Disowning Your LGBT Child Should Be a Crime

When you bring a child into this world, they are your responsibility. It's your job to love them unconditionally, no matter who they turn out to be. Sadly, this isn't the reality for everyone. For many young people, getting to know yourself and discovering your sexual identity can be a difficult and scary process. On top of this, a big number of people have the worry that their family may not accept them for who they are. A lot of LGBT youth are not accepted by their families, which often leads to them being disowned. This is something their parents should face penalties for.

Not only does being disowned leave you without the closeness and comfort of a family, it leaves you without a home. LGBT youth being evicted by their families lead to the community being heavily represented in homelessness statistics. According to The Williams Institute, 40% of homeless youth in the US identify as LGBT, and 24% in the UK, according to akt. These are large numbers, considering the community doesn't make up anywhere near this percentage of the population. Sleeping rough is bad for any youth, but many in the LGBT community are at higher risks during homelessness, as they are often victimised and exploited. Research shows they are more likely to abuse drugs or engage in survival sex, both of which can be extremely dangerous, and damaging for their mental health. Becoming homeless in your teen years sets you up for a more difficult life, making it harder to get an education and employment. And for people who are introduced to drugs, it can be hard to break the cycle. Why would anyone do this to their children?

If your reason for disowning your child is that your religion doesn't accept people in the LGBT community, you really need to consider how beneficial your faith is for you. Do you really want to give a god or belief the right to make you give up the most precious part of your life? Your unconditional love should be stronger than anything, and nothing should come between you and the love for your child. No one else can tell you something is wrong with your child. Your child wasn't created to be bad, and hasn't done anything wrong. They deserve your support no matter what. Having a gay or transgender child doesn't mean you failed as a parent. Abandoning your child for being gay or transgender means you failed as a parent.

When you make the decision to have children, you have to accept that you can't control who they turn out to be. You have to be ready to handle the fact that your child may not be exactly who you imagined them to be, or fit into your "perfect" idea of life. You are not in control here, and kids should be allowed to be themselves. I don't think it should be within your right to remove a child from your life because of their sexual orientation or identity. The child never asked to be born, and didn't request you as their parents. They also didn't purposefully choose to be LGBT to annoy you or to go against your values. It's the way they are, and you should accept them for it. You owe it to them to give them the safe and stable home every child deserves. If you can't commit to loving a child unconditionally regardless, you shouldn't have one.

I think every parent who disowns a child solely for belonging to the LGBT community should be prosecuted. It's a terribly irresponsible and selfish action that should be illegal, and the parents should be serve a jail sentence. If they want to compromise someone else's life and freedom, then the same should be done to them. Disowning someone for being LGTB is unacceptable.