Last year over 300 children were wounded or killed in school shootings. Do you want to know how many were killed at drag shows? None. Many lawmakers and politicians in America are proposing laws to ban drag shows, the word gay, and media including LGBTQ+ or ethnically diverse characters for “the sake of the kids.” These politicians are spending all their time and energy on these while arguing that owning assault firearms are a basic human right. This isn’t a strong argument as both statistically and socially firearms cause more harm to children physically and mentally.
Current gun laws in The United States of America aren’t strict enough. People who aren’t even allowed to go into casinos or rent a car are able to buy firearms with the capacity to kill tens of people in a matter of seconds. In the US, firearms are the leading cause of death for children aged 1-19. America is the only country of its peers that has this issue. In 2020 America had 4,357 child mortalities by firearm while the United Kingdom had eight. Although the UK has a smaller population, in America 5.6 out of every 100,000 kids died from firearms in 2020. In the UK the number is closer to 0.1 out of 100,000. This is around a 5500% increase between the two countries. The United States clearly has a problem but it is often ignored. Instead we put our focus on stigmatizing marginalized communities and other harmful activites.
At first, the problem started with people saying that LGBTQ+ themes in media and social settings were inappropriate and was “corrupting” their children. This obviously was met with backlash so it was taken farther. Bills were implemented to ban the word “gay” in Florida public schools. Texas is passing laws to protect public employees from punishment for not participating in inclusivity programs, and other red states are banning drag shows. These are things that are not harming children in any way, if anything they are saving them. Access to media containing diverse themes such as the LGBTQ+ community can save a child years of questioning and self-hatred.
People who believe that progressive ideologies are dangerous to their children, are just looking for an excuse to be ignorant. It is often argued that children don’t need to see gay representation in the media because it is too sexual for children to see when the relationships are completely appropriate. These same people are perfectly fine with straight couples being in the media even when they have the same relationships as LGBTQ+ couples.
Right-wing conservatives have a preconceived notion whether from religious or social values that the LGBTQ+ community are harming them and taking their rights and privileges away. They are scared that they are no longer going to be in control of everything and be able to dictate others lives. Because of this they retaliate with hate and violence. They believe that LGBTQ+ people simply existing is going to corrupt and get rid of their right to be straight when this isn’t true at all.
Others use the narrative of sin and religion as their driving force for homophobia. They believe it is their job to try and save people who are seen as sinful. It also creates a false narrative portraying all religious people as ignorant people which oftentimes drives people even farther from exploring their spirituality. Instead of weaponizing religion to make it fit their values they use it to spread hate and fear to people.
After some of these bills were passed, conservatives still weren’t happy. After a school shooting in an elementary school in Nashville where the perpetrator was a transgender individual, people have been using this person's identity to perpetuate the idea that the transgender community is violent and destructive. While this individual was violent, it does not reflect on the rest of the community. News journalists on certain right-wing news stations such as Fox News, have been weaponizing this recent tragedy to further their ignorant ideology.
Another common theme in highly religious conservatives is the use of “thoughts and prayers” to attempt to console grieving families, instead of preventing it so they don’t have to grieve in the first place. We don’t need thoughts and prayers anymore, we need action. Thoughts and prayers may be good for an unpreventable disaster or the loss of a pet but it just isn’t good enough anymore for victims of gun violence.
Students are tired of coming to school in fear of never making it home again. Parents say goodbye to their children in the morning without the certainty of their return. We need a change to happen and it needs to happen soon. Too many people have access to dangerous firearms and it just isn’t safe. We need to focus on a bigger issue, not whether or not a third grade teacher is allowed to say the word “gay.” We need to focus on keeping children safe.
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