On Tuesday, April 9th, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia announced the Protecting LGBTQ Youth Act, which is legislation that would protect LGBTQ children and adolescents from mistreatment, according to Washington Blade. Tammy Baldwin, the first out lesbian senator, is co-sponsoring the legislation.
The Protecting LGBTQ Youth Act would amend the Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act, which provides federal funding to states in support of assessment, prevention, investigation, prosecution, and treatment activities for victims of abuse. The Protecting LGBTQ Youth Act would add certain points such as:
- Direct the Secretary of Health & Human Services to research how to help protect LGBTQ children from abuse and neglect to improve quality of life;
- Expand information collected to include sexuality and gender identity when reporting on incidences of maltreatment;
- Create funding opportunities to help personnel get training in how best to treat LGBTQ children, and;
- Include experienced people who work with LGBTQ youth in special task forces.
According to the National Institutes of Health, LGBTQ youth are 3.8 times more likely to be victims of sexual abuse and 1.2 times more likely to be abused by their parents. It’s very upsetting to think that some people believe that their own children don’t deserve equal treatment because they’re not straight. The Protecting LGBTQ Youth Act would be the first piece of legislation to protect LGBTQ youth which, in my opinion, is desperately needed because LGBTQ adults aren’t protected under federal law from discrimination and yes while this is sort of an apple/orange kind of thing, it is still nice to know that people care about the wellbeing of all children, not just the ones that they can relate to.
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h/t: Washington Blade