New Year’s Resolutions We Can Make

It’s something that we all do at the start of every year, and we all hope that we all hope that we get to fulfill them by the end of the year. New Year’s resolutions are usually personal things, but we’re taking inspiration from other blogs and sharing some resolutions we can all aspire to as part of the LGBTQ community.

1. Let’s do a better job at looking out for each other. The LGBTQ community is more than just the “G”. The past year was the most dangerous year for transgender people, as 26 of them were murdered in the space of 11 months. That’s not including the number of transgender who have killed themselves due to the discrimination they face in and out of the LGBTQ community. Transgender suicide rates are also alarmingly high compared to the rest of the LGBTQ community. While lesbian, gay, and bisexual people have an attempted suicide rate between 10 and 20 percent, more than 40 percent of transgender people have reported that they have attempted suicide. This new year, let’s all reach out to our transgender brothers and sisters and lend them a helping hand.

2. Let’s look out for LGBTQ youth. Back in 1985, Whitney Houston sang that the children are our future. If that’s the case, then we need to do a better job at making sure LGBTQ youth get to see a future. We recently talked about LGBTQ homelessness here on the blog, sharing a report that shows that in the DC area alone, 43 percent of its homeless youth identify as part of the LGBTQ community. This jives with the 2012 national survey conducted by the UCLA that found out that 40 percent of homeless centers’ clientele are members of the LGBTQ community. In 2017, we need to be better at taking care of the younger members of our community.

3. Go out and hook up – with an open mind. Just taking a look at the comments of two recent posts on the blog – one about shaving and another about armpit licking – it’s clear that you guys have very strong opinions on what you do and don’t find attractive. But in a decade that’s seen PReP and Truvada, and could possibly see even better medication; in a time where sites like Adam4Adam lets you meet more and more people than ever before, why limit yourself? Go out there, hook up (safely!), and always keep an open mind.

4. Read more. Read LGBTQ. Some of the most towering figures in literature are part of the LGBTQ community, and year after year more and more books on the LGBTQ experiences are making their way to bookstores not just in the United States but all over the world. This year looks to be a great one for LGBTQ-themed works, especially in the young adult (YA) genre. A Goodreads post has collated more than a hundred YA books coming out this year that could possibly have LGBTQ themes. Amazon has more than 500 LGBTQ-themed books across all genres in its 2017 “Coming Soon” section. This year, don’t just read more. Read more LGBTQ books.

5. Get even more involved in politics. Last year’s elections were contentious, to say the least, and the following ears may prove to be even more so. Whether your favored candidate won or not, the coming years will test the strength of everyone’s political beliefs.  Whatever it is you believe in, make sure 2017 is the year you stand up for it and be counted.

Do you have any other New Year’s resolutions we can all aspire to as a community? Feel free to share it with us in the comments section below!