We still live in a world where LGBT children grow up with plenty of fear. It would be silly to say that things haven't changed--they've changed a lot. The things that happened when I was growing up just wouldn't be possible today. There is no way a President could ignore the death of tens of thousands of Americans to a mysterious plague, even if he or she wanted too.
Something that has revolutionized things for LGBTQ people has been the internet. In the past, we were scattered all over and disconnected with one another. What this meant in relationship to AIDS is that organizing, activism, and just getting information out and then disseminated throughout the community was insanely hard. This is no longer an issue. So, internally, we are more organized and prepared to deal with such a crisis, and we would be able to act more quickly (and in a more strongly organized way) to see immediate action taken. Outside of that, there is the shift in the cultural view of us. It is much more difficult today to openly espouse what is tantamount to genocidal feelings toward us--though such feelings certainly continue to exist.
...and if I ever get lost in thinking that we've come along way, I just remind myself of stories of children abused by their parents because they were perceived to be gay. Stories like this one, involving a 8 year old boy that was ultimately murdered by his mother and her boyfriend after being abused for months:
...
Aside from their relentless bullying under assumption that Gabriel was gay, allegations from more than 800 pages of testimony describe in full detail the hellish life that young Gabriel endured before his untimely death. “For eight straight months, he was abused, beaten and tortured more severely than many prisoners of war,” Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami testified.
Here are just a few more things Fernandez and Aguirre did to Gabriel before murdering him in May 2013, according to testimony provided by Gabriel’s siblings, police, and the medical examiner who performed Gabriel’s autopsy:
– assaulted him with pepper spray
– forced him to eat his own vomit, cat feces and rotten spinach
– locked him in a cabinet with a sock used as a makeshift gag
– forged doctor’s notes to explain Gabriel’s physical signs of abuse to teachers
– denied him use of the bathroom
– called him “gay,” beat him when he played with dolls and forced him to wear “girls’ clothes” to school
– beat his head with a belt buckle, metal hanger, small bat and wooden club
– knocked several of his teeth out with a metal bat
– shot him with a BB gun
...
That's the real world that a lot of LGBTQ (real or perceived) children are born into--the world won't be safe or without fear until there are systems in place that actively protect, shelter, and protect LGBTQ people from abuse and violence. That means not only from their peers at school, their teachers and school staff, but it also includes their families as well as law enforcement and other governmental agencies. Then, after that, we'd still need the overwhelming majority of people stand behind such actions because they believe it is morally right, and condemn those who seek to hurt or hate us.
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