By Maggie Reynolds
9%
Thats how many
American teens
identify
As LGBTQ
Now
There’s another number as well
68
Sixty-eight percent of LGBTQ teens are out to their parents
What about the other 32%?
Why
Why are 32% of LGBTQ teens
afraid
to tell their parents
the very people who brought them into existence
about a crucial part of themselves?
Why
are 32% of these beautiful children
so afraid of
harsh judgement
Insults
and abuse from their parents
that they hide their identity?
Why?
Why can’t those parents
Find
Somewhere in their hearts
Enough love for their child?
For every piece of him/her/them
Every crooked crack and crevice
Every beautiful, unique, amazing part
Of their perfect
-yes, I said perfect-
offspring
Yes
We may look
Or act
Or love
Differently than they do
But why
Why must we all be the same?
Why can’t we be
Beautifully
Perfectly
L
G
B
T
Is being ourselves so
wrong
that we must hide it from our parents?
It is
not
impossible to love your own child
-Although they might seem strange in your eyes- It
should
not be hard to love your child
Even if they are different than you
Is the love of a parent not supposed to be unconditional?
Aren’t parents supposed to love you
No matter what?
Is our very existence
Such a problem
That millions of parents
Hate their children
As much as if they committed murder?
What will the world become
If we cannot rely on the love of a parent?
What has the world become
That 32%
of LGBTQ teens
Feel their parents
Will not love them
As they are?