LGBTQ+ Relationships
Story by Benji Mallory. Photo courtesy of https://www.jbfe.af.mil
I am often on my phone scrolling through social media, mainly on Tiktok. While scrolling through Tiktok, almost half of the time I see many LGBTQ+ couples on my ‘For You Page.’ I like many of the couples on the app, but one couple stands out above the rest. The couple goes by the names Monroe & Kemi. Monroe is a transgender male that uses he/him pronouns, much like me, and his partner Kemi is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. Their posts mainly show their lives as a couple who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Despite sharing videos of their everyday lives, while posting these videos they have had some people in the comments say things that are disrespectful and homophobic. In one of Monroe's recent videos, he was defending himself against the comments made in his video about his and Kemi’s relationship and their pronouns.
This couple is a prime example of the negative side of most people in LGBTQ+ relationships. In this day and age, there has been a lot of hate for people dating and marrying the same gender. I have seen transgenders date other transgenders, gays date gays, non-binary with other non-binary, and everything else. While it is refreshing to see couples like this in the world, unfortunately, some people don’t seem to approve of the same gender coming together and sharing love. In my opinion, this generation Z makes it more difficult for most people to be comfortable with being in relationships. Even when some people support them, there does seem to be more hate than love for them.
In this day and age, there are a number of things that are working against LGBTQ+ relationships, but the strongest one to fight against is the government. The government has passed many bills in the past few months that have put restrictions on LGBTQ+ relationships and members of its community. For example, there is a bill trying to ban drag shows and another in Florida banning saying the word gay in schools. The government is trying to tear down and restrict the LGBTQ+ community, just because they feel threatened and are homophobic.
The government may be one of the strongest opponents that the LGBTQ+ community has to fight against, but they also have to fight the people that live in their communities and households. One reason why so many people and children struggle with being openly gay is that they are not accepted in their own homes or communities. They also have to witness slander against their community on social media and television, where they have slandered members of the community.
As a transgender male in a relationship with a cis-gender woman, it hurts me to see that my community is under attack just for us being happy with a significant other. LGBTQ+ relationships are just as normal as any other relationship in the world because, at the end of the day, you are in a relationship with someone who is making you happy. It shouldn’t matter who that person is as long as that person is happy.
Benji Mallory is a senior at Friendship Collegiate Academy.