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LGBTQ Youth: ‘We Have to Stop This Man From Taking Away Our Rights’

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Donald J. Trump is the 45th president of the United States. While I’m still coming to terms with that, I can’t help but wonder what our future will bring with him in office. Of course, everyone is thinking about the fate of America. 

At the Atlanta March for Social Justice & Women Saturday, I asked young people holding pro-LGBTQ signs or chanting LGBTQ slogans “What do you think Donald Trump will do for LGBTQ rights in America?” I chose to interview exclusively LGBTQ youth because it resonates with me personally. Being queer myself, I know there’s a heightened sense of fear among my queer peers. I wanted to get a true feel of exactly what the LGBTQ youth in America are feeling. Here’s what they had to say.

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Matas Vaitkevicius , 17: ” I know he made a lot of campaign promises, but given his vice president and cabinet picks, he’s not gonna do anything but end up setting us back.”
Morgan Seeke,14: ” It’s going to be a lot less safe. When a leader has openly said that they’re against something, it just makes people not care as much about that issue.”
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Timothy Kuhn, 20: “He’s definitely going to try and take us back to a time that we have tried so hard to get away from. We fought for our rights tirelessly and we owe everything we have to our brothers and sisters who stood on the forefronts of our civil rights. We have to come together, and we have to stop this man from taking away the rights we fought so hard for. “

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Queer youth are afraid and concerned. Many feel all of their progress will come to a screeching  halt. They are scared that everything that the Obama administration and prominent heroes and political figures such as Harvey Milk have worked hard for, will either disappear or be stripped from them after all of their hard work.

Quite frankly, I don’t blame them. With many negative comments and a vice president who is openly against gay rights (Here’s a look at Mike Pence’s anti LGBTQ record as a congressman and as Indiana’s governor in a Time magazine recap), President Trump is not showing any signs of wanting to advance the LGBTQ community or resolve any of our issues.

Becca, 17, attends Southwest Dekalb High School and likes to wear glitter everywhere!

 

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