[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen 20-year-old Daniel Ashley Pierce came out to his parents he didn’t think much of the experience afterward. He knew his parents were not going to support his lifestyle, but he thought everything was okay. After a couple days his mom, dad, grandma, and some other relatives sat him down and held an intervention of sorts. They argued whether his sexuality was a choice or not at first. After his mother told him they would not support him and he was going to have to move out, his grandma stated, “And to summon your dad and to tell him he’s a racist and he didn’t raise you. Your dad’s gone to bat for you for the last twenty years of your life. That man’s put a roof over your head, he’s put food on your table.” David responded with, “That’s not raising.” To which his grandmother said, “You say that then none of these people have raised you. You’re full of shit and you told me on the phone that you made that choice. You know you wasn’t born that way. You know damn good and well you didn’t make that choice. You know that this man has done everything he can to raise you and you told me right on that damn phone that was a choice you made. He didn’t need to blame himself. Don’t fill these people full of bullshit, Daniel.” He then fired back with “You’re twisting my words. You are a completely different person.” His grandmother proceeded to attack him. He fought back and then his parents got involved and also started to hurt Daniel. Unfortunately, hate crimes like this happen every single day. Many ignorant country’s economies suffer from this kind of discrimination. It has been proven that the more rights there are and less discrimination there is the better the economy. Discriminatory countries, take notes.

https://youtu.be/1df_i26wh-w

Discrimination is Negatively Impacting our Economy

A Global Impact

As shown above, discrimination is costly. Just like it cost the relationship between Daniel and his family when his family disowned him, discriminating the LGBTQ+ community cost our world billions of dollars every year. It costs India, in specific, $32 billion a year.

Every day people are being abused for being a part of the LQBTQ+ community. Some are even being beaten for being friends with LGBTQ+ people.

Due to the abuse, LGBTQ+ workers are unable to keep up with their heterosexual peers. Discrimination is declining productivity in the workplace. M.V. Lee Badgett said in the article The Economic Case for Supporting LGBT Rights, “More broadly, disadvantaged workers can be bad for business. Absenteeism, low productivity, inadequate training and high turnover make for high labor costs and lower profits.” LGBTQ+ people are being imprisoned for their sexuality. As well are people associated with people of the LGBTQ+ community.

Image by Connor Franta

People who are in jail are not positively impacting the economy as much as they could while in the workforce. When they are released it is likely that they have lost their job and it’s going to be very difficult to find a new one due to their recent criminal record. When ignorant employers see that they were imprisoned for being apart of the LGBTQ+ community its likely that they will not hire them based on their beliefs. This is a waste of perfectly capable working class citizens. They are unable to contribute to the economy because of their sexuality when in reality there is absolutely nothing wrong with these people. This is forcing people to stay “in the closet”. People who are forced “into the closet” are way more likely to be depressed and more likely to commit suicide. This brings me to my next point.

The Sad Youth

It is a well-known fact that millennials are the saddest generation. 14.8 million or 16.7% of Americans are affected by depression. It is stated in the article Data on behavioral health in the United States, “Major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15-44.”

• Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual youth are four times more likely to think about/commit suicide than their heterosexual counterparts, transgender youth are ten times more likely.
• 55% of LGBTQ students feel unsafe at school due to their sexuality, while 37% feel unsafe because of their gender orientation.
• 74% of LGBTQ youth have been harassed verbally for their sexuality, while 55% have been harassed verbally for the gender orientation.
• 16% of LGBTQ youth have been physically assaulted for their sexuality, while 11% have been assaulted for their gender orientation.
• 1.6 million youth are homeless, 40% of those youth are of the LGBTQ community.

Countries are sacrificing good workers, young people’s lives, and billions of dollars all because they don’t share the same values as others. Discrimination costs much more than what it gains.

So, what do we gain by being more inclusive?

The Positivity That Comes From Being Inclusive of the LGBTQ Community

The benefits of being inclusive majorly outweigh the benefits of not being inclusive. Billions of dollars can be made every year from gay marriages. In 2014, it was estimated that LGBTQ marriages would contribute $2,537,757,118 to the economy. California has the largest population in the United States. Of their population, the LGBTQ community makes up about 4% of the population. That’s roughly 981,250,000 people who could get married, in turn contributing $414,343,588 to the economy.[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]In 2014, it was estimated that LGBTQ marriages would contribute $2,537,757,118 to the economy.[/perfectpullquote] These statistics can be found in the article The Economic Impact of Gay Marriage: A $2.5 Billion Question. It was said in the article The Economic Case for Supporting LGBT Rights, “Countries that come closer to full equality for LGBTQ people have higher levels of GDP per capita.” Companies are more willing to invest in LGBTQ+ friendly countries.

Countries are also more willing to send workers to inclusive countries. Seeing government officials and people of a high status will teach younger generations that discrimination is wrong.

The youth of today will be kinder adults tomorrow.

If we teach our children and even adults that equality is good and being apart of the LGBTQ community is okay then depression rates will lower and there will be fewer suicides every year. Families will become stronger. When parents are more accepting, it makes it easier for children to be more vulnerable. If more people can come out to their parents, rather than staying “in the closet”, families will become closer; can be more open and honest with each other.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The youth of today will be kinder adults tomorrow.[/perfectpullquote]

Photo by friend of the author

What You Can Do To Change Society

Many people think that there’s nothing they can do to change the beliefs of billions of people. Although it would be very hard to change everybody’s thinking, you can do it. Here are five steps you can take to change the environment around you, in turn, creating a healthy society.

1.) Have conversations with your friends

One of the most influential parts of our lives is our friends. We get many of our beliefs from our friends. Some of your friends may have ignorant beliefs. You can change that. Just by having conversations with your friends about what you believe and why you believe it you could encourage them to think about their beliefs. Some of the best people to talk about it with is your friends. I frequently have to explain to my group of friends that my other friend is transgender. He was born a girl but identifies as a boy. Its hard for them to understand, but it helps open up a conversation regarding the LGBTQ+ community.

2.) Promote equality on social media

One small, easy thing you can do is post about your beliefs on social media. If you are afraid of getting backlash, you can create an anonymous account. You can also make friends with similar beliefs this way. (Side Note: Please be careful making friends over the internet.) It is an easy way to change society. The more people see something the more they are likely to believe it. If more and more people see that being apart of the LGBTQ+ community is okay then they will start to question their past beliefs with new information in mind.

3.) Wear LGBTQ+ inclusive clothing

As stupid as this one sounds, wearing clothes that are inclusive will help move our society towards the acceptance. Just like social media, the more people see it, the more people will come to terms with it. I frequently get asked about the LGBTQ+ buttons on my backpack. It helps start the conversation.

4.) Join/Create a GSA club

GSA is one of the easiest ways to promote equality. If you don’t have one at your school talk to your principal about creating one. If you live in a place where the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community isn’t great, try joining or creating one online. GSA helps empower LGBTQ+ and straight students. It helps unite straight and LGBTQ+ students while educating ignorant students and spreading the love.

5.) Do not shy away from the topic

I myself have fallen victim to this. Whenever you’re in a situation where people are not okay with the LGBTQ+ community and they are saying negative things about it, do not stay silent.

Be vocal.

Say what you believe.

Do some research before you are thrown into a situation where you need to defend your beliefs. Make sure that you have some solid facts to back up your point that “gay is okay”. There are lots of facts in this article that can back up your beliefs. It’s hard to agree with someone and see that you were wrong if all the other person is going off of is their own beliefs. If someone asks you what you believe, tell them. Don’t lie to get out of a sticky situation. It may be hard to defend yourself, but you will feel better about it in the end. It’s okay if you’re the only one in the room who is okay with the LGBTQ+ community. Make sure you don’t back down.

The Take-Away

If there’s anything you take away from this article it’s that inclusivity needs to be a priority. The more inclusive a country is the more their economy will benefit. The more inclusive a person is the more positive the environment around them will be.

It is much easier to spread love than hate.

Discrimination is a real problem in our world. It may be hard to stop it, but every little thing helps. If you and your friends all spread love and positivity you can change the environment of your school, which can change your city, which can change the cities around you and so on and so forth. Everybody has the power to change the world.

It just starts with a few small steps.

“Race, gender, religion, sexuality, we are all people.”

-Connor Franta

Featured image by Mr.Kantor.com