Dear Editor:
RE: Rainbow criticism, June 9.
When confronted with hate speech, like in that June 9 letter, rather than censorship, the UN encourages counter speech to ensure hate is not the dominant narrative.
“Rainbow Criticism” denounces public displays of the rainbow, which symbolizes a “positive stance against discrimination and violence toward … [2SLGBTQI+] people to promote their self-affirmation, dignity, equality rights, increase their visibility as a social group, build community, and celebrate sexual diversity and gender variance.”
The letter argues that exposure to Pride symbols negatively impacts children in some unstated way. The author’s appeal that these symbols be “kept away from the eyes of children” intends to mobilize moral panic.
The Dangerous Speech Project (DSP), a group founded in 2010 to study speech that inspires violence between groups of people, details the most ubiquitous form of dangerous speech: that which “suggests children are in danger.” “Think of the children” rhetoric, like that in “Rainbow Criticism,” pervasively targets minority groups and these “assertions of threats to children have been linked to incidents of intergroup violence countless times before.”
The DSP explains, “people don’t commit violence against other groups … spontaneously. First they must be taught to see other people as … threats.” Insistence that the rainbow threatens children promotes discrimination and violence.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network reported that “out of 10,528 middle and high school students surveyed 85.2% LGBTQ students experienced verbal harassment at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation, 57.6% felt unsafe at school … and 31.8% skipped a day of school in the past month because of safety concerns.”
LGBTQ youth face approximately 14 times the risk of suicide and substance abuse than heterosexual peers. Marginalization measurably damages the well-being of 2SLGBTQI+ youth. Rhetoric advising a community to not stand up against discrimination is the true threat to children.
To the 2SLGBTQI+ community: your allies are stronger than those who endorse your marginalization. We proudly stand together.
Brooke Quan-Hin,
Erin