A call for acceptance
By: LEXIE KELLER
Staff Designer
As a freshman attending my first semester at STLCC-Meramec, I have not seen anything really catered toward the LGBT students. This leads me to believe there is simply not enough LGBT acceptance on Meramec’s campus.
The LGBT community is not always comfortable on college campuses, and national research supports this. A survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control found that students who did not attend school due to safety concerns on at least one out of the last 30 days before they took the survey ranged from 4 percent to 11 percent among heterosexual students.
The percentage increased from 11 to 25 percent among LGBT students. There has also been a higher risk of behaviors such as suicidal tendencies and self-harm among the LGBT community according to the Centers for Disease Control.
As a rule, I try to be accepting of people for who they are and not make judgments or assumptions about a person based on skin color or sexuality.
We learn how to be accepting during our childhood through exposure to the media and by learning about other cultures. As we get older, our opinions help make us more aware of our surroundings and the people that we interact with.
Parents, friends, teachers, the media, mentors and many others influence our opinions. Unfortunately, a lot of these opinions tend to be very negative about accepting others.
A club on campus could help students to see that acceptance is something not only needed but also should be mandatory.
The club could also help students make friends with each other and reassure them that they are not alone in whatever situation they have at home.
We need a week or even a day dedicated to the LGBT students on campus where other students can learn more about the different sexualities and have a luncheon to help LGBT students make friends on campus.
Putting these ideas into motion would greatly improve the outcome of LGBT acceptance on the STLCC-Meramec campus.
No acceptance will only lead a bigger path for ignorance to walk through.
