There are two subjects that made the news in the last few years and both of them have one thing in common: they are politicizing and threatening people who are already in trouble. One is about gay kids and one is about undocumented immigrants. So, this is going to be a rough editorial for some people to read.
The first is the “parental rights” movement that you probably have seen a lot of. Proponents of this believe that if a child comes out as LGBTQ+ to a school staff member, that school employee must – by law – tell the kid’s parents.
The politicians who are riding the parental rights train say that parents have a right to know what’s going on in their child’s life. Parents absolutely do, in most situations. This is not necessarily one of them.
The politicians will say that if a kid is going through an important issue like this, that their parents should be aware of it so they could help. In a perfect world, I would agree. But it is not a perfect world.
These politicians (many of whom have been interviewed by this newspaper and by yours truly) never stopped to ask why a kid would keep their sexuality secret from their parents. They never wonder if there could be underlying issues at home.
These politicians apparently don’t think that if the child’s secret got out, it could make a bad home life even worse.
I’m not saying that every kid who comes out is going to get abused, but the statistics are easy to find for anyone who cares to look them up. LGBTQ+ kids have a higher chance of abuse from parents. They are more likely to be runaways. They also have a higher chance of self-harm, drug use (a coping behavior) and suicide.
The politicians don’t care about this, though. They only want to make you angry so you vote for them.
Imagine that you are a school counselor or a nurse. These are the people who are usually first to find out that something is wrong. They learn that a child is gay. The child needs help and they come to the staff member. That staff member would then have to turn around and out that kid to their family? This is basically “don’t ask, don’t tell” for schools.
What would happen if a teen asked the sex ed teacher about using condoms with his boyfriend, then the sex ed teacher reported to the parents, and the kid killed himself? The parents could sue the school. It doesn’t matter if they win. The point is they have a case and they would likely settle out of court for millions. All because some politicians decided that parents have a right to know their kids’ secrets.
Did you ever keep secrets from your parents? What would have happened if they had found out about them? I bet you didn’t tell your parents when you started having sex.
The other topic was the Immigrant Trust Directive that took place a few years ago in New Jersey. The attorney general made it so that police can’t ask the immigration status of witnesses.
Why? Because undocumented immigrants were (are) afraid of the police. They didn’t want to report crimes because they were afraid of getting deported.
For example, let’s say a woman was getting beaten up by her boyfriend. She would be afraid to go to police to get a restraining order if she wasn’t here legally. Let’s say a teenager saw someone dealing drugs. They might be afraid to tell the cops if they thought that they might be shipped away – maybe at the same time as the dealer.
The Ocean County Commissioners sued the state to overturn that. They believed that the crime of illegal immigration was worse than whatever crime the immigrants were going to snitch about. They lost. It was your tax dollars at work.
Ask any police officer and they’ll tell you that they want people to come to them if they need help, regardless of the situation. Ask any teacher and they’ll tell you that they want kids to come to them if they need help, regardless of the situation.
Why are politicians trying to make it harder for people to ask for help if they need it?
Chris Lundy
News Editor
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