Martin Luther King's Argument Against Bullying Legislation In 49 States

49 states have an anti-bullying legislation, but do we need to look more closely at who is being targeted for bullying. About 82 percent of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) students have reported being victims of one type of bullying or another. How is this possible when 49 states have an anti-bullying legislation? Martin Luther King Jr. once asked “When will you be satisfied?” (King, p. 49). (Thesis) When looking at the injustices for student’s sexuality in America, we can never be satisfied as long as these students in America are being tormented due to their sexual orientation.
How is fighting for a quality education difficult when being bullied? Bully can affect a person physically and mentally. Students who have been bullied are usually terrified at school, where they shouldn’t. This is where fighting for a quality education comes in play. This is why we can never be satisfied, because of the injustices for students to be bullied due to their sexual orientation. Students should not be mistreated for being who or what they are. LGBT students who fear school due to bullying do not receive the same education as every other student who is not bullied. In “Once Upon a Time,” the
family fears multiple things due to segregation. Relating this to the injustice of student’s sexuality, LGBT students fear school due to bullying and/or the discrimination of LGBT students. As seen in the story the family’s fear instigated more problems afterwards, such as the little boy being harmed greatly. In this case, the student’s fear initiate problems such as lack of concentration in school. “The alarmed was often answered-it seemed-by other burglar alarms, in other houses, that had been triggered by pet cats or nibbling mice.” (Gordimer p. 14). In the short story, the cat represents freedom but what represents freedom for the discriminated students? The freedom is allowing these students to be who they are and to not be judged for it. This freedom should have already been expressed but people have difficulty understanding the issue of this inequality that LGBT students face. Does the injustice of LGBT student’s matter?
In case if you are wondering, it does matter. The real question is when will these students feel free and confident enough to be proud walking around for who they are. In “I Have a Dream,” Martin Luther King Jr. really expresses something in related matter. “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.” (King p. 49). It is time to change how America lives and act around LGBT students. They should no longer be discriminated as the blacks were discriminated before, as King mentions in his famous speech. As King said, now is the time to keep our promises of a free-discriminated nation. Now is the time to prevent LGBT student’s to feel worthless as African American’s once did. Now is the time to do something about
this. How would you feel if you were mistreated for what or who you like? How would you feel if someone told you can’t do this because of your gender? Euchner said one time in “Nobody Turn Me Around,” “The wrong people have suffered. So many people have been teargassed, beaten, kicked, burned, bombed, shot.” (Euchner p. 62). The inequality for the LGBT students should no longer exists. As Euchner said, many innocent people and students have been targeted for mistreatment that no one deserves. So why not change this. We made the same discrimination mistake for African Americans once, so let’s not make the same discrimination mistake for LGBT students who fight on a daily basis for survival and a quality education. How aware of you of the consequences in bullying? The cause of bullying leads to fights and shootings in school, physical harassment, and skipping school due to the discrimination of them. “64 percent of students felt unsafe due to their sexual orientation.” 64 percent is more than half of the population for LGBT students. About 32 percent didn’t go to school because they felt unsafe of where they are. Bullying effects how they perform in school as you can see. It is all connected because would you go to school where you constantly didn’t feel safe? These are some of the physical effects. The mental effects lead to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Two-thirds of LGBT teenagers are most likely to commit suicide because of bullying. However, many people of the LGBT community are satisfied with how they are being treated and how they are living. They are satisfied with how they are doing due to the new law that allows LGBT marriages to be legalized. America is living up to the free-discriminated nation. If we didn’t acknowledge them before, we do now by the new law allowing gay marriages. America is living up to the promises of the democracy. America should be satisfied with how we are treating these students. In other words, the mistreatment of LGBT students affects their right to education due to bullying and discrimination. Today is the day we need to live up the standards of the democracy. Today is the day to have everyone treated equally. Today is the day to make a change for everyone for the better. America may never be satisfied until the injustice of LGBT student’s is fixed. This is a new generation where everyone should feel accepted.