge about homosexuality. Education is key to the acceptance of homosexuality. As a teenager, in a public school, with many gay friends and family members I am bewildered by the fact that there is no education in our curriculum on homosexuality. I have personally witnessed fellow students struggling with discrimination because of their sexuality at a time where they should be focusing solely on their future and having fun. In this day and age homophobia should not be an issue, unfortunately its still a huge problem that affects students on a daily basis.
We wonder why people still harbor fear of homosexuals and the answer is clear, most of the population knows little to nothing about homosexuality. The root of the discrimination against gay people is ignorance. In history classes we learn about African American activists, women's rights activists, etc. however there is no education on gay activists in any curriculum. More importantly, in our sexual education classes, we learn all about families and different lifestyles, but we learn little to nothing about homosexuality.