Homophobia, the word sounds like a form of fear, when it’s truly a word for hate. Eaglecrest is a school built on six key principles: Respect, Achievement, Pride, Teamwork, Opportunity, Responsibility. Most of these can be seen on an average day, but one more often than not, is hard to find. Respect. On an average day walking in the halls can sound like walking through a bar on st. patrick’s day.They’re loud, busy and a nightmare to be in, but one of the biggest problems is the language. I don’t mean the swearing, I mean the hateful things, people saying f*g, qu*er, homo and many more are some of the problematic words that can, and will be heard on a daily basis. As someone who personally identifies on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, those homophobic words cause fear. According to a report done by The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) last year was “[The] highest number of anti-LGBTQ homicides (52) in our 20-year history of tracking this information”.  This leads to more problems. When hearing those homophobic phrases, I don’t report it. During my 3 years here at Eaglecrest, when a student uses a homophobic slur in class the teacher usually doesn’t say anything. Even giving them the benefit of the doubt and thinking “They just didn’t hear it” can’t always be true. There have been times when the teacher was directly next to a student who used one of those slurs and said nothing. The lack of conversation about LGBTQ+ topics at our school can be a piece of the ignorance puzzle. In health class, I cannot clearly remember discussing anything to do with this. One of the few places where LGBTQ+ people and topics are discussed is in the library during the “LGBT author or subject” books are front and center. I hope in the future of EHS that we can have a more abundant source of LGBTQ+ awareness.