By Nicole Akoukou Thompson and Katelyn Skye Bennett | Guest Writer and Editor-in-chief, respectively
Welcome to America, home of the brave.
We have a B-average grade in terms of global LGBTQ+ travel safety, and in 2021, the Gay Travel Index allotted our country about 4 or 5 points on a grading scale from positive-12 (safest) to negative-20 (most deadly).
In this country, queer individuals have freedoms, but with restrictions. Certain queer people can give blood, we can usually adopt, and trans Americans have only recently begun to see themselves represented positively in media.
Same sex couples can show affection both publicly and privately without being fined or imprisoned, and on paper, we have workplace protections, though no constitutional protections.
Here in the United States, although we have some liberties, people in the LGBTQ+ community still experience harassment, discrimination, and a number of other forms of oppression on a daily basis.
We are impacted by exclusion from our communities of faith and may feel insecure in the federally established marriage rights we’ve had for seven years as of this June. We are also stigmatized and told to conform with Conversion therapy still being legal. Moreover, trans people in America face limited to no healthcare.
Gay and trans people continue to face physical violence and grapple with their rights to live. We are aware of the legal ability for our murderers to be indulged and are concerned with the amount of queer youth taking their own lives.
Welcome. We hope you enjoy your stay.
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