Hostile legislation is a continuous assault on LGBTQ+ youth

As I’ve grown up, I’ve come to realize that society only spotlights issues that are new and fresh. We tend to lack the capacity to remain focused on conflicts as they become a slow burn or an unresolved crisis.

Only when a new event sparks an old issue do we turn our attention back. It seems the injustices of this world are treated as a trend, only to be cared for when new and shiny.

One example is an everescalating atrocity that we refuse to acknowledge in its growth — the LGBTQ+ hate crisis in the United States.

LGBTQ+ hate has increased greatly in its quantity as well as its hostility. The American Civil Liberties Union reported that ANTI-LGBTQ+ legislation tripled from 2022 to at least 510 bills introduced in 2023.

Now more than ever, ANTI-LGBTQ+ legislation is rapidly being passed in the United States, including bills that force teachers to out students, censor books that talk about the experiences of LGBTQ+ people and punish doctors for aiding transgender youth.

The danger is that exhaustion with this unrelenting assault will drive us to complacency. Those pushing these ANTI-LGBTQ+ agendas want us to grow weary of hearing about it so that by the time we regain our energy, they will have already succeeded.

So how do we fight this crisis if we continue to treat hearing of this issue as a chore? The question is one I faced weeks ago.

Every weekend, I go to speech and debate tournaments where I present a speech about how increasing LGBTQ+ hate is being overlooked. Before marking me down in the round, a judge’s comment read, “This was an excellent speech, you did an excellent job delivering it, and I 100% agree with your position. BUT this is a topic that is frequently used in the speech and debate community as a topic area.”

I wasn’t mad that the judge didn’t rank me first in the round, but I was broken that my message was reduced to a dinner table chat. I wasn’t there to win a round. I was expressing something true about the pain my community is in.

It’s true that we have heard arguments about this issue a thousand times over, and it’s because of this that the question remains: How can we claim this topic is overused and too well known when we continue to do nothing as the death toll rises?

If there’s a fire burning in our backyard, and it’s getting bigger and bigger while no one puts it out, is our solution to talk about it less? The longer it burns the more damage we see all while we stay silent. In the case of this crisis, perhaps the largest effect is suicide.

The Trevor Project found that at least one LGBTQ+ citizen attempts suicide every 45 seconds. That means by the time you finish this article, around 4 attempts have been made.

What’s worse is every time bills of this theme are passed, suicide rates in the community immediately increase. The very people who took an oath of office swearing to protect us only push these issues harder. So, what action is left to take?

We often attempt to detach ourselves from problems that appear large scale in our country. The reality is our silence only escalates the issue. The key to fighting this crisis is battling the fatigue and desensitization among those fighting for justice.

We cannot continue to elect or support officials who rapidly push an ANTILGBTQ+ agenda. It is vital to track what bills have gone through and will continue to move through the Legislature so that we can add our voices early on.

Tracking every bill that attempts to harm this community can be exhausting, but following groups like the ACLU of Idaho or Add the Words, Idaho is a phenomenal first step. They aim to inform the public about legislation the government wants to shield from a protesting public.

If we are going to teach our kids as they grow up that life is all about figuring out who you are and how you express yourself, at what point do we take action to make that possible without repercussions?

We all should have the basic right of love and expression. That part is simple. The complexity is keeping up a never-ending fight of educating others and advocating against this crisis.

We must keep our eyes on the office and legislation, our voices loud, our hearts open to the lives lost and our minds never forgetting their stories.

That is the difference between life and death for this community.

Myah Oswald is a junior at Rocky Mountain High School. They have been competing in speech and debate for three years.