LGBTQ: History And Challenges -By Ogheneofejiro Lucky

An acronym used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning persons or the society. The term “gay community” which was initially used has long been since abolished as it does not accurately amount for the community’s diversity. The initials, as well as some of it’s common variants function as an umbrella for certain sexualities and gender identities. The L, G and B refer to sexual orientation or who a person feels romantically or sexually attracted to  while the T refers to gender identity and expression.

History of LGBTQ

The history of LGBTQ dates back to the first recorded instances of same sex, love and sexuality involving the history of gay, homosexuals, bisexuals, lesbians  etc. It was an act that was initially performed in secrecy and suppression since the revelation of it (coming out) will result in shame, devastating depression or sometimes death as seen in Under the Udala Tree by Chinelo Okparanta, and it has only recently been interwoven into historical narratives.

The observance of LGBT “History Month” began in the United States, it was performed annually and has since then been picked up by other countries in the world. This observance entails highlighting the history of the people, their LGBT rights and their related civil rights movement. It is observed during October in the United States to include “National Coming Out Day” on October 11. In the United Kingdom, it has been observed since 2005 during February to coincide with the abolition of section 28 in 2003,which has prohibited local authorities from promoting homosexuality. A celebrated achievement in LGBT history occurred when Queen Beatrix signed a law making Netherland the first country to publicly legalize “same sex” marriage.

From about 1988,activists began to use the initials LGBT in the United States. Not until the 1990s within the movement did gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people gain equal respect. This spurred some organizations to adopt new names as befitting as the GLBT Historical Society as at 1999.

The federal government first recognized the month in 1999 when president Bill Clinton declared June “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month”. In 2009, president Barack Obama declared June also as LGBT Pride Month and in 1 June 2021, president Joe Biden also declared June as LGBT Pride Month there by making June the initial month to celebrate LGBTQ.

But on 7 January 2014 till date in Nigeria, president Good luck  Jonathan signed into law a bill criminalizing same-sex relationship , making these offenses punishable by spending up to 14(fourteen) years in prison. In the northern states, the punishment is done by stoning. “And according to a 2012 Win Gallup International Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism, Nigeria ranks as the second most religious  country surveyed followed closely by Ghana” as cited by Chinelo Okparanta in her book Under the Udala Trees.

LGBTQ challenges

LGBTQ community all over the world are facing many problems which includes: bigotry and social ostracon. The majority of LGBTQ teenagers become estranged from their colleges, families, friends, neighborhood and even their peer groups or age groups. Since “coming out “, the majority of LGBTQ teens have confirmed to be subjected to physical abuse and mental or psychological disorder in a variety of settings. Consequently, the LGBTQ community is viewed in a negative way by over 75% of the world’s population and this makes victims in question to keep their sexual status or coming out to themselves so as not to be ostracized.

The media perceives the LGBTQ community as abnormal and a sickness or a marginalized group and since social media has become a vast part of our today world, has this, created a negative impact of LGBTQ on the society at large and has also influenced the audience in a negative way. A certain man named Stuart Bonds, in his clip proclaimed that, “the only thing worse than a gay person with power is a woman. I don’t have a woman boss and I don’t have a gay boss, and there’s no reason for that,” (Bonds, 2019). This demonstrates total disrespect to the LGBTQ community to the LGBTQ community as no man or woman ought to pass judgement on anyone.

A lot of movies perceives the LGBTQ community as very unnatural and irregular compared to everyone else in the society. Some movies such as: Crush, Young Royals, Queen of the Desert, Adventure of Priscilla and a host of many others portray the LGBTQ community in a negative way thereby influencing citizens and changing their mindsets.

Side effects of LGBTQ slander to the victims/cumulative victimization

In so many ways, we would come to see the various ways in which ostracism  of LGBTQ community and negative comments thrown at them by both friends, the society and media in general have to influence them negatively. Some of the ways are:

+Negative thoughts.

+Post traumatic stress disorder.

+Suicidal thoughts which might actually drive them to put there thoughts into action.

+Low self esteem.

+Psychological or mental breakdown.

+Injuries as a result of physical attack.

+Subjected to being bullied.

+Depression and anxiety.

+Physical health disparities (cardiovascular diseases).

+Internalized homophobia.

In conclusion ,we as humans should learn to accept the fact that we  all are different in our own unique ways which makes us special and this has in one way or the other led to a change in both the perspective at which we view things or the manner of words we utter. We should stop being judgmental about everything and questioning all actions or behaviors. We as humans should show some respect in everyone’s perspective concerning their likes and dislikes and should allow everyone to form their own opinion on anything they want to. We should also possess good character and apply good behavior in our day to day living and interactions with others and thereby giving everyone equal opportunity or privilege to become the best versions of themselves and thereby making the world a better place to live in.

Ogheneofejiro Lucky
Department of English.
DELSU.