Ashes’ Opinion

Pride month, weeks, days and movements are very much so acts of resistance. Not only do they bring upon recognition and awareness of those in the community and their struggles, but they also show that people in the LGBTQ community are proud of who they are and are still standing strong against those who wish to strike them down, barely phased… Alive.

When it comes to banned books in the US, the only reason why something should be banned is if it is proclaiming some form of hate. Besides that matter, books should not be at risk of being banned. Again, unless it is actively threatening or hateful, there should be no reason.

Atheletes play a very large role in Civil Rights. People are constantly debating whether or not all athletes should be equal. This is shown in the fight for women’s sports to be equal to men’s sports. It is heavily argued whether or not women should be able to play men’s sports and play with men in sports, or vise versa. As a whole, it is a wanting for everyone to be given the same opportunities as each other.

Religious leaders definitely have an influence on humanity. Leaders or higher-ups of certain religions can invoke their preferences and views on people through fear. As someone who grew up in a Christian household and went to a Christian School, I’ve seen this. The parish members, along with religion teachers would more or less tell you what was a sin. These things included abortion, same sex marriage, and sex before marriage. Growing up hearing these things, kids won’t know better than to believe what they’ve been told. This passes down through generations, more or less brainwashing people into believing it. To be frank, in a way it happened to me. I grew up being told that being transgender is wrong, and fake. Obviously I managed to learn that those claims are complete rubbish. I am now an out trans man. The point being, religious leaders do in fact influence people’s ideas and beliefs.

This one is quite hard. In my opinion, the foundation of our country is to blame. We are trying to change things for the better, but still seemed to be stuck to the roots of which this country was built upon. These things include murder, enslavement, and forcing people out of their respective homes. So in short, this country has a lot of blood on it. No one seems to want to admit this. I believe that the only real way to fix this country is to start by coming out and confessing this issue. That is the only real way things can get resolved. Americans need to come to terms with the fact that “America, land of the free” isn’t very free at all, and involved quite a lot of blood to gain that title. To put it bluntly, the only way we can even BEGIN to repent our wrongdoings we must come together, stop blaming the person next to us, and confront our flaws.

The only real limit to free speech should be hate speech. Hate implies that you wish for a certain something to be demolished. Used on people implies that you wish for their death. It is a death threat. Murder speech. Thus, should be illegal.

Yes. Public schools should be required to provide free breakfast and lunch. Some students don’t have access to food at their home, and school may be the only place for them to get food. However, this should be the bare minimum to keep costs down. (Simple meals) and anything else would cost the student.

In certain cases, breaking the law if ok. These cases stem from if people are trying to bring about an issue or get a point across. Example: two men marrying in a state where gay marriage is illegal. They are trying to prove a point whilst standing up for themselves and being proud of who they are. In this case, I believe that breaking a law is in fact necessary.

White, straight, cisgender people seem to be the only ones who benefit from the myth of race. If you fall under any other category, you are bound to find bumps in the road when it comes to being successful. Adding on sexuality and gender identity, only digs people deeper and deeper into the pothole that was their road of life. All in all, white people are unfortunately at the top.

Yes, they are necessary. We as a country need to make amends for what we’ve done towards minority groups of all kinds. I think they would help to heal the past, as it would require us as a country to admit we have a problem. That’s a huge step. From there, it can help us to fix the wrongs we’ve done.