As a gay transgender student in high school, it is safe to say that I've faced a handful of adversities. Being called slurs in the halls and always having to watch my back because I feel unsafe. My reality is the reality of most lgbtq+ kids in schools. 

In a personal study of a dear friend of mine, who identifies as genderfluid and omnisexual, where they personally talked to students and did a charting to see exactly how a handful of lgbtq+ students felt in our school alone. They plan to continue their research. Out of the 15 students they interviewed, 12 said they did not feel safe in their school, including myself and my beloved friend conducting the research. One said they somewhat felt safe, and only two said they felt safe.

To test the theory of how teens in my school felt about lgbtq+ rights, I felt particularly brave one day and wore a pride flag. I was called a hand full of slurs, recorded, and harassed. This also happens to my other friends who wear any pride attire. Someone in my school had said one day, "I'm going to lynch the fags.", and I had reported it to my counselor and they had did nothing. They simply said in a nutshell, "That's how it is. People can say they hate gay people and it's fine." Well, it's actually not fine. Lgbtq+ kids and teen don't feel safe in their schools. According to one news source, usnews.com, 'In a national survey of more than 12,000 LGBTQ teens aged 13 to 17, conducted by the Human Rights Campaign and researchers at the University of Connecticut, nearly 8 in 10 reported feeling depressed or down within the previous week, while only a quarter say they feel safe at school.'. Going out and doing research, there are so many more statistics of how lgbtq+ kids feel at school. Typically, the response is not good.

Schools preach about safety in their schools, while ignoring the most blatant issue and sweeping it under the rug. We are being done an injustice, and future generations will suffer from it. According to the Trevorproject.com, a highly trusted source and a personal favorite of mine, LGBTQ youth are at least 4 times more likely to consider suicide and more likely to go through with it. In my personal experience, I've been diagnosed with clinical depression, and have been hospitalized for planning an attempt. While there were other factors that were contributing to it, being harassed and closeted because I was scared about coming out as transgender was not helping. Thankfully to the schools credit, I was easily able to change my name and pronouns. If kids are legally forced to be at school, giving a safe, educated environment should be mandatory.

This sort of education is needed, schools need to express that these rights aren't morally guided rights. These rights are life rights. If these rights are taught in schools, kids can figure out who they are or try things out, and others will be educated. If their family at home is homophobic or transphobic, at most these kids will have the education needed to respect gay/transgender kids. Being lgbtq+ is not something within a persons control. Teachers should also be required to have a mini training course educating them about gender and pronouns.

What could be a solution for dealing with kids harassing lgbtq+ kids? Have a mandatory one to three week class of lgbtq+ education, after school or before school. On the same note, education of people of color should be there too. As for classes, lgbtq+ should be introduced and normalized in kindergarten, at a very young age. Later in health, there should be a section dedicated to educating the students, covering transgender topics, and gay topics. These changes will make a big impact. 

These are life rights at hand, and they are being treated lower than that. This is our lives. Our reality.