My pain
Why can’t I,
Like anyone says being one of the weirdoes,
I am an LTBTIQ member as I was born one,
Am I not human enough to be accorded that right or at least freedom?
Why can’t I,
Identify me with the Indian, or the Muslim, or even the Christian,
Am I not part of the beautiful creation you read in your bibles?
Why should I identify with evil?
They call me a killer and sometimes a rapist.
Why can’t I,
Be a policeman and restore justice and peace in my state,
Tell me, why you don’t trust me in a classroom teaching your kids math formulas,
You think I deserve to descend the earth, with my wits and poverty,
Why don’t you just for once, give me a chance to be your President: maybe am what you need.
Why can’t you mama,
Let my one of a kind personality and soul,
Show up my breasts: I really don’t need the bandage on my chest,
Can’t aunties stop telling me I need to get a man as am heterosexual,
My heart bleeds as its desire to be embraced can’t be granted,
Can’t sister accept that I am a sister to him though I was born a boy?
Explanation
The poem is about injustice and the unequal treatment that the LGTB members go through right from childhood to their adulthood. They cannot be embraced in most families as the family members feel like they are an embarrassment. Job searching for them is also a nightmare as they are not accepted in most careers. Even in the religious arena, they are not welcome. Everyone always rejects them, and no one is willing to see them and accept them the way they are. The poem is meant to get their pain into the public arena with the hope that social stratification against the LGTB group will stop. Generally, the LGTB society inhabits a lower rank in society compared to those considered of normal sexuality.
Right from the family, they are not accorded the right to choose who they want to be. They deserve fewer rights than those with normal sexuality. The mother is always pressurizing the boy to act like a girl by hiding the female side of him. The sister does not also want to accept that his brother has female characteristics. LGTBs in any family will always be pressurized to act straight and do what straight people do. Straight people get attracted to people of the opposite gender, and that is what exactly most aunties want for their non-straight nieces and nephews to do. Everyone seems to be forcing them to do what they think is morally right.
In the employment sector, the LGTB community has less entitlement to it. Most parents will not have a gay or transgender teacher teach their kids. They have no trust in such people; maybe they think they are prone to harming their children, such as say sexually. They think of them as the evilest creatures. Even the justice system thinks they are not supposed to steer the wheel of justice. Maybe since they are not just or nature is naturally unjust to them. Most of the transgender police officers meet a lot of rejection and are discriminated in most instances. Some of them are not even allowed in the police department as they are thought unfit for it.
LGTB members are failures in the school where society values are considered a measure of success. Religious institutions cannot accept them mainly because of their immorality. Christianity strongly condemns the act of sex with the same gender. As a result, they miss most of the rewards such as taking sacrament, baptism, marriage in a church, and even they cannot be accorded a decent burial in the church way. The Indian and the Muslim alike do not condone homosexuality, and one can even be condemned to death for being one. A lot of discrimination happens in our religious institutions against the LGTB group, and little is done about it. Maybe they need to be embraced, but again the teachings from holy books do not accommodate them.
Religion is the number one influencer of social stratification. Religion spells out how everyone should be treated in society. If religion says you do not deserve even to live, one might easily get killed. The religion dictates social privileges given to most members of society. In this case, the religion condemns the LGTB society, and thus the society will act accordingly. It dictates who should be given the leadership mantle or holds a certain job. Most of the Christian schools and other institutions, especially the catholic institutions, do not employ gay people. It will surprise you more that these people are sometimes rejected in Christian hospitals. These institutions would rather watch a gay person die than an offer to save their lives.
Sexism stems out from most religious institutions and prevents the LGTB society from accruing wealth. Since these people cannot secure employment, they are left to languish in poverty. They can never climb up the ladder of success in terms of wealth. A wealth gap will now exist between the traditional gender and sexuality and those considered to be of the desired sexuality. Fewer opportunities are given to the LGTB and might never get a chance to close the gap. The gap might never be filled, and the society prefers it that way for the sake of social stratification. The tool is a system of oppression that hits so hard on the LGTB group.
A social stratification is a tool of ensuring that most important positions, especially leadership, is taken up by the most suitable person. For instance, the LGTB community is considered an unsuitable community as they do not uphold morals or are a blemish. It is hard to become a leader in our societies if you are gay or transgender. If one manages to get hold of the leadership mantle as an LGTB member, a lot of criticism and prejudice will ensue. They are likely not able to command respect from their subjects as they are not to be respected according to many people. LGTB, according to social stratification, is meant to be the lowest of all commoners.
Social stratification is about inequality, and LGTB society is treated with inequality. They are not even accorded the least of all the rights. They cannot proudly declare their sexuality and have no right to love whoever they want. As the former President Obama stated, everyone has a right to hold hands of the one they love in the streets of America. However, it is not so as a society cannot allow people of the same sex to declare their love for each other publicly. They cannot come out publicly about their feelings without meeting contempt and prejudice. For instance, if that is done on social media, they will be bashed with cyberbullying until they cannot take any more of it. Everyone treats them unequally.
The caste system is strongly evident in how the LGTB community is treated. The world seems to hold unto one unwritten rule that the LGTB community is not to be treated equally. The rule is that the LGTB society should be perceived as evil and mistreated. Most transgender people are branded rapists and killers in our societies. They are not gauged in a better and holier scale in any society. Everywhere they go, they are slapped with slurs and many hurting words. They can never be accorded respect or admiration. Furthermore, they are not even given a chance to showcase what they have in them. They don’t care about their personality but sexuality.
In conclusion, LGTB society is treated with inequality as a result of social rules that dictate stratification. They are condemned to the lowest of the social class, mainly because they are different and do not conform to social norms. They yearn to be embraced and given a chance in society to become who they desire to be. They deserve to lead, but the society thinks otherwise. Most of them never get a chance to practice their talents and wits because of social stratification.