Refusing to back county’s LGBTQ Pride declaration isn’t love

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 15, 2022

According to the Trevor Project, a national suicide prevention network for young LGBTQ people, LGBTQ youths are four times more likely than their peers to attempt suicide. In 2021, 45 percent percent of LGBTQ youths seriously considered suicide, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth. “LGBTQ youth are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society.” (See: www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-suicide/)

When County Council Member Nate Nehring votes “no” on recognizing June as Pride Month for Snohomish County, because he “doesn’t agree with the LGBTQ lifestyle,” he is adding to the statistics that endanger and kill LGBTQ+ youth every day. When County Council Member Sam Low refuses to show up for this same vote, he refuses to show up for the hundreds of LGBTQ youth living in his community. Nehring wrote on his official Facebook that “there isn’t any reason we can’t love others whose lifestyles we disagree with.” But what Nehring practices is not love.

Snohomish County’s LGBTQ youth deserve better. Snohomish County voters should take note.

Shannon Ozog

Lake Stevens